Book Report #77 - On Writing

On Writing by Stephen King

At the Santa Barbara Writers Conference I was told I had to read this. It wasn't given an option. Since there's nothing I like more than being told exactly what to do I bought it and read it.

The first section, C.V., now salsa-spattered so you know I read it with gusto, was not fair. King has the charisma of ten people. The story of his childhood was as joyous as Bill Bryson's in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. His honesty about his alcoholism was stunning and his ride to publication thrilling.

Then it kind of fell off for me. I appreciate that he went through the mechanics of writing as thoroughly as he did but I just have this thing where I don't like talking about the process of writing. I'd rather just write. Actually, King feels the same way. He was just trying to impart some knowledge to beginning writers who were asking for it.

The last section covered his brush with death when he was run over by a bus. What a bitch that was. It was a nice, albeit horrifying, peek into this larger-than-life writer's life.

General consensus: You have to read it for the first chapter. Then use what you can of the rest.