If you’ve read Stephen King, or even just followed his career, you’ve almost certainly asked the question, “how does he do it?” Bestseller after bestseller, sometimes releasing multiple novels in a calendar year, and not dimestore paperbacks neither. How does one man write so much and (in my subjective opinion) so well? On Writing is King’s attempt to answer that unanswerable question.
King leads off by presenting an autobiography of sorts, covering some early childhood incidents that he feels impacted his decision to become a writer. He follows his life through his first attempts at writing stories, working his way through college, and meeting his wife Tabitha and starting a family while starting on his career. It’s most valuable lesson may be in demonstrating King’s persistence. Despite a steady stream of rejection letters, he still kept submitting stories.
After that, the “On Writing” section gets to what most people probably want to know, how to write their own books. King doesn’t hold back on giving advice, though he admits he is only sure what works for him. King repeats a lot of familiar concepts like “murdering your darlings” and avoiding using words other than “said” after dialogue. But there are more unique tips as well. King’s main themes are that writing must be treated as a job in that it must be done every day, and that re-writing is just as important as writing. He proposes that writers compose their first drafts with the door closed, writing just for themselves and letting no one else in, and write the second draft with the door open, revisiting the text with the reader in mind and even letting a trusted few read and offer advice.
King was in the middle of On Writing in the summer of 1999 when he was famously hit by a van and nearly died. After weeks in the hospital and numerous surgeries to fix his badly broken legs King at long last returned to his desk to write. He talks about how brutally difficult it was at first, dealing with his pain and discomfort long enough to pound out his usual 2,000 words a day. But as the words and the writing came to him more easily he knew that he was returning to life.
Following his advice won’t make you the next Stephen King, but nevertheless On Writing is an appealing paean to the craft of writing, one that might just give you the courage needed to sit at the desk and face the blank page.