You don't have to be a fan of Stephen King's
fiction to enjoy On Writing. But if you are one, you will
enjoy it even more...
Half autobiography, half practical advice for the aspiring writer,
On Writing will appeal to anybody who wonders about the
making of a piece of fiction.In the
first part of the book, with an irresistible sense of humor, King
evokes his troubled childhood (he and his brother were raised by a
single mother and a succession of babysitters), his early adulthood,
as he had to accept difficult unrewarding jobs to sustain his family
(he worked in a laundry for a while because he couldn't find a
teaching job) until he became the bestselling author we know...
He relates how, at a very early age, he
started writing short-stories that he submitted to sci-fi
magazines, never accepting defeat despite numerous rejections...
He recalls how the success of
Carrie marked the beginning of his
literary career. He also confesses to his
past struggle with booze and cocaine addiction, admitting he "barely remember[s] writing [Cujo]
at all" (and I thought reading it was
also a forgettable experience...).
King analyzes what works for him as a fiction
writer, explaining how he creates a "situation rather than [a] story", and
follows it where it leads him. Instead of
plotting, he builds his novels by defining
the general setting and characters, then
lets these characters come to life and find their own voices (sounds
familiar? if not, read The Dark Half!). He admits to 3 plot-driven stories: Dead Zone
(that he is proud of, and rightly so...) Rose Madder and
Insomnia (that he judges weak even though his readers might
disagree: I found Insomnia very original!).
King also puts his pride aside when he confesses that he is bothered by the
fact that he wrote his most-acclaimed novel, The Stand, more
than 20 years ago (I also have to agree that no novel
he's written since, however good, equaled The Stand...)
When King addresses the aspiring writer, he is
bluntly honest: not everyone is cut out to be a writer... He
however gives
some rules, grammatical or stylistic: the "tools" of the "craft", as
he calls them. But he mostly
insists on the basic principle: if you want to be a writer, he says,
"read a lot, write a lot"!
Finally, in a postcript, King recalls the
accident that nearly cost him his life a few years ago, and shows how his
Dreamcatcher, written during a painful recovery, reflects the
physical and mental sufferings he endured.
That King is a gifted writer, his fans had no doubt about
it.
But being
categorized as a "horror" writer has not done him much good in terms of
being recognized as talented. As he himself points out in
the foreword, a popular writer is never being asked about the
language, or for that matter about hidden meaning, metaphorical
intentions...
Such works as
The Dark Half or Misery (to mention only these two)
are certainly not devoid of these elements.
Readers who still doubt King's talent and consider
horror as a minor genre should try Hearts in Atlantis,
four intertwined stories that share Vietnam war as
a common background...
On Writing
gives us an insight of the man behind the books, not a creepy writer
who likes to dwell upon
morbid things but a very likeable person, genuine and dedicated to
his craft.
Rating: 
© Discussing Books, 06/27/2002
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