Stephen King's "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft"

*I haven't figured out how to save images from the web with a Mac, so for now click on this link to view the image of the book.

I bought this book two months ago at a local bookstore. I promised myself that I would finish reading it in a week.

It actually took me two and a half months to finish reading it.

I recommend this book to writers and non-writers alike. For writers, it will give you more writing lessons. For non-writers, it might just spark up a light that might cause you to start thinking about writing.

Here are a few quotable words King wrote and my takes on it:

*I bet you could do better. Write one on your own.
- Stephen's mom to Stephen.

This was King's mom advice to him when she read his copied work of a science fiction comic book or novel (I can't remember what it was) in his early days. It is the best advice a beginning writer could ever get and I think it is the best advice that people, who loves to copy other people's work, should hear.

*Four stories. A quarter apiece. That was the first buck I made in this business.

If I do decide to write a book, whatever type of book it may be, I wonder how much money I will make. Or even a much more contemplative thought, I wonder if anybody who's anybody will read my book.

*There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowwhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky.

True notion spoken by a best selling novelist. I for one have experience have experience such, I just can't remember when I experienced it.

*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. (47)

I learned this lesson from the writing class that I took when I was a senior in high school. It's funny because I haven't quite grasp to full meaning of this lesson, yet.

*Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. You stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right--at right as you can, anyway-- it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it. If you're very lucky, more will want to do the former than the latter.

I write with the door close, I also rewrite with the door close. Does that work as well? I don't know. King is not here to answer me.

*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. (65)

One of my friends admire my writing skills. She even coined me as the "writer" of the group. I don't know if I should agree with her or not, but then again, I didn't protest on her idea of coining me as a writer, so I guess I like being coined as a writer.Did that made sense at all?

*The most important is that the writer's original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader's. Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea.

I once thought that it would be a great idea to write a book about my eternal dramatic battle with my heart. I started writing bits on pieces of yellow paper. But then I decided it wasn't really a good idea to write about it, because who on earth would like to read a book about a person's struggle with her heart?

*Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.

I struggled writing the major research paper that was required for the writing class I took last quarter. I struggled in composing a 2200 word essay in 3 days. I got frustrated and felt like giving up. But, I couldn't, because for one that essay could make or break my grade for that class. Secondly, I didn't want to quit for the reason that I was having a hard time overanalyzing every sentence I wrote.

*If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write.

I guess I should start reading books if I ever want to be a good writer.

*Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless; when you find something at which you are talented, you do it (whatever it is) until your fingers bleed or your eyes are read to fall out of your head. Even when no one is listening (or reading, or watching), every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy. Perhaps even ecstatic. (145)

I created a website out of HTML coding. I have an art page where I showcase all the photographs I took and edited. I have a blog that is full of anally (is that a word?) written entries.

A day in my life is not complete without me doing something with my computer.

Yes, I am a computer freak. Yes, I burn my eyes out in front of the computer. Yes, I waste time doing what I think I'm talented at. I don't get much credit for it, but I'm happy. I am A-O-K with what I do.... in front of my computer.

So there you have it folks. A glimpse on what King talked about in this book and also a glimpse of my life that you just can't get enough of (har har har).