On Writing
1999
- writing
- salem’s lot
- science fiction
- happy stamps
- the elements of style
- drinking
- adverbs
- horror tales--authorship
- locus award winner
- bram stoker award winner
The story
On Writing is both a textbook for writers and a memoir of Stephen's life and will, thus, appeal even to those who are not aspiring writers. If you've always wondered what led Steve to become a writer and how he came to be the success he is today, this will answer those questions. ([source][1]) [1]: https://stephenking.com/library/nonfiction/on_writing_a_memoir_of_the_craft.html
What it’s like
Plain, conversational prose with the feel of a writer talking across a kitchen table: short declarative sentences, wry asides, and the occasional blunt instruction set down without ornament. The book's sensory world is mostly the mid-century and later American interior of its author's life, with cramped apartments, a laundromat, a typewriter on a kitchen table, and the grey Maine coast and winter cold, all rendered briskly rather than lushly. Its vibe is warm, dry and candid, the sort of companion you read in a quiet corner with a cup of coffee, a gentle thing to pick up for an hour at a time. The rhythm is loose and anecdotal, moving between memoir chapters about childhood, early rejection and a near-fatal accident, and a practical middle section on craft, grammar and revision, so it can be dipped into without losing the thread. Emotionally it sits between hard-won humility and dry humour, with a clear arc from a struggling young writer toward steadier self-acceptance. Its intensity is moderate: frank talk of drinking and addiction, a serious road accident described in some detail, and mentions of violence in his work, but nothing graphic on the page. It suits writers who want practical encouragement, and readers curious about a working life behind the books.
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