Writing About Writing
June 17th, 2008. Filed under: Tuesday's Tempting Reads.That’s what I’m doing and that’s what Stephen King did. I just finished reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. This book is a combination of memoir and instruction manual. In other words, it’s very entertaining. It’s divided into four sections, the first of which is C.V. It’s not really an autobiography, although it presents autobigraphical details to show how he was formed into a writer. This section will make you laugh. I loved chapteer nineteen in which he explains why he didn’t belong in a smart people’s club. No, I won’t tell you why. Read it yourself and be prepared to smile or even laugh out loud.
The second section is Toolbox. In this section, King helps you develop your writer’s toolbox. He shows how to make your material reader friendly without complicated words and complex sentences. One of the most useful tools that he recommends is Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. This is a book I’ve carried around with me since I had to buy it for one of my college classes. I’ve been vindicated. I don’t know how many times people have asked me why I’ve held onto that “old book.” Now I can tell them Stephen King told me I need it. He also tells you what you don’t need.
The next section, On Writing, gets into the actual process of writing and editing. Not surprising is the advice to read. He says that you need to read a lot as well as write a lot. You need to set a goal of writing a certain amount every day. Some days it will be easier than others, but you need to stick with that goal if you want to be a writer. He also discusses your surroundings and atmosphere in your writing place. Keep that place exclusively for your writing and it will help you get in the mindset whenever you are there.
King wraps up the book with another bit of memoir, On Living: A Postscript. This takes us to the 1999 accident in which he was struck by a van and nearly killed. It chronicles his recovery and his return to writing. He ends with an “undressed” story and the revised version so that one can visualize the editing of a manuscript.
If you’re serious about writing, you need this book. I checked it out of the library, read it and now have to buy myself a copy. It will be living in my toolbox right next to Strunk and White.
I still like the part about why he doesn’t belong in a smart people’s club.