King's On Writing

kristin724 said:

Hi all.

Anybody know where I can shop a 1k review of Stephen King's On Writing? I thought this was the best place to post, but feel free to move if need be.

What did yall think of it? I was a little less than impressed.

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There's never been a better, or more truthful, book written on the subject of writing. I still remember reading an advance copy and predictimg, in my own review, that many, many new writers were going to hate the book because it was so truthful.

I just bought the paperback copy. I read it a while ago, but I want to refresh my memory.

I wasn't thrilled with it. That being said-I absolutely(sorry about the adverb Stephen lol) love King and would never slam any of his works. This just wasn't what I expected. He has inspired me to not only read, but to get in touch with my imagination and write.

I loved it. It was truthful and raw and inspiring.

I've read it several times...any time I feel like giving up, I pull it off the shelf. It never fails to make me keep at it. The man is a genius.

Up until now I have heard nothing but great things about this book. I've only read a bit here and there, but am looking forward to really getting into it at some point.

I'll only read a book once, and then never again. Except this one. I've read the entire thing twice, but the parts that deal with writing (as opposed to the autobiographical parts) I've read 5 or 6 times.

I agree with Temlyn, I didn't hear anything bad about King's book until I came to AW, and even then, it's few and far in between. I think it is the best book on writing out there and I've read it numerous times. He's very frank about the business and always manages to inspire me to get words onto paper.

i have it on tape and have no where to play it! my MIL gave it to me to encourage me to write. i have heard nothing but good things about it, until now.
p.h., off to find a tape recorder

kristin724 said:

Hi all.

Anybody know where I can shop a 1k review of Stephen King's On Writing? I thought this was the best place to post, but feel free to move if need be.

What did yall think of it? I was a little less than impressed.

Click to expand...

I prefer King's non-fiction to his fiction, mainly because I've watched the same movies, read the same pulpy horror, and have a huge DVD/book collection with the same stuff. He's even watched Andy Milligan movies.

I'm not a big fan of King's recent fiction work myself (From a Buick 8 started brilliantly, but quickly got very boring.), although I do occasionally read his short stories and earlier stuff, but I enjoyed this book a lot, and could relate to most of it. King puts on loud music to write to; I find that music with lyrics is too distracting and puts me in "song writing" mode. I prefer to listen to some fast jazz fusion (Soft Machine, Ian Carr, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra) or slower paced jazz trios such as EST (Esbjorn Svenson Trio).

However, the best thing about it was his "daily word limit." I tried this once and set a limit of 2K words a day. I almost killed myself, but wrote a 100,000 word novel in a month - and it all began from a simple idea and a first chapter. (Most of was written under the influence of Deep Purple & Marillion & Rush - I don't even like Deep Purple much, but the lyrics were rubbish & the songs fast moving. It was after that I switched to Jazz - although I find some of the more mellow British folk singers like Cara Dillon, Show of Hands, etc) are good to write to.

I didn't learn a great deal from it, but did feel it was something I could relate to very strongly - almost like having a buddy who understands what it's like to be grabbed by the "bug" of writing. Both this and Danse Macabre are the only two King books I've ever re-read. Good stuff. Why were you unimpressed with it?

I loved the book and when I feel like throwing in the towel and pawning my computer for cheap sex and booze I take the book out and read it. I reread the chapter where Tabby pulls Carrie from the trash and the one where he tells when he got the call from the paperback publisher for Carrie and how he bought Tabby a blowdryer because all the other stores were closed.

It just shows me that even the biggest name in writing today struggled at one time and that if I keep going on I might reach that limit myself.

I think it's one of the best books on writing out there. I own a dog eared copy and have recommended it to more writers than I can count.

As to where you could shop a review of the book, that's a difficult question. Most book reviews are of just out works and since "On Writing" has been out for some years, it may be hard to find a place.

Post it here.

One could always check out the page on Amazon, right? There are reviews there. An editorial one, and other ones.

kristin724 said:

The Elements of Style is where most of it came from.

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Possibly, but King did what he does so beautifully - he took what we've all seen and heard and made it riveting. Like it had never been done before. I loved it.

Listened to it on DVD and having him read his own work, we get the benefit of his intended rhythm and it's a scream. Painless learning and worth twice the price.

kristin724 said:

I agreed with most of King's writing tips in the book, but The Elements of Style is where most of it came from. A lot of the stuff was nothing new to me, and I was dissapointed that most of the book turned into him talking about drugs. Maybe it was the painkillers talking I don't know.

I'm too cheap to post the entire review here. Does anyone know of a paying market? <gasp>

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You and I must have read a very different version of "On Writing." Maybe one or two percent of it came from Elements of Style. But even that one percent is valuable. Any how-book that doesn't contain this material isn't worth a penny.

And most of the book did NOT turn into him talking drugs. This, too, was very a small percentage of the book. And a very valuable percentage. Even the brief section about being on drugs contains serious, and new, writing advice that the wise reader caught and heeded.

Did you actually read "On Writing?" Neither of these statements shows any depth of knowledge about the book. They aren't even close to reality.

And if most of what's in "On Writing" isn't new to you, then you either aren't actually using it, or you should be selling like mad by now. You need to read "On Writing" again. Slowly and carefully. And take notes and count percentages this time.

Trsut me, if you really believe most of what's in "On Writing" comes from The Elements of Style, or that most of the book is about King being on drugs, you'll blasted out of the water should you even find a home for the review.

I agree with James, it doesn't seem like you're reading the same book. Drugs do not figure in the book much at all, as does style. It's true that it's not your conventional writing book. It doesn't have exercises or the like, but it's a heap better than those who do. Those books are boring and I put them down. King's book inspires me to write.

For the record I´m with James and bsolah on this one. I´ve actually started re-reading the book since I saw this thread, I´m about half-way through and I can remember 2, maybe 3, references to drink/drugs/mouthwash. Having never read The Elemnets of Style (shame on me ) I can´t comment about that but I find the book to be very interesting and helpful. I also like the fact that the book doesn´t have writing exercises (which personally I don´t like either).

I can see why people may or may not like the book but I think anybody who reads it should find at least a few things of value. I found many. Even with the more conventional style of writing book I ussually get something from them. At least On Writing is not written like an Ikea instruction manual. I like the humor and more relaxed aproach. Also coming from a writer who has sold that many books, as opposed to people who I´ve often never heard of (shame on me again???), makes me value it more.

And one final thing, I like King´s work but not everything. I´m not a groupie who believes every drop of ink from his pen (too old fashioned?) is pure genius (I can immediately think of 3 books I really had trouble reading, there are probably more). Well, that´s my 10 pence added.

I'll admit that it's my bible.

The fact that it is not a manual full of exercises is the appealling factor.

King does explain at the beginning that if that is what you are expecting then you are going to be disappointed.

For me, page 187, is worth buying the book for all on its own!

Best $7 I ever spent. The bio was old hat but the insights provided in the latter portion of the book should be required reading for all aspiring novelists.

I consider some of King's books modern classics and on equal footing with the best fiction of the past fifty years. I also dislike some of his books. (The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Insomnia, Thinners, Tommyknockers come immediately to mind)

With On Writing, King gives readers the plain, undiluted truth about writing fiction. No frills, no magic potions, no bs. In fact, the lack of bs may be the book's weakness. I suspect some folk expected to find the secret handshake that speeds them on the way to the ranks of the published. Instead, they found some key ingredients of good writing and the methodology to utilize those ingredients.

While On Writing may or may not help one get a book into Borders, I certainly believe following King's advice can and will make one a better writer.

The book wasn't meant to be just a manual on writing and King says so in the First Foreward, page 9.

"What follows is an attempt to put down, briefly and simply, how I came to the craft, what I know about it now, and how it's done. It's about the day job; it's about the language."

This tells me that he wants his readers to know how he came to be an author and all the trials and tribulations he went through getting there and about the demons he fought while he was there. It's his biography as well as how he writes.

I think he wanted his readers to get to know him, the person, and not just Stephen King, the name.

As a reader I like to know about the author, how he came to write, how he came up with the idea of that book, what some of the problems he faced while writing it and trying to get it published. I like Dean Koontz' new rereleases because he does that in the afterword. I also try and make it common to do this in my books I write. I want the reader to know what was going through my head when I wrote the book and let them know why things went the way they did.

On Writing is an awesome book because he shows that anybody can do this craft that we are all trying to do if you put your mind to it. I came away from the book thinking that I might actually be able to be a writer, I never got that from Elements of Style.

Damn, Kevin. I'm going to hire you to ghostwrite all my posts.