King discusses in some detail the merits of the slim volume he feels should grace every writer’s bookshelf. The third tool he cites is style-and the elements thereof, courtesy of Strunk & White. A few in a yard create visual interest and may even look pretty … but an entire field of them (unless you’re my grandfather and are planning to cook and devour the greens with a lovely chunk of Italian bread) might just send you, shrieking, toward the gardening shed for the industrial-strength adverb-er, weed-killer. King rails against adverbs, likening them to dandelions. Then he adds-for which I might have to travel to Maine for the sole purpose of planting a big ol’ kiss on his forehead, “Grammar is not just a pain in the ass it’s the pole you grab to get your thoughts up on their feet and walking.” ( On Writing, p. Bad grammar produces bad sentences.” ( On Writing, p. When these rules break down, confusion and misunderstanding result. King says, “Communication composed of these parts of speech must be organized by rules of grammar upon which we agree. The second item King places squarely in the top compartment of the writer’s toolbox is grammar. Or “Gaah,” a communication of mild exasperation in a recent chapter of my latest work in progress. Or “shmedlap” (defined by its originator as “anything less than wonderful”).
Like “Blech!” (what you’d probably say when plunging your arm into a bucket of goop). Included in his discussion of the vocabulary tool is a bit about the vocabulary you aren’t likely to find in any dictionary … because people sometimes have a tendency to speak words that really aren’t. Learn to differentiate between phenomenal wordsmiths and those who rely on clichés and old saws to deliver trite, hackneyed messages. Read to develop an understanding and an appreciation of good writing … and lousy writing. Read everything you can get your hands on-most especially works in your particular genre. As King reiterates throughout the book, you can’t be a serious writer unless you’re an avid reader. And if you don’t have a broad vocabulary, you would do well to expand it. First and foremost, of course, is vocabulary.
On Writing features a “Toolbox” section, in which King outlines the tools (or skills, if you prefer) every good writer should amass before beginning to write.Īs with every good toolbox, he says, the most commonly used implements go on top, where they’re readily accessible. It’s helpful that King starts off with the memoir portion, because it’ll give you, the perhaps-otherwise unsuspecting reader, a bit of insight into why he says some of the things he says later on in the book. And what about the third section? That’s a less-than-20-page recounting of the June 1999 crash that left King (quite literally) crushed by the side of a road in rural Maine, the victim of-as he described it-“a character right out of one of my own novels.” But, hey, what’s a smidgen of stylistic difference between friends? Stephen King’s On Writing is both entertaining and informative … besides which, it’s a pretty quick read.ĭivided into three parts, the first section is the memoir, which gives the reader a basis from which to absorb the information in the second portion, the writing advice.
Strictly speaking, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft isn’t merely a book about writing it’s also a tasty little memoir.
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