It’s a mystery to me why Stephen King is known primarily as a horror writer and not as a humorist. On Writing is freaking hilarious in places. Anyone who can talk about being farted on by a two hundred pound baby-sitter in a book that’s ostensibly about prose production — and make it work — has got my vote. No wonder he’s the most widely published author on the planet.
The book is basically divided into two parts: a sort of autobiographical sketch of King’s childhood and early adulthood up to selling Carrie, and then a large chunk of very practical writing advice. Both are laced with the aforementioned humor, which King uses to make his points. Having worked as both writer and editor in my time, I found the advice to be eminently sensible. Anyone who is planning to write professionally should have this book. And people who are simply interested in the life of, and the writing process as it goes on in, one of our current masters will find the book rewarding as well.
I have to admit that I’ve found King’s fiction to be hit-or-miss. Probably unlike most people, I actually haven’t read that much of his work. I liked The Green Mile and several of his short stories, but found Gerald’s Game to be terminally boring. If On Writing is any indication, though, his non-fiction, like the movies made from his novels, may prove to be more consistently rewarding.
Unlike a lot of the fiction I’ve read lately, this is a book that I think one could profitably come back to every few years or so. We have two copies in our household, one hardback and one paperback, and I plan on hanging on to them both.
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