On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft – Stephen King

My Rating – Must Read

Level – Easy, quick read

Summary
The book is broken up into two main parts, C.V. and What Writing is, Toolbox, and On Writing, plus a longish post-script chapter, which is followed by two more short post-post-script chapters, which King calls ‘And Furthermore’, parts 1 & 2. Throw three different forewords and there is a good deal of interesting and helpful material.
C.V. is basically a brief auto-biography.
What Writing Is, Toolbox, and On Writing, is the part of the book where he explains his writing process as well as tips and procedures to follow in writing fiction.
The first post-script ‘On Living’ is the story of him being struck by and van and his subsequent recovery.
The final two chapters are, first an example of editing a first draft and writing a second, and second, a recommended reading list.

My Thoughts
I love the feeling of King’s book, I felt the tone was, you know, it’s hard to describe. Just kidding, that’s a joke. Read the book, you’ll see, it’s funny.

His second foreword, pretty much sets the tone for the book – “This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit.” His one exception to this is Elements of Style, which Mrs. MMT actually gave me before we were even married, but I haven’t read it yet. Continue reading →