I have to say that I am a huge fan of The Stand, but I haven’t really been that gripped by anything else Stephen King has produced, although other people obviously have. So when Vicki recommended this book, I can’t say that I was champing at the bit to read it. But I have pledged to read every book recommended, within my power, so I duly ordered it from the library.

And I ended up totally loving it.

The book is broken into three rough chunks: a memoir section, a section on writing, and a section talking about a catastrophic accident that almost killed King in 1999. And all of the sections were completely awesome. They were crisp, elegant, beautiful, compelling, and I pretty much read the book at one sitting, because I got so into it.

I love the memoir section because it’s broken up into these little units. Rather than trying to tell the complete story of his life in 100 pages, King picked the most notable and interesting incidents, the strange memories that have shaped his life, the big events. I loved his description of the phone call about the paperback rights for Carrie. I also loved the stories from his childhood.

In the section on actual writing, King talks about the basics of writing, the toolbox, as he puts it, and the ways to develop written work, how to become a writer, and how to sell written work. I love the aside at the very end, where he mentions that if getting published is your primary goal, you should skip ahead to a vanity press. HAH! Anyway, for aspiring writers, that section is well worth perusing, for his rant about adverbs, if nothing else. Stephen King hates adverbs, apparently.

The bit about the accident might read like an afterthought tacked onto the end, but it was actually quite relevant, talking about how he pushed through after the accident to keep writing. (To keep writing the very book I was reading, in fact, which explains why the On Writing section is so delightfully cantankerous.)

So, I’d give On Writing a stealth thumbs-up. I approached with low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised.

Demographics:

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King. Published 2000, 288 pages. Memoir.