The book is masterfully written by Stephen King, containing wonderfully chunky sections that detail his younger life experiences, the tools every writer needs, a hefty section about the writing process itself, and then a capstone which details his life after a gnarly car accident.
In this post I aim to summarize the main points I took away from this book.
Scheduling:
King offers that a writer should set aside a specific time each day, and he does mean every day ( because Stephen King is mad but passionate ), that time should be completely dedicated to writing.
Curtains drawn, door locked, phone hucked to the other side of the room and if you can help it write longhand on paper so even your computer can't distract you.
Setting aside this time will make writing feel like a real thing you're accomplishing, you know when and where you're going to take the time to just write.
Having this set aside and scheduled will also inform your muse ( what King uses to refer to his personified inspiration, if that sounds strange, its because it is but King explains it better ) when to show up and to: "chomp their cigar"
I have taken this step to heart and for a week thus far from 9 to 10:30 am I have made my bedroom a perfect creative prison in which I am doing solely writing. I must speak as highly as possible of this technique. it really gets you in the mood quickly, especially when you're aware of its arrival the night before. You'll be very excited about getting to write.
Cuttin' the Crap:
Throughout this book king is adamant about being straightforward, ignoring unnecessary techniques, and above all else getting right to the story.
Specifically he talks about how stories benefit from not slogging down their readers with backstory, how a writer can benefit from simply writing everything onto the page and then fixing it up later, and especially King is adamant about his hate for adverbs.
After you read his few page tirade against Adverbs, I won't dwell on this for as long as he might. but you won't be able to see an adverb again without really thinking about its place in your writing.
The attention to simply telling your story in the most straightforward way possible can be a great relief for many writers to hear. I know it has been for me.
Intended Reader:
There is a beautifully wholesome section of this book that details King's relationship with his wife and his writing. Describing her as his Intended Reader, the person he thinks will chuckle at this line or will shed a tear at that one.
He imagines this while he's writing his first draft or so and this act of thinking ahead as to how your piece will be received gives you some foresight into what messages or emotions your story might be evoking, and how you can improve upon them.
This is a similar technique to one i've heard comedy actors/ performers use. where the live stage can be a very panic inducing place so you focus up, You find one friend and you act as though you're performing just for them.
This takes off some of the pressure of the outside viewer and this same lens when applied to writing can help you forget about the whole world reading your story, and just think about how you're trying to impress them (your intended reader) and make them laugh, instead of the entire world.
Closing:
Im near certain that every writer by this point has heard the old, "Show don't tell line" but like everything in life and in writing, it must be a balancing act. So i've taken Kings quote of, "Never tell us if you can show us" to mean the same thing but to give that balance where sometimes: one must tell.
and just because Im greedy and love this book, I'm going to share another quote, "And why worry about the ending anyway? Why be such a control freak? Sooner or later every story comes out somewhere."
I cannot recommend this book enough. I haven't read many other "on writing" type books, but I have taken a lot of writing classes and have watched many video essays on the topic of writing.
This book by Stephen King is a very whole piece of literature that tells the hopeful writer like it is and holds back no necessary punches along the road of education, and at the same time there is so much wholesome and beautiful or inspiring quotes in this book to really kickstart your heart and make you need to pick up the pen.
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