Recommended Read – On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

Guess who’s late to the party? That’s right. Nineteen years after it was first published I’ve finally read Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft.

Like most budding authors I’ve turned my attention to the “language arts”, “how to write”, “creative pursuits”, and the dreaded “Writing For Dummies” corner of just about every bookstore I’ve entered. The by-products of the 90’s how-to movement of instructional guides and tapes. To be brutally honest, it shouldn’t have taken me this long to get to this specific book. For years I’ve had friends, peers, and mentors suggest this book as the go-to memoir on the craft.

If you’re like me, and have been living under a rock, here’s a little about On Writing lifted from the Amazon.ca description:

Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King’s critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work.

“Long live the King” hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported, near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring,On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

I would be remiss to not send you to where you can buy it: Amazon.ca, Indigo/Chapters, and your local bookstore. I may not have a link for it but I assure you, there’s a copy. Mid-shelf as opposed to the distant corner. It is Stephen King, after all.

Now that my word count is sufficiently bolstered, let’s talk about On Writing.

First, I must confess I haven’t read his fiction. Gasp. Horror. Quel nightmare. Pause for dramatic glares. It’s not a question of taste or preference but hat they’re not already on my bookshelf. Why? I’m a slow reader, slower than I should be, and don’t read anywhere near enough. (Don’t worry, Mr. King. I’m working on it.) That and on acquiring my husband I also acquired his library. I have been, slow and steady, started making my way through it. Most of what lines the shelves; Patrick Rothfuss, Richard Morgan, and more cyberpunk than you can shake a hat at, should you want to.

So, why read a book on writing from an author I’ve yet to read the fiction of? The obvious: he’s clearly doing something right. Then there was the small amount of peer pressure. Let’s move on to the juicy bits because I’m about to join the thousands of writers (probably more) that insist all budding authors pick up this damn book.

After making my way through not one, not two, but three forwards I started what Stephen King call’s the “CV”. Curriculum vitae. A review of experience and qualifications, and more accurately the memoir section of this work. I purchased this on the emphatic insistence that the latter two-thirds, the “How To” part about toolboxes and the titular “On Writing” section, were integral to becoming a “good” writer.

I recommend this book because of the first third.

Like King himself says, there isn’t much in the last sections that isn’t available from multiple sources. His advice is magnificently functional and delivered with the familiar voice of a straight-talking uncle who genuinely wants to help you sort your shit out. For that reason alone the memoir is worth a read. But it’s not new information. Classes, books, tapes, and more abound on how to write, how to grammar (I’m not apologizing for that one), how to plot out a novel. All available with but a click. ‘Tis the digital age, my friends.

No, I recommend this memoir precisely for the CV portion.

For eighty-five pages I wasn’t crazy. For eighty-five pages I had a confidant, a silent one, but someone to show me a writers path. Through his various anecdotes about his creative evolution, I saw similar spots in my own life. Not that the same things happened but that there are those moments behind and ahead of me that define who I am as an author. I had a partner, a mentor, and for eighty-five lovely pages, I relished every pitfall and high that he shared. Not just in what he said, but what he didn’t. The most powerful of which was a single chapter consisting of three sentences. I felt more in that white space than I have in entire novels.

In the end it was his voice that had me turning each page. The phrases, the cadence, the straight talk, the cursing. Not a strict education on how to avoid his mistakes or follow his examples, but rather that he shared and allowed me, and the millions of other readers, into some very personal history. His experience and qualifications go beyond the bestsellers and if he hadn’t allowed readers into the more personal development of his creative self, his advice wouldn’t have the weight that it does.

For those eighty-five pages I wasn’t alone.

Now, I don’t want any writer friends and peers to think I’ve ever thought I was alone in this pursuit of becoming a good author. There is a massive community in person and online that support and offer guidance to writers but so much of it is new authors. Seeing that even those that succeed, as we all hope to, struggle with the same issues sparked a small amount of hope. We aren’t alone in this.

Does that sound corny? Yeah. A little, but there isn’t a better way to say it. I felt as though we sat in a living room and talked. I was at a point in my writing where I needed that. No bland reassurances from non-writers. No “Oh, I know how it is” or “Wow, that’s rough” from peers. I needed another author’s honest story. I needed to just listen.

He’s not the first to share. He won’t be the last. There are at least another dozen memoirs from other successful authors in stores, mid-shelf right next to On Writing. But for any author, confident or not, the memoir/CV section of On Writing is a conversation we all need to have and, more importantly, hear.

With that said, the practical section of On Writing reinforced some of what I already know and do. It also challenged some preconceptions I have that should be challenged. I’m working on them, primarily reading a hell of a lot more to stock my toolbox, and I believe the advice in this memoir is solid. Not to mention, you’re not likely to have a better voice tell it to you straight.

Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m off to check on my adverb, adjective, and passive language in this brief piece. Most of which I’ll unintentionally overlook while hacking off around ten percent of the words. Handy-dandy lessons, my friends. Definitely worth a read.