On Writing Review

In all my years, I’ve never read a Stephen King book. Until this year. I also never believed in telepathy. Until it happened. King used his telepathic powers to put info and imagery in my head. It worked too. I smiled a lot, laughed out loud. I also gained insightful knowledge.

Through his rare non-fiction work, he transmitted mini-stories, snippets from his life’s story arc, across time and space. That was about 19 years ago. And on a Friday in 2018, I went to my local library, grabbed his book, and began to receive King’s message:

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

I’m not going to rebroadcast his message though. That would rob you and him from direct telepathic communication. If you engage in it, you won’t be willing or able to stop until you’ve received all of it. King’s book is like a bag of chips. Once you open it and start chomping, you won’t be able to put it down.

Besides entertaining and informing, his memoir was inspiring and encouraging. King should be proud for accomplishing exactly what he wanted.

Of course I’ve heard over the years about King’s success and influence as a modern fiction novelist. But after reading his non-fiction sort of info-novella, I don’t think it’s fair to speak of him as a writer or author. Those terms are too narrow. He is a wonderful storyteller. And a great telepath. At least that’s my impression of the man.

I’d wanted to read this book years ago because my writing needs improvement. I figured if ‘the king’ of writing wrote a book on writing, then it would benefit me. Time will tell, but I believe it’s helping me already.

Besides being a great teller of tales, King is an under-the-eave archaeologist (similar to the closet version, I think). You need to know this because if you want to improve your own writing, you’re gonna have to get your hands dirty. King says so. You’ll need the right tools to dig up your stories to tell; the better you are at unearthing them, the better a telepath you’ll be.

I must say that if you like to read Stephen King’s stories yet couldn’t care less about writing your own, then you still need to get this book and read the first half. It’s full of King’s real-life stories! Just the fact that he knows how to tell them so well is reason enough; you’ll race through them with delight.

The bonus content, you might say, is the second half, which reveals all his secrets! Okay, not quite. But there’s a lot of those shiny little wisdom nuggets in there, couple big ones too. He talks about different kinds of writers and writing in general of course.

King’s crafty memoir is so good, I plan to give it future reads. I returned my copy to the library, but I’ll pay money to keep this little treasure in my house for reference if not also to just enjoy another viewing of King’s highlight reel: how an author was authored.

Do you like to read Stephen King novels?