Lesson's from "On Writing" by Stephen King

To the best of his ability, Stephen King documents how his stories form and how he allows his stories to come to him. Saying time and again that, "Good stories seem to come quite literally from nowhere -- two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job (as a writer) isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up"

That quote speaks volumes for how this book is written. King's "On Writing" is a guide that helps you integrate a new type of perception into your daily life.

He doesn't attempt to force his way of writing onto you, rather through examples King shows the reader what ideas formed the start of a story for him and how you can do the same. For everyone lives interesting lives to one degree or another, it's all about how closely you pay attention to yours.

Now, Stephen King is known for his horror so go into this book expecting some degree of bleak scenery and gut turning stories. King pulls no punches when describing his younger days, which only adds to the memorability.

Some of the nastier stories include trips to the doctor as a child, terrible babysitters, and a later story about a man named 'Hook Hands Harry' who won't have to worry about washing his hands ever again!

Past the stories there is a section titled, "Toolbox." This section goes into what King believes every writer should carry with them and some helpful examples to what you could add to this supply.

After scouring through this quick read of a book, these are the top two lessons King conveys.

King is married to Tabitha King and in the section of the book where he's describing the process of writing "Carrie" and how he almost gave up on the story he says the following,
"Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don't have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough"

Referring to how his wife quite literally pulled the script out of the trash and encouraged him to keep going at it.

The second and final thing I will say about this book is how well King conveys the lesson of, how much he detests adverbs. I mean this guy really loathes the things. There are many pages dedicated to bashing the use of them. But by the end of his tirade you can see his point. We will close on this quote which I think sums up his feelings.

"The previous context (in your story) should be your Adverb. You don't need to tell us that he closed the door firmly because if the story has that tension already then we should get the vibe that the door wasn't closed gently."