Review: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

I don’t know how this happened. I had an overflowing list of books to read in October, and Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft was not one of them. I ordered it in September, thinking that I would get around to it someday but not today; except when it arrived in the mail I was intrigued enough to read the first foreward, and then the second forward, and then the third, and then the next thing I knew I was laughing and crying and marking one hundred quotes that I loved and closing the book because I’d finished the whole thing. Which is rare for me with any sort of nonfiction, but that’s what happened.

About the book: On Writing is divided into sections within sections, some about King’s early life and writing career, some full of advice on honing your writing skills, some on questions King wanted to answer about his writing (complete with examples from his books and tales of how he came up the ideas). There’s a sample revision section, and a section full of book recommendations (in the 10th anniversary addition there’s an expanded list). There are instructions for assembling your writer’s “toolbox” and using to build a stronger writer. It’s all written with King’s usual flair, so that stories of King’s early childhood and cautions about the horrors of adverbs are equally appealing to consume.

“Some of this book– perhaps too much– has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it– and perhaps the best of it– is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will. Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up.”

On Writing consists of fewer than 300 pages, but it covers a lot. Each topic is kept brief enough (surprising for King) that the reader never gets bored, but the writer gives enough detail– succinct detail– that every section feels rich and worthwhile, a mountain packed into a molehill.

“A Memoir of the Craft” is a perfect description for this little book because it is most definitely a memoir, but it is also entirely focused on one man’s account of writing life. This book’s target audience seems to be the aspiring writer, the novelist as yet unpublished, and even the details of King’s life shared in this volume fit that aim: we see an ordinary child try and fail, try and rise, rise and nearly fall. King is humble about his talent, but honest in a way that new writers long to see.

Haven’t read any of King’s books before? That’s not a problem with this book. Although he does talk about his first publications and refer to some of his novels as examples when he’s giving literary advice, the reader of this memoir needs no outside knowledge of those works, in case horror and sci-fi aren’t your genres. On Writing is not about fiction and genres. It’s about being brave enough to pick up your pen and write, if that’s what you’re trying to do. It’s about making writing fun, and also taking it seriously. It’s a handbook of insightful reminders and doubt-banishing encouragements. Writing is hard. But King is here to help, no extra sci-fi reading required.

It is recommended, though. Reading, in general, is recommended. And isn’t that just what we readers want to hear?

My reaction: 5 out of 5 stars. I still can’t believe how much fun I had reading grammar rules and suggestions, and that wasn’t even the best of the book. It’s an encouraging read– no, an empowering read. It’s easily the best memoir I’ve ever encountered (although to be honest I don’t read memoirs very often). A lot of the writing tips were familiar to me from my college writing classes, but I was surprised how much I needed the reminder of a few of them, and they were all amusing to read. I’m going to be recommending this one loudly for a long time, so get comfortable and prepare yourself for that.

Further recommendations:

1. Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, especially the illustrated edition.  Stephen King talks about this one a lot in On Writing, and for good reason. If you’re new to writing (or not) and looking to improve your techniques, this is the best place to go. It’s a non-fiction guide full of the rules for writing and suggestions on when to break them. It’s not always a fun read, per se, but it is helpful. I’ve been inspired to revisit it after reading On Writing.
2. Anything written by Stephen King. If you came into On Writing for tips on writing, enjoyed the book, and haven’t read much else by King, you should fix that. He’a the King. My personal favorites at the moment are 11/22/63 (a time-travel book about attempting to prevent JFK’s assassination), The Dead Zone (the protagonist can see selectively into the future and must commit a treasonous crime to stop a growing tyrant), and Bag of Bones (a writer who’s just lost his wife is trying to put his life back together ends up living in a haunted house that’s maybe trying to kill him).

Coming up next: who really knows, at this point. I wasn’t intending to read On Writing, for starters, and lately I’ve been having a lot of fun reading multiple books at once (I just finished an entire four-book series that I’ll talk about in my monthly wrap-up). So I’m currently reading A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin and plan to review that soon, but I’m also starting Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. I’ll probably be reviewing one of these soon.

Have you read anything that really surprised you lately?

Sincerely,

The Literary Elephant