“On Writing” is a true masterpiece and Stephen King once again has proven that he truly is brilliant and extraordinary when it comes to creative genius. “On Writing” can be seen as a combination of two books, with one half concentrating on his quest to becoming a successful writer and the other half, a collection of valuable tips and sensible advice for aspiring writers. Upon reading the collection of writing tips, I realised how poor and dire my own writing was; is.
Reading the section on adverbs made me laugh with disgust at my own writing. When re-reading some of my creative works these included pieces for this module and my leisure-time writing, I found that I used numerous adverbs in my stories, especially in “dialogue attribution”. Below is an extract of a short story I wrote a while ago, They looked into each other’s eyes and began to speak, “I love you” she said, softly. “I love you more” Bill said, quietly. I found the vocabulary chapter most interesting and useful.
King states that it is best to talk “plain and direct” rather than use long, sophisticated words to describe what you are intending to write. The complexity of your vocabulary does not matter; what matters is your choice of words, your diction is what matters. More often than not, I find that, in my own writing, long, stylish words do not have the same effect on the reader as, say, a short four letter word. For instance, if a teacher who is angry with a student will not say, “Why is it that you were unable to complete the assignment, James? but rather, “Why didn’t you do the work? ” In the second example, the diction is more effective and the teacher’s anger is clearer.
‘And this makes it better’. As well as the “On Writing” section, I found the memoir very helpful and pleasing. All my life I thought that to become a writer, you must live in the countryside in a little cottage where you have fresh Spring air, where there is also peace and quiet almost all the time. Much to my surprise, I found this to be completely untrue. That is not the case. No.
You can make it as a writer almost anywhere, even if you are writing “in the laundry room of a rented trailer”. Actually, especially if you are writing “in the laundry room of a rented trailer”, since that is where the masterpiece, that is Carrie was written. In this book, Stephen King did not bore the reader by making it seem like a lecture or a lesson of some sort. He instead gave the impression that he was conversing with the reader rather than instructing. What I enjoyed most about “On Writing” was the style King implemented throughout the whole book.
His unique sense of wit and humour allowed the comprehension, of the advice, to be much more straightforward. “On Writing” has helped me immensely in terms of my writing and also how I perceive readers. Before, reading this “Memoir of the Craft” I was unsure as to how important readers were. Turns out, very. When you write, you must have an “Ideal Reader” constant in your thoughts. I did not know this. And now I do, I can only improve from this point on. So I thank Stephen King for his valuable advice and now look to improve my own creative genius. Which shouldn’t be too hard !.
