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bookhopper 's review for:
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Stephen King
Hmm. It's not getting 5 stars, as I would consider it more memoir than craft. It is a great book overall, though. The tone he writes in is quite personable and funny; it makes me want to read his works, something I never thought I'd be interested in. King is a proponent of "write a lot, read a lot," which is similar to other well-established authors (I'm thinking Le Guin here especially). If I were to summarize King's advice it'd be something like: the "closed door" policy for the first draft, discovery writing vis a vie "uncovering a fossil," and figuring out, then writing for, your Ideal Reader. There are some agency-advice bits which I'm ignoring b/c it isn't relevant etc.
Oh, my final thought was that I think Brandon Sanderson misrepresented King in his 2025 lecture series. Sure, King is a discovery writer but leaving it at "if King outlines his story, he feels as if he's written it already," I feel, does King a disservice. Maybe there's a point to make about "discoverers" vs. "outliers"-- a dubious confusion as to how the hell the other one is able to write anything at all.
Oh, my final thought was that I think Brandon Sanderson misrepresented King in his 2025 lecture series. Sure, King is a discovery writer but leaving it at "if King outlines his story, he feels as if he's written it already," I feel, does King a disservice. Maybe there's a point to make about "discoverers" vs. "outliers"-- a dubious confusion as to how the hell the other one is able to write anything at all.