On Writing: A memoir of the craft - Stephen King

21stDec'24

I didn’t know who Stephen King was before picking this book up. I had not read any of his novels. (I am now reading the Shining and the Stand). What better way is to know about someone than that person telling you in their own words? This is why I love autobiographies. But I have felt there is some level of exaggeration going on in most of them- that the thoughts people claim to have when they went through a period are thoughts that perhaps didn’t occur during the moment – Its only when they had to write about the episode, that they reflect and make stuff up. That is the problem with autobiographies – as a reader I don’t like being lied to.

I love Stephen for this – he is not pretending to be somebody who he is not. This memoir is as honest as they come. He has highlighted his life and how he came to be a writer. It contains lots of interesting writing tips.

I am jealous of Stephen because he loves what he does (and gets more than adequately compensated for it – but that was not always the case). In his book, he talks about how hard those days are where he is unable to write. That’s crazy. It’s very rare for people to find passions like that.

“I have written because it fulfilled me. Maybe it paid off the mortgage on the house and got the kids through college, but those things were on the side—I did it for the buzz. I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever”

Tools and Tips for writing –

1. “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut”

2. You can write anywhere you want. As long as you get a space where the door can be shut, that’s all you need. Be determined.

3. Write whatever you want to write about. Imbue your writing by your personal experience of life, friendships, relationships, sex and work.

4. Stories and novels consist of three parts –

a. Narration – moves the story from Point A to Point B and finally to Z

b. Description – creates sensory reality for the reader

c. Dialogue – brings characters to life through their speech

5. Vocabulary – It will come naturally with your reading. Do not dress your vocabular ever!

“One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you’re maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones.”

“As the whore said to the bashful sailor, - It ain’t how much you’ve got, honey, it’s how you use it.”

6. If you want to be a successful writer – learn how to describe things. I understand the importance of this and in general, I suck at describing things. I am always at a lack of words. Remember those times when you ask your friends to describe or elaborate something and they reply with – its just vibes? Yeah, that just means they are unable to describe it. It’s important to describe for your reader, no other way you can make them imagine what’s on your mind.

7. Don’t reveal everything about the characters through direct narration. Instead, show the reader and help them figure out based on their actions and thoughts.

8. Ideal Reader – This person is the one your share all your material with and trust for feedback. Write as if they are your only audience – make the story for them. For Stephen, his IR is his wife.

9. Writing/ Creative writing classes are overrated. “You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself. These lessons almost always occur with the study door closed. Writing-class discussions can often be intellectually stimulating and great fun, but they also often stray far afield from the actual nuts-and-bolts business of writing.”

10. Grammar – grasp the basics. It’s an important tool to represent your thoughts. Just know how to make coherent sentences.

11. Do NOT use passive voice unless forced to –

“The timid fellow writes The meeting will be held at seven o’clock because that somehow says to him, “Put it this way and people will believe you really know.” Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back your shoulders, stick out your chin, and put that meeting in charge! Write The meeting’s at seven. There, by God! Don’t you feel better?”

12. The adverb is not your friend: Most adverbs are redundant. Think carefully about their purpose.