|
Practice writing and read good books.>
Sam Reviews Stephen King's "On Writing"
October 18, 2009
My wife and I were at the Tattered Cover in Denver, Colorado, to look at my books actually sitting on the shelves of a bookstore. The Tattered Cover had reviewed them and deemed them acceptable for its shelves – in all three locations (16th Street, Colfax and Highlands Ranch).
Di Zhen sat in the Fiction section on the second floor of the 16th Street Mall location; in the Business section under Management was Narcissism in the Workplace. I spoke to one of the workers about getting my books put on the New Fiction and New Non-Fiction shelves on the first floor, but I was informed those were reserved for Best Sellers. I was told that my books would really have to start selling before they would give them more prominence. Being a self-published nobody is a struggle!
My wife stumbled onto Stephen King’s “classic” as the Wall Street Journal describes it. “I’ve heard this is a very good book,” she told me, handing me On Writing. So this morning as I flew to D.C. from Colorado I read it.
The book has the usual endorsements from famous folks and well-known publications – from people who don’t need the advice and do not read the book as if it would be useful, yet tell us how inspiring and useful it is for the aspiring writer.
“I think,” I decided, “that what this book needs is a review from someone like me who wants to write, is a virtual unknown, and hopes to benefit from the insights Mr. King offers.”
An Autobiography
The book begins with an extended autobiography. Growing up with few means with his older brother and raised by a single mother, King offers the reader many a hilarious story about life in the fifties during much simpler times.
I confess that I was not expecting an autobiography, but King’s story provides insight into what made him a writer. I used to read biographies of famous people to learn what set them apart and enjoy these kinds of personal insights. When did King’s genius first display itself? What were the circumstances that affected his writing? What role did his parents play? Did he learn his craft, or was he born to write? King answers all these questions, but I will only address the aspects that interest me. You can read the book to get the detailed answers without my interpretation getting in the way.
King was born to write. Afflicted with passion to put pen to paper even as a young boy, he was quick to learn and exhibited an instinct, if his portrayal of his childhood is accurate, for writing. Life was hardscrabble, but because of the sound education that American society of the fifties offered coupled with the lack of expectations for a young boy coming from his background, he had the opportunity to chart his own path. And writing was the dirt and the gravel and the dust that made up the path on which he chose to walk from the very beginning.
For me, the description of his occupying an upstairs bedroom under the eaves, listening to the sound of rats in the attic and Grandma screaming to feed a horse that had died forty years earlier was vintage Stephen King. “Of course that would be the kind of bedroom little Stevie King would grow up in” is the only observation the honest reader can make.
King was an alcoholic and drug abuser for many years. This book appears to be a penance of sorts, the admission of his stupidity for falling into that lifestyle and his appreciation for his wife sticking with him through the good, the bad and the ugly – a cliché that Mr. King would assuredly criticize me for using had he not used it himself. I like that in the end King attributes much of his success to two things: he stayed physically healthy, and he stayed married to the wife of his youth. A healthy relationship, he admits, made continuity in his working life possible. And likewise, his passion for writing and the pleasure it brought him contributed to the stability of his health and home life.
What About Writing?
I want to highlight some of the key points that I took from the book.
1. Ideas come from ordinary experiences. King describes how he got his first original idea for the story Happy Stamps after seeing his mother’s tongue turn green from licking S&H Green Stamps. The story Misery came from a dream. He summarizes by talking about how “two unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun”. King tells us our job is not to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.
2. Toolbox.
a. Vocabulary. King tells us to use the vocabulary we already have. “It ain’t what you got, it’s how you use it.”
b. Grammar. “If you don’t already know it,” King says, “it’s too late.”
c. Verbs. Do not write in the passive voice.
d. Adverbs are not the writer’s friend.
e. The best form of dialogue attribution is “said”.
f. Avoid clichés.
g. Paragraphs can and should be neat and utilitarian. “The turns and rhythms of the story should dictate where each one begins and ends.”
3. On Writing.
a. There is a pyramid of writers.
i. On the bottom are the bad ones.
ii. Next are the competent ones.
iii. The next level is much smaller: the really good writers (like King).
iv. At the top (such as Shakespeare, Faulkner) are the geniuses, the divine accidents, gifted beyond our ability to understand or attain.
b. King holds to two theses.
i. Good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals: fill your toolbox.
ii. It is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad one; it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one; but it is possible with hard work, dedication and timely help to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.
c. To become a writer you must do two things: read a lot and write a lot.
d. What is “write a lot”? Mr. King writes ten pages a day. In his book, he gives a long description of how he creates the context to write every day. How his passion for a story fades when he does not vigorously pursue it. If only we who must work for a living could find the time to write as much as he. Nevertheless, it is an interesting saga, and if nothing else it whets the appetite for the day when we, too, might write fulltime for a living.
e. Novels consist of three parts: narration, description, dialogue.
f. Create the situation, the predicament, and let your characters work their way out of it their way. “…if you do your job, your characters will come to life and start doing stuff on their own.”
g. Profanity. “I grew up as part of America’s lower middle class, and they’re the people I can write about with the most honesty and knowledge.”
h. “Use anything that improves the quality of your writing and doesn’t get in the way of your story.”
i. Second drafts are made for symbolism and theme. Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich a story, helping to create a more unified and pleasing work. (On the other hand, it can hurt if the writer gets carried away.) Good fiction always begins with story and progresses to theme. Starting with questions and thematic concerns is a recipe for bad fiction.
j. Revision – how much and how many drafts? “For me the answer has always been two drafts and a polish. The first draft – the All-Story Draft – should be written with no help or interference from anyone else.” The second draft should be completed with a minimum of six weeks between writing the first to discover glaring holes in the plot or character development. Ask yourself the big questions: Is this story coherent? Does it have resonance?
k. Pace is the speed at which your narrative unfolds. Leave out the boring parts. Cut to speed the pace. “Kill your darlings.” Formula: 2nd draft = 1st draft – 10%.
Summary
Stephen King shares openly and provides important insights in his book. He is talented and creative. He is an irreverent quick wit. He is well read. He has a voracious appetite for detail. And he is highly intelligent. All this becomes evident as he describes how he thinks and why he thinks it.
King’s humor throughout the book is entertaining and infectious, but I confess that his use of profanity when he wants to add emphasis to the point he’s making turns me off. For me it is a paradox that a man who writes best-selling horror stories for a living uses the F-word as if it’s his favorite adjective.
Acknowledgement of God’s role in King’s life slips in and out of his writing. He should take his own advice and make it a theme of the book if he wants it to stick in the reader’s mind. I expected him to mention God in the section about his recovery after being hit by a van in 1999, but it did not happen.
There is also advice at the end on how to get an agent. I am unsure how helpful this counsel actually is. Same for the reading list, which felt like an afterthought stuck in by the publisher.
But overall this was a good read and well worth the time. Like me I suspect that you will learn a lot. It makes me want to write. And write. And write.
If you have a passion for writing, it's bound to do the same for you.
|
|
|
