Day 290: On Writing

This is one of those books that tops every best 'how to write' list. It shows up alongside the likes of 'Elements of Style,' 'Characters and Viewpoint,' and 'Save the Cat!' 'On Writing' has a little something more than those books though. It sets itself apart by being part writing manual, part memoir. Stephen King lays out his entire career from childhood to the time he wrote the book in 1997, including many of the hardships and triumphs along the way. It takes what is, to many people, a stuffy topic and turns it into a story. The full title is 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft' and it lives up to that name so well. It's more than just a book about how to write, it's a book about a world renowned, best selling author and his relationship with the craft. It's deeply personal at times, equally heartbreaking and uplifting, and chock full of good advice. It's one of my favorites for a good reason and I plan to come back to it every once in a while no matter how far along the writing journey I might get.

The technical advice he presents is solid, but often basic compared to some of the other books I've read, namely 'Characters and Viewpoint,' which is much denser when it comes to the knowledge imparted. That said, the point of 'On Writing' isn't really to make every little technique known. For being a memoir, it's actually amazing how much time he makes for handing out advice. My favorite bit, as I said yesterday was:

"Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position."

Here's my other favorite, not too much later in the book:

"... I was puzzled. I asked him why he'd lugged Fazza's [grandpa] toolbox all the way around the house, if all he'd needed was that one screwdriver. He could have carried a screwdriver in the back pocket of his khakis.

'Yeah, but Stevie,' he said, bending to grasp the handles, 'I didn't know what else I might find to do once I got out here, did I/ It's best o have your tools with you. If you don't, you're apt to find something you didn't expect and get discouraged.'"

This kind of advice is the stuff that seems obvious but bears repeating. Some of his more advanced tips come much later in the book, tips about active and passive voice, character arcs, that sort of thing. Personally, I thought his take on active and passive voice was a little wishy washy, but I haven't sold millions of books so who am I to judge? Much of it is the kind of advice you feel happy to read because you're already doing it. It's empowering to know you have a lot of this stuff already in your toolbox without having identified it. Taking a more intentional approach to things like expanding your vocabulary, structuring a plot or deciding to wing it, drawing suspense out, all stuff that may come naturally in the course of writing is a valuable thing to learn. Of course reading it reminded me of how much I take for granted sometimes. It's easy to forget that many of these things require active polishing if you want to improve them in a particular direction. Otherwise, if you're like me, you'll be adding and losing random words from your vocabulary every time you read a new book, or forgetting that plot structure you studied, or whatever other 'basic' stuff that can easily go unattended for long enough to rust.

I don't think I'll ever outgrow this book because the stories he tells are so good, but some of the advice is a little too barebones for me at this point. I'm looking forward to reading these upcoming writing books to get some really nitty gritty tips. I thoroughly enjoyed reading 'Characters and Viewpoint' so I'm hoping they're just as enlightening. Keep an eye out, I should be able to finish up the next review sometime next week.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley