Writing his first novel, Carrie, King was unhappy with the first few pages and threw them in the wastebasket. His wife, Tabby, resurrected them and encouraged him to keep writing. He realized a “writer’s original perception of a character may be as erroneous as the reader’s” and “stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea”.
Life changed when the paperback rights to Carrie sold for $400,000. (He received half.)
King has an addictive personality - smoking, alcohol, cocaine - until given an ultimatum by his wife. He realized that the “idea creative endeavour and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time”. Reading and writing appear to have become his dominant addictions.
He tells of the basics, learning grammar and style.
I was more interested when he recommended a daily reading / writing program of “four to six hours, every day”. To King you cannot be a writer unless you are an avid reader.
When young people ask me about being a lawyer I ask them if they are prepared to spend 8 hours a day reading. If they flinch or hesitate or look away I say if you do not enjoy reading all day every day it is best to find another profession.
King writes every morning, holidays included, stopping when he has written 2,000 words. He recommends writing in a room where you shut the door. He directs the writer to avoid distractions though what is a distraction is flexible. He writes while listening to “hard rock” music.
For new writers he suggests 1,000 words a day with one day off a week.
On the creative process he states:
The situation comes first. The characters - always flat and unfeatured, to begin with - come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded of a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things their way.
He thinks:
The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question
He highlights the importance of description which he describes as a learned skill. I have spent 51 years in a law office describing events in cases and 48 years describing sports events, principally football games. I find the amount of description needed is a matter of feel for me. If it feels right it is probably a good description.
He assesses, rather brutally, the academic industry of creative writing - lectures, workshops, seminars and classes.
The last section of the book is about his recovery and return to writing after a horrific accident in which he was struck by a van. I found the section moving.
I am not sure why he described On Writing as a short book when it is 288 pages in length.
I was struck by how often he cursed and swore as he wrote about writing. It felt discordant for the other two books I have read about writing by P.D. James and Gail Bowen had nary a swear nor a curse. I know it was not affection. I expect it reflects his everyday language.
I have never read any of King’s fiction. I have avoided reading him as I do not read horror. I did enjoy and learn from On Writing. King is a skilled writer on writing. I will refer back to his principles and be more conscious of unnecessary words.
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King has a lot to offer when it comes to the discipline of writing, Bill. I couldn't agree with him more about the vital importance of reading as well as of writing every day, no excuses. It's not always easy to do. Trust me. But it's only through reading and writing that you get better at both. I'm not surprised that being a lawyer requires hours of daily reading. There's legal precedent, there's the paperwork associated with each case, and so much more. When I was at university, I took a course in case law, and that course alone had a very heavy reading load. I'd guess being able to digest hours of reading material is essential to law - and to writing.
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