So I am reading (or listening to) On Writing by Stephen King, which is quite good as an audiobook since the author does the narration. No, I don’t fancy myself a great writer of fiction. I’m sure there is a great novel in me somewhere, unfortunately, it’s next to my winning lottery ticket numbers, but it is an interesting commentary on writing.
I like Stephen King’s writing style, so I was hoping to get a glimpse into how he does it. The book is not overly wordy, and at times reads like a high school writing course (fancy that, since King was a High School English teacher), but it made me pause and think about my writing style as well. I will try to apply a few of his ideas about writing and read a few of the books he suggests, but his main advice was to READ and WRITE a great deal, and you will get better. Guess I am doing the right thing with these blogs then.
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Oh and King has an excellent short commentary on the Virginia Tech Massacre and how the media has overly put focus on the idiot who did the shooting and whether you can predict from someone’s writings about whether they will “snap”. A good read.
I did promise that I might change things this past weekend. However, the weather was so spectacular that I felt obliged to go out and enjoy it. Maybe in a few days, who knows?
On Writing is a great book … well, on writing. Very insightful. I’m disappointed that he does not talk about The Dark Tower. He spent a good chunk of his life on that series.
There is some mention of the gunslinger series, but mostly it is a discussion of his other novels and his life around them. Interesting to hear.
–C8j