What Stephen King says about writing

I must admit that I haven't read Stephen King for a long time. I was always afraid that his horror story would keep me up late. However, after reading many term papers about this author, I finally asked my class to recommend one or two king stories that wouldn't scare me. To my surprise, I liked what I read.

I started with an empty copy of my friend's Shawshank. Then I went to the library and checked out King's best-selling series, Green Miles. Next, I read his electronic novel "Riding the Bullet" on my computer. In fact, I enjoyed King's storytelling so much that I bought his non-fiction book, On Writing-A Memoir on the Craft. Well, that's a lot of work.

This book is scary. That's because its writing has always been popular with college students, and in fact it reinforces what college writing teachers have been saying for years. The three important areas that King covers are related to the three Rs. It's reading, rituals, revisions.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema of Unsplash

read. According to King, if you want to be a writer, you need to do only two things: "read a lot, write a lot" (145). King first encountered extensive reading when he was about six years old. King claims that he read "About 6 Tons of Cartoons" (27) and eventually began to write his own story, as most of his grades were ill at home. Many of the people I meet today say they don't have time to read, both students and non-students. King has a simple answer to that excuse: turn off the TV. He calls the television an "endless ringing box" (148) and says that turning off the television so that he has time to read improves not only the quality of writing, but also the quality of life. To make his point about the literacy connection, King adds:

to write. Writing teachers always tell their students to "write about what they know." King receives this advice and extends it. "Write something that pleases you, bring it to life, and incorporate your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, gender, and work to make it unique" (161).

King states in his memoirs that he mainly likes to write about situations and "what if". As an example, he cites the following novel and its underlying circumstances and questions. Lots of Salem-"What if a vampire breaks into a small village in New England?" Did you become ferocious in Nevada and start killing everyone in sight? Was her son trapped in a car caught by a ferocious dog? "(169–70). You may not be able to write a bestseller like King, but if you write about what you know or love, your writing will be genuine and true. Photos by Unsplash campaign creators

revision. King uses the door to emphasize the difference between writing and revision. When you write, King proposes to isolate yourself for writing and close the doors of the outside world to get rid of distractions that may prevent you from writing. Then, when the first draft is over, King says he needs to open the door to start the revision (57, 155, 209, and 271–84).

Once the door opens, you can show your work to one or more readers. For King, his wife Tavisa is his "ideal reader," and he suggests that every writer has at least one person who can objectively read and identify strengths and weaknesses. Masu (215). Some students leave this task to the professor, but the revised second draft may perform better than the rough first draft if the work can be shown to trusted readers in advance. there is.

King's memoirs aren't just about reading, writing, and revising. He also focuses on other aspects of good writing, such as vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, stories, explanations, dialogue, pacing, behavior, subject matter, characterization, symbolism, and research. As he discusses each of these subjects, he also writes about the autobiographical details that led him to his current thinking on these subjects. He even includes a special section on the accident he suffered in 1999 and how it affected his attitude towards writing and general life (253-70). If you're a Stephen King fan, you'll love this book. But even if you don't, you can learn a lot about writing techniques from one of the most popular storytellers today.