Left Wanting More—A Review of Stephen King’s On Writing

I had decided ahead of time that I would not like Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. After all, I had never read a Stephen King novel. I have seen some of the movies and was scared out of my seat, so I imagined the novels (always being better than the movies) would leave me sleepless for weeks afterwards.

Part memoir, part writing how-to, this book reads like a novel, a quick peek into the life of a successful writer. Whether or not horror is your genre of choice, you must respect King’s success as a story teller. His faithful followers and his millions of dollars testify to his abilities to weave a tale that leaves one wanting more. After seeing the hand come out of the grave at the end of Carrie, even I wanted to peek between my fingers at the sequel I was sure must follow.

Like Carrie, I left On Writing wanting more. King gives us just a tease of his childhood, enough to think Oh, that’s why he is so strange, but not enough to get the complete picture.

The how-to writing guide shocks with suggestions to throw out adverbs (can he really throw out a whole part of speech?), use fragments, and create single sentence paragraphs—all the things that would have gotten you an “F” in Freshman Comp class. His editing section, showing the before and after of some of his work, reinforces the fact that he really does “kill his darlings.” Any would-be writer will empathize with King when he recounts his times of the dreaded writer’s block. In a funny scene with his wife, he reveals that even he, like most writers, is “needy” for acceptance. Above all, King drives home the point that a writer must be truthful, polite society be damned.

On Writing provides poignant glimpses of King’s personal life, his struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse as well as the accident that nearly killed him. He worries that he is telling too much, but in my opinion he did not tell enough. Even though he makes reference to his novels and how they reflect his life, I sensed a shield that he had built around the toughest times in his life, blocking us out, keeping us at arm’s length.

One might think that reading a how-to book written by a famous author would be dry and uninteresting, but On Writing is anything but that. Written with clear concepts, easy to understand language, and plenty of wit, it is a page-turner in its own right. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go check out a Stephen King novel from my local library.