On Writing

For those of you who have read this blog for any amount of time, you will be well aware of the fact that I have a general like for most books and I read all different kinds of genres. The one genre I really haven't gotten into (and not sure that I will) is horror fiction. I teach the horror story to my creative writing students (they love it - gets them writing) but I really haven't read much. But I kept hearing about how this book was one of the greatest on the craft of writing and exceptionally real. I put it off for two years and finally picked it up. I figured it was in my classroom and I recommended it to my writing students so I should read it right? I was pleasantly surprised at how much enjoyability I found in reading this book.

The first 100 or so pages of this book are some of King's memories - his horrific, chronic ear infections that had to be drained, his natural draw to the old horror films as a child and his early passion to write. He covers a bit about meeting his wife, Tabitha, his passion for writing, and getting the idea to write his first book, Carrie. He also covers the great number of rejection letters he received through his career, the crap jobs he worked trying to make it as a writer and the day things started to turn around. Then, he spends the rest of the book talking about what he considers to be the essential skills a writer should possess, what is important and what is crap (he chooses some other words...) and reminds the reader many times that nothing matters if the story isn't good.

I LOVED this book. I laughed out loud several times, which I really did not expect. As before mentioned, I have not read any of his books, but I wonder if his tone is as straightforward there as it was here. I think that is one of the reasons I loved this book. I appreciated the praise he gave to many authors, but also the way he would state both name and work when he found something that was a disgrace. His boldness was refreshing, especially in a world where everyone LOVES everything anyone has written. While I really, really want to be a published writer, I really want to be one that is GOOD - not one who is published for the sake of publishing. If nothing else, reading this book reinforced that idea, and has me very excited to get going.

*DISCLAIMER: There is some pretty strong language in this book - not really excessive, but still there. If ANY of the swear words offend you, this may not be the work for you.