Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King - a podcast by ApocD

This was the third time I've readOn Writing. It's divided into two parts: the first part covers King's life and the factors that contributed to and influenced his early writing and subsequent career, and the second part covers how to write.

In the first part, King tells stories about his life that show how he became a writer. My favorite story was how he learned that the paperback rights toCarriehad sold and how much money he would receive.

In the second part, King describes how he writes and offers writing advice. He refers often toThe Elements of Styleby Strunk and White, another book I would recommend. He says that in order to write you have to read; he describes people who come up to him and say they want to be writers but that they don't have time to read. King has no time for them and neither do I. I like that his advice often leads to a loss of the pretension that surrounds so much writing; you don't have to use big words, just use what you know. You don't have to fill your writing with euphemisms; just be honest. It's all great advice.

There's a short part at the end in which King describes getting hit by a van back in the summer of '99. At the time, he was halfway through theOn Writingmanuscript.

If you write, this book is highly recommended. If you don't, I still recommend it. You could do a lot worse than reading about King's life and how to kill unnecessary adverbs. A lot worse.

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