Stephen King | On Writing: What Writing Is / Toolbox / On Writing

Even though this second 100-page section of On Writing was not as full of stories and humor and attention-captivation goodness as the first, King presents a wealth of great writing advice and certainly taught me a thing or two I did not know before.  What Writing Is, a brief 5-page-long section of the book, brought up a line of thought I had never considered before: writing is like telepathy.  That idea kind of weirded me out at first, but as I kept reading, it made perfect sense.  I thought it was awesome to consider that we can read a message that was written anytime in the past and still understand it- like communicating through time travel.  Also, I thought King's 'experiment' when he describes a scene and the reader imagines it in their mind was crazy...transferring a thought or picture from one person's mind to another, through time and distance? Crazy.

As I read on into the Toolbox portion of On Writing, I found the extended metaphor of the 'writer's toolbox' that King used to be both clever and helpful. The first level, King says, should be a solid vocabulary. I fully agree with this- I love words and vocabulary and spelling and the way a tiny change in diction can change the whole meaning of a piece of writing.  I like how Mr. King reminds us, though, that it is "not how much you have, but how you use it," regarding vocabulary.  He means to say that writers do not necessarily have to try to impress their readers by utilizing eloquent, grandiose, extravagant idioms;  simple, plain, straightforward language gets the point across just fine. Grammar is also in the top level of the toolbox, which means that a solid grip is a necessity for good and effective writing. I LOVE grammar. No really, I do. I'm one of THOSE people. I've never heard that adverbs are bad though, but I guess it makes sense now that I consider it. Sometimes they just get annoying.

The second level of the 'writer's toolbox' is elements of style. King does mention on page 131 that "Teachers assign [essays] when they can't think of any other way to waste your time." Whoa! Rude. Anyway, I like how he says that fiction writing focuses on the beat of the reading.  All the rules about 'dialogue attribution,' 'phonetically rendered language,' and the uses of commas and apostrophes could get pretty confusing in fiction writing, though.  All in all, the Toolbox is very instrumental in helping the reader becoming a stronger writer.  Probably some of the most helpful advice that Mr. King offers is to write about what we know and like, which makes sense because it's definitely easier to write about something I actually care about as opposed to, I don't know, the agricultural endeavors of ancient inhabitants of Northeastern Latin America. Right?

Overall, the midsection of On Writing has given me useful advice to become both a better reader and writer as well as prompted me to work to sharpen my skills .

Stephen King | On Writing: Curriculum vitae

On Writing is definitely different from any other book I have been required to read for school.  It has actually kept my attention for longer than the first five or so pages.  Stephen King knows how to write in a way that is not only simply worded, easy to read, and keeps the reader's attention, but also gets his point across, I think, exactly as he means it, without being ridiculously, excessively verbose.  King uses metaphors, similes, humor, stories, and real life examples to make a point so well that sometimes the reader is so entertained that they don't even realize they are being taught a lesson.  I liked that while reading On Writing, without even realizing, I was learning about how a writer is "formed" (not made; as King says, "the equipment comes with the original package"--people are either born with a talent or they aren't), the writing process, where ideas come from, and how rejection (in anything, not just writing) can lead to success eventually.  For example, in the middle of one of King's stories about writing sports columns for the Lisbon Weekly Enterprise, he remembers how his boss John Gould edited his first story and taught him something that he still remembers to this day: leave out all the things that aren't the story.  Here the reader learns this valuable lesson as well.  And we thought we were just being entertained.

I love reading about people.  I enjoy learning about people's childhoods, pasts, what experiences have happened to them that led them to where they are today.  Perhaps this is one of the reasons On Writing was so interesting to me.  Stephen King's childhood was very unstable, with a single mother struggling to meet her children's day-to-day needs as well as her own.  I think it is intriguing, though, that even though he had such a rough beginning, he still finds ways to look back on his past with a sense of humor.  Most people who come from similar situations like that I think would be feeling sorry for themselves.

I found it fascinating how King explains where his story ideas come from.  Out of nowhere.  While doing a tedious everyday job like cleaning the girls' locker room.  It's neat to me that such a mundane task eventually led to his initial success as a real author.  Also, I wasn't expecting that King is a Catholic.

On Writing so far has been pretty enjoyable for me, and after I finish it I'd like to check out some more of Stephen King's books.  He is a brilliant author, very smart, and I think I could be becoming a fan.