Unfortunately, Stephen King's language in On Writing isn't really appropriate for school. It's an excellent book for writers--a memoir on the craft. Here are a few notes that I pull out for my student writers:
Notes from Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
(page 37) There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.
(page 57) When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story…When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.
(page 74) Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.
(page 77) …The writer’s original perception of a character or characters may be as erroneous as the reader’s.
(page 77) …Stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea.
Toolbox: It’s best to have your tools with you. If you don’t, you’re apt to find something you didn’t expect and get discouraged.
1. Common tools go on top. The commonest of all, the bread of writing, is vocabulary.
2. You’ll also want grammar on the top shelf of your toolbox.
3. Avoid the passive tense.
4. The adverb is not your friend.
5. Fear is at the root of most bad writing.
(page 142) …Good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals (vocabulary, grammar, the elements of style)…It is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.
(page 145) If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.
(page 147) You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so.
(page 150) If there’s no joy in it, it’s just no good.
(page 153) Writing is at its best—always, always, always—when it is a kind of inspired play for the writer.
(page 163) In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.
(page 173) Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not a question of how-to, you see; it’s also a question of how much to. Reading will help you answer how much, and only reams of writing will help you with the how. You can only learn by doing.
(page 174) Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
(page 178) When it’s on target, a simile delights us in much the same way meeting an old friend in a crowd of strangers does.
(page 200) Symbolism exists to adorn and enrich, not to create a sense of artificial profundity.
(page 208) Good fiction always begins with story and progresses to theme.
I like this. I am afraid (fear) that I don't read or write enough. Does Mr. King specify what type of reading?
ReplyDeleteUsually you need to read extensively, but most particularly in the genre you want to write.
ReplyDeleteI love this book. I tuned out when he went on and on about grammar but a good read.
ReplyDeleteAs a huge Stephen King fan I appreciate seeing an English teacher take and promote the advice offered by Mr. King.
ReplyDelete