Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

24 reviews

authorrachelcooper's review

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slow-paced

0.25

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chromatography's review

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funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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mythriser14's review

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slow-paced

1.25

I was disappointed and disgusted in this book on several levels. I made sure to read the hole thing so I wouldn’t leave a half baked review on first impressions. But it sucked and I’ll try to explain why: 
  1. We spend the first third of the book in Random life stories and a strange biography I couldn’t really figure out the point of. Yes, I know it’s a memoir, but if he wants to write a memoir write a memoir, if he wants to write a how-to book, do that, but I really wasn’t a fan of reading about him throwing up scrambled eggs into his mothers shoes and turning around and talking about how you may only become “merely competent.” If you have a memoir as part of a book on writing, shouldn’t it be about writing? 
  2. When you get to the actual writing advice, it’s redundant and reminiscent of anything you might have found googling the topic. He adds nothing new except a level of crudity he passes off as humor and the entire rest of the book could have been very well left at these two lines: “good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style).“ and  “it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.” So basically, go to elementary school and if you linger on the unlucky side of writing skills, you are doomed to be no more than merely competent. Thanks for that, Stevie. That makes all aspiring writers with imposter syndrome feel truly awesome. 
  3. The aforementioned crudeness and poor language literally gave a poor excuse of it being a part of the world and mocks those who don’t like it as being “legions of decency.” Just because it’s a thing that has become so common doesn’t mean I want it to be shoved in my face every other word either. I don’t appreciate being called “cowardly and dishonest” if I chose to write without it or dislike it in his writing. 
  4. The most interesting part of the book was the section on his car accident, but I still have to wonder about the point of it. 

My advice? If you’re looking for a good book on how to write better, go read Ally Carter’s “Dear Ally, how do you write a book” and ignore her prompting to read this one. 
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bookishlittleme's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

All I can say is that I'm so glad he wrote this book. The section of the book focused on his life was extremely interesting and the actually lessons on writing were extremely insightful. There are so many memorable and meaningful quotes that are going to stick with me in my writing endeavours. A must read for anyone looking to get into or better their writing!
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notesseton's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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rishel's review against another edition

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amykwrites's review against another edition

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funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.25

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raesansom's review

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funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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vigil's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

while i wasn’t the most invested in the memoir aspect of this book (it wasn’t bad in the slightest, i’m just a girl on a mission and i want the writing advice more than anything) i don’t think there was a part of this book i thought was unnecessary. i didn’t agree with all of his advice, but i think all of it has value and is worth contemplating  
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ainereads's review

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informative inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.5

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