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A review by kimberlyf
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
5.0
“One of the cardinal rules of good fiction is never tell us a thing if you can show us instead”
I have read some Stephen King work that I loved and some that I didn’t love but I DID love this.
The first part of this book is a collection of short personal stories of King’s life and I love that he chose to start the book this way. I had many laugh out loud moments within these stories: “During that same period I remember believing… that a bitch was an extremely tall woman. A son of a bitch was apt to be a basketball player”. I also very much enjoyed his stories of alcoholism because, of course, I love any personal reflection story from a good ole alcoholic.
The second part of the book is King’s advice, well… on writing. "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot". While some of it seems obvious, you could do worse than to spend some time reading advice from one of the most popular best selling authors of all time. Can I also say that I love the way he talks about writing for his wife.
*I haven’t read Misery myself but it is worth noting that there are definitely some spoilers for it in here so maybe read that first if you are wanting to. Spoilers for Carrie & The Stand too
I have read some Stephen King work that I loved and some that I didn’t love but I DID love this.
The first part of this book is a collection of short personal stories of King’s life and I love that he chose to start the book this way. I had many laugh out loud moments within these stories: “During that same period I remember believing… that a bitch was an extremely tall woman. A son of a bitch was apt to be a basketball player”. I also very much enjoyed his stories of alcoholism because, of course, I love any personal reflection story from a good ole alcoholic.
The second part of the book is King’s advice, well… on writing. "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot". While some of it seems obvious, you could do worse than to spend some time reading advice from one of the most popular best selling authors of all time. Can I also say that I love the way he talks about writing for his wife.
*I haven’t read Misery myself but it is worth noting that there are definitely some spoilers for it in here so maybe read that first if you are wanting to. Spoilers for Carrie & The Stand too