On Writing
By Stephen King
Someone asked me what I was reading. Instinctively I led with, “I know it’s cheesy, but On Writing by Stephen King” and I don’t know why, but I’d probably do it again. There’s something about success that makes taking advice from that person seem played out or basic. Which is bad somehow? I literally started reading On Writing because I was listening to an author talk about their debut novel, how even though it was cliche, On Writing was what made them decide to sit down and put words to paper. So what is that? I guess taking advice from an author may come across as wanting to write like them, but I think King is arguing for the opposite to be true. He routinely asks the reader to take his advice only so far as it will help them, leaving his thoughts where you stand when they no longer serve you. I actually enjoyed his advice. I think that most of what he said was pretty inspiring for someone who just needs to be told to sit down and write the damn thing.
On Writing is divided into two sections, advice and memoir. The memoir begins and ends the novel for reasons that are made clear as you read the book. I’m not being vague for sake of a spoiler, it’s his life and you’ve probably heard all about it, but the way he tells it has merit to find out that way. Along with the memoir, there’s also a sense of self weaved throughout his writing advice. Mostly using examples from his career to highlight his points, but sometimes insight into himself he maybe didn’t intend in the first draft. It’s useful to see what he’s talking about, but not nearly as interesting as when he’s writing about his experience with the intent to tell you a story.
The actual writing instructions in the novel are better when he’s not being the school teacher he once was. Actually, he instructs best when he comes off as a high school teacher shooting the shit with a student outside of class. His best advice is to set a time to write as often as you can, every day if possible, and to shut the door to the room when you do so. I don’t have a door to my desk, and he actually says to shut the door with music if that works. And it does, it’s what I’m doing right now actually. His worst advice is an actual writing assignment that he ends by asking you to submit to his website with the promise that he will read some of them. It’s cringey in part to being dated, but there’s also a sense of awkwardness about the writing assignment itself. There’s plenty in On Writing on writing, and I appreciate the advice as I would from anyone; not as a strict rule, but as a possible technique to adopt when it suits me, combined with every other piece of advice I’ve read. I think what works best for him is the assurance that you probably know better about your writing than he does, everything else is just author talk.
I loved the memoir aspects of On Writing as well, and think that any fan of his work should read this to see his thoughts on sobriety, family, writing, editing, or college poetry. He writes as engagingly as he does with fiction, though I don’t think more non-fiction would be worth his time. It doesn’t seem like his heart would be in it. In On Writing he comes across as someone uninterested in hearing himself talk, that he’d rather show you his skills than tell you about them. There’s a self-reluctance here. He had a good idea, but now that he has to write it, he’s not such a fan. If he did write more non-fiction or memoir, it would certainly be different than this perfectly conserved, situational book. If he has, or does, decide to write outside of the realms that have served him so well, I’m going to read a lot more of his fiction before reading any deeper into his personal thoughts.