6.28k reviews for:

On Writing: A Memoir

Stephen King

4.34 AVERAGE


Honest, thoughtful, and sometimes wryly funny.

King doesn't sugarcoat the necessities of constant reading, discipline, and hard work. I'm immediately suspicious of wannabe writers who say they don't like to read. How pretentious is it to assume that you don't need to benefit from the experience of all the writers who have come before you, and that you and your born genius don't need polishing? King, however, is not one of those people. He includes an extensive list of books he has enjoyed at the back of On Writing, and his persistence and dedication to his craft despite poverty, drug addiction, and physical injury is nothing short of astonishing.

Fear the adverb.
Story is king.
2nd draft = 1st draft - 90%

King scatters these helpful tips, among others, throughout this book, but at the end of the day, King is clear that the best way to get anything done is to just do it. But he also reminds you that if you don't love what you do and forget that writing is meant to enrich, not consume, the rest of your life, maybe you should rethink your decision to write.

Honesty isn't always easy to take, but it's the kind of thing that the world needs more of. That and hard work, determination, and timeless magic of a good story.

(I don't usually like to buy books when I can just get them from the library, but whenever I next get the chance, I'm going to ask for a copy of On Writing as a reference. Whatever style of writing you're interested in, there's something in here for you to learn.)

Stellar.

I've always respected Stephen King as a writer. There is a core idea in his stories that is quite good and he explores it very well. So, I was curious to see what he had to say about writing.

Most of the book is Stephen King's personal history. The book is split into two parts. The first part is this history. This is followed by some solid advice. After that comes more history. If you don't want to learn about his life, you can skip directly to the second part. The advice he gives can probably be summarized in 2 pages as key points. It's probably advice you've heard elsewhere. But it felt like good advice (especially the part about the adverbs) and felt inspirational. Those are the two things you want out of a book about writing. You want it to inspire you to write and Stephen King definitely does that.

There are a lot of references to other people's works and there's even an appendix at the end with a list of works he had read recently and liked. I am sure that list and some of the comments ruffled a few feathers, so I commend him on making the choice. It was also interesting to see what kind of life lead to Stephen King being who he is. He is very honest and the autobiography parts make for a good read too.

Overall this is a good starter book on writing. It's probably not for people who aren't somewhat a fan of King's works though.
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*Audiobook*

I highly recommend the audiobook because Stephen King himself narrates, and the final hour is a recorded interview between King and one of his sons and fellow author, Joe Hill. After hearing Stephen King talk about his life, writing, his family, and then getting to the interview portion at the end, you really get a sense for how much love King has for his family which gets extra brownie points from me.

I picked this book up for a myriad of reasons. Many of these you neither care to read nor I care to type in the hopes Goodreads doesn’t crash before I can finish. However, one of these reasons is to simply write better as an academic and hope my dissertation doesn’t become an utter piece of garbage. I tend to over explain and baby the reader when the reader is likely someone 50+ with a PhD and likely too much power in their own academic institution.

Although King writes fiction, my academic writing is unclear to the point I sought additional help through a book teaching me how to write, and this text absolutely delivered. Full disclosure, I’ve yet to read one of Stephen King’s novels so my review is strictly on this book alone, although I have to say sharing a last name always gets extra brownie points.

If you’re a writer in any capacity, I highly recommend this book. This is definitely one to keep on the shelf and reference multiple times when you feel you’re in a writer’s slump.

kings psychological deconstruction of bad writers is spot on. 'bad writing is driven by fear', 'bad writers are ashamed of simple words', etc. its a sad book, not because king had the life-changing experience of being hit by a truck while writing it (an incident he recounted in details at the end of the book -- in a tour de force of the writing craft that hes been advocating until then), but because king honestly tells us all about his own doubts about how good he is as a writer, the things he tried to do to dispel those doubts, and how he didn't even think he should write this book until amy tan told him how audiences in her book tour never asked her about 'the language'. its hard to talk about yr low self-esteem as a writer without being either sentimental or all arrogant and denying it altogether. and king managed to avoid both by being honest. which is apt, since honesty is the most important thing in writing according to king.
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Absolutely changed my way of thinking about writing. 
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I will definitely read it again from time to time. His writing is so fun to read. He is not preaching or lecturing which makes the book so approachable. Anyone who is interested in learning how to write a story should start with this book because it doesn’t challenge you enough to discourage you. It gets you excited about writing which is what most of us need to take that first step.