Stephen King’s “On Writing”: An Introduction

Apparently Stephen King writes horror novels. I didn’t know that.

Think I’m being facetious? Think again. Until recently, I thought he was in the film business—some kind of scary movie director. You can imagine, therefore, my confusion when I kept hearing recommendations for his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Either he was a  man of many talents or else he was out of his depth in penning writing tutorials. Regardless, it was mentioned enough times to make me look into it. 

Scaredy Cat

The reason for my cluelessness is that I don’t enjoy being scared. I don’t watch scary movies, and I don’t read scary books. I’ve tried a few of each, and they were not my cup of tea—no sir, not at all. So that pretty much rules out Mr. King. But now I can boast that I’ve read one of his books: On Writing. To be honest, it’s likely to be the only one I’ll read. Sorry, Stephen. Nothing personal—it’s just that my brain doesn’t need any more fodder for freaking me out. Life provides plenty for me to ruminate on. 

But if I’m only going to read one book by Stephen King, I’m glad it was this one. I understand why people recommend it so highly and so often. His writing style is simple, clear, and conversational. His stories are engaging. His humor is surprising, and his advice is solid. (Also, his language is crude, which I wasn’t expecting. That detracted from the experience for me, personally.) But overall, the book was well worth the read. 

The Fun That’s to Come

Over the next few weeks I’d like to share with you a handful of gems I’ve mined from the book. You may not be writing a novel at the moment. You may not even be planning to write so much as a short story in the near future, and that’s all right. This series will still teach you how to improve everyday communication and how to pursue a task with diligence. But for those who are interested in writing in any capacity, you will definitely want to take note of these next few posts. You’ll learn:

• History: What made Stephen King the (disturbing) writer he is today
• Tools: The basics and extras that should fill every writer’s toolbox
• Enrichment: The importance of reading and writing…a lot
• Draft 1: Narration, description, and dialogue
• Draft 2: Symbolism, theme, and pace
• Tips: Characterization, back story, and research
• Fame and Fortune: How to get published and find an agent

Short and Sweet

In the spirit of King’s advice, I’m going to make a colossal effort to keep the posts short and sweet. …I’ll give you a minute to pick yourself up off the floor and recover from your shock. I know that brevity is not my forte—not by a long shot. But what kind of doofus would read a book about writing better and then fail to apply anything she learned, am-I-right? So here’s to turning over a new leaf, at least for this series. 

And just to show you that I mean business, I’m going to wrap it up right this very minute. I hope you’re as excited about this new series as I am, and I can’t wait for you to tune in next time for the tale of woe, danger, and humor that is Stephen King’s childhood. Until then, stay safe, my friends! 

Check out his biography here!

P.S.: My deepest apologies for putting a book title in quotation marks in the post’s heading. This blog platform won’t let me italicize it. I will lose sleep over this, but I hope you won’t. Bleh.