On Reading 'On Writing' by Stephen King

This book I plan to talk about isn’t the usual fair I often pick for pleasure reading. I mean everything is solely for the purpose of pleasure only, O God, who am I kidding! But I had, for considerable amount of time, consciously delayed reading this one. Mostly because of the assured knowledge that it would confront me with some of my deepest fears with writing. Apathy and indiscipline being the ones I have already identified as incurable. Which is why I lingered, and let things take their own course. But soon it got more and more hard to ignore the simmering urge. And I caved. Willy nilly, I looked it up on Amazon over a particularly mundane Tuesday, while contemplating how to survive the long weekend. It said it would arrive in two days if I ordered the book today. Perfect! There was no need to read reviews since there is no second guessing a book which has been enjoying the kind of fame it has. From $17 it had come down to $11, and it suited my pint-sized pocket. I went ahead with the order. And waited for its arrival along with two red-colored tops for me and my girl, purpose of which would be discussed in great detail over a later post. That, I am fairly sure of.  

Without trying your patience, the book I am referring to is, ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King. A seminal text for creative writers to put it blandly. Before going further, let me admit two things. Firstly, I never thought I would be ‘writing’ a post (not review, please take notice!), on a book on ‘writing.’ But just the other day I was telling someone as to how the only way I can find closure with any work of art (the ones I like mostly, or hate passionately) is by writing about them. So therefore, consider this too, as part of the same self-serving exercise done in the past. And I am sorry in advance for the great pile of posts you would have to silently suffer as a result.

Second confession is, I haven’t read a single book by Stephen King! Ever! Horrified? Well! I have an explanation for that too. For as far back as I can remember, anything that had the term ‘science’ attached to it, I ran from it like I spotted Ebola and there was no question of risking my dear life with it. In simple words, I fear anything that comes under the wide umbrella of ‘science’. Showing complete disregard to his highly successful horror and fantasy novels too as a result. And then I pick up his ‘On writing’, and it blows my mind! It leaves me wondering about his fictional work, when his hand-book (for the lack of a better word) can hook me to the point of getting me blabber this way.  On my Instagram post I have called this book ‘honest, hilarious, and revelatory.’ Although I still stick to those views, but that outburst of emotion was after having read only half of the book! I know! I know! Things one has to do to survive these parallel universes we inhabit I tell you! Anyhow, without much idea or thought on what the other half entailed, I do now end up looking a bit frivolous than I usually am. Not because I reduced it in any way, or I had anything more to add. But there is a niggling feeling of embarrassment about being so smug about it, while the author himself maintains an 'exploratory' tone throughout.

The author has subtitled the book as ‘a memoir of the craft’, and I must have fallen for that. Not a manual, not a hand-book for aspiring, struggling writers, but a memoir. He’s already a winner to me! And the first hundred pages is about the writer’s evolution to his current fame from a time he struggled for acceptance even by minor magazines. And needless to say, it makes for a stellar story, that. With a self-deprecatory humor, he touches all the high notes I seek out in a book. And then he finally gets on with the bit on writing. But not before you have taken a moment, and reflected on what he just did with the first part. He spoke of his journey, in a manner which made me forget to ask, ‘Hey! But where is the stuff on writing?’ As his witty lines raced with the force of his memory, I was mesmerized, enthralled, tickled, and I must have been misty eyed too more than once. What he did was, he simply ‘proved his point’, and very charmingly at that, even before he made any. And my day was already made!  

Then he went on to talk about the ‘how to's’, and the more important, ‘what not to's’, and I found myself nodding, thinking, asking.... The book has been decorated with many adjectives over the years.  The ones that resonate with me most are -  ‘friendly’ and ‘honest.’ Not preachy, not patronizing, not instructive (not in an obvious way). He did exactly what he sought out to do, or one would expect a book like this to do – he ‘demystified’ writing to a great extent. Not once, he tried to ‘impart’ knowledge, that happened anyway, not inspite of.  By looking at the craft of writing with a love he ‘shares’ with his readers.  Here are some of the lines that resonated with me... I promise I am almost done after this. 

 ‘Running a close second was the realization that stopping a piece of work just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don’t feel like it, and sometimes you are doing good work when it feels like all you are managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position.’ (...while speaking on losing faith in his first draft of Carrie, his first horror novel that became hugely successful.)

 ‘The idea that creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time.’ ( ...while he talked about his struggle with alcohol and drug addiction.) 

(While urging to use an adverb only when it is unavoidable, the fact is, it IS avoidable.) This is a personal favorite... ‘I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I still shout it from the rooftops.... they are like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, you will find five the next day...fifty the day after that...and then, my friend, your lawn is...totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions.’ That was pretty super cool advice I thought. (wink!)

‘One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you are may be a little ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of pre-meditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed.’ (Second favorite!)

 ‘You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.’(The best, from the best!) 

‘Waiting rooms were made for book – ofcourse!’ 

‘Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.’ 

‘When it is on target, a simile delights us in much the same way meeting an old friend in a crowd of strangers does.’

 ‘One of the cardinal rules of good fiction is never tell us a thing if you can show us.’ (This one will echo for as long I attempt to write anything!) 

‘When a dialogue is right, we know. When it’s wrong, we also know – it jags on the ear like a badly tuned musical instrument.’ (I have always believed so. Makes one think of all the poorly written dialogues in films!) 

(While discussing ‘Back story’) ‘Everyone has a back story. But most of it isn’t very interesting. Stick to the parts that are, and don’t get carried away with the rest. Long stories are best received in bars, and only then an hour long or so before closing time, and if you are buying.’ 

 ‘It is after all, the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster’s shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters.’ (While arguing why he is not in great favor of writing workshops/retreats, and believes, writing can harmoniously co-exist with the daily distractions.) 

And finally, one of his finest lines... ‘Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life.’ (In the summer of 1999 he survived a fatal road accident, and this line is a reference to that life-altering incident.)

If you are still with me, I would conclude by saying that, after having read the book, from corner to corner, word by word, underlining them in my memory, I see it as a great service done to writers by this great man. This book, by being on every writer’s (delusional, struggling, amateur, aspiring, ...all categories considered) side, lessens the overwhelming burden of approaching a  craft by making it seem less intimidating. At least that’s what it did for me. I am sure it has done the same and more for many over the years.