On Writing by Stephen King

This is the first Stephen King book I've read because I'm not fond of the horror genre. Like so many books, I learned about this one from Brain Pickings, which featured it as an essential 2012 book on reading and writing. I liked the book: King has an easy conversational style, and offers some good advice for storytellers in general. Indeed, I kept thinking about how to incorporate his advice as I teach scientific communication. I also think his advice can be used to read better. Below are my notes:

• Advice from a newspaper editor: "When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story." (p. 57)
  
• [Writing] starts like this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around. (p. 101)
• Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind, if it is appropriate and colorful. If you hesitate and cogitate, your will come up with another word...but it probably won't be as good as your first one....Given that [a word is only a representation of the meaning], why in God's name would you want to make things worse by choosing a word which is only cousin to the one you really wanted to use? (p. 118)
• [T]he job of fiction is to find the truth inside the story's web of lies, not to commit intellectual dishonesty in the hunt for the buck. (p. 159)
• Book-buyers aren't attracted, by and large, by the literary merits of a novel; book-buyers want a good story to take with them on the airplane, something that will first fascinate them, then pull them in and keep them turning the pages. (p. 160)
• In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech. (p. 163)
  
• I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren't compatible. (p. 163 - I'm rather surprised how little King thinks of plot, but he assures us, "[If] you decide I'm crazy, that's fine. You won't be the first.")
  
• [Writing dialogue and building characters boil] down to two things: paying attention to how the real people around you behave and then telling the truth about what you see. (p. 189)
• Good fiction always begins with story and progresses to theme; it almost never begins with theme and progresses to story. (p. 208 - he notes George Orwell's Animal Farm as one exception)
• 2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10% (p. 222)
• The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn't very interesting. (p. 227)
• You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself. (p. 236)
• You can't make them like your story, but you can at least make it easy for them to try to like it. (p. 244 - the importance of a professional presentation!)
  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Dates: 14-27 January 2012