A couple of days ago, I finished reading On Writing by Stephen King. It's not a brand new book, since it came out in 2000, but it certainly is a relevant book. The only other King book I've ever read is Misery and that's all I could take! I'm too affected by his work to not be scared to death when I read it. After I read Misery, I couldn't sleep for days as I was haunted by vivid scenes from the book. That's good writing. Don't you think?
I loved this book because it walked you through King's life as a writer and damn he went through rough patches. I loved learning how this successful author navigated magazine writing and then turned to novels. For King, he had no connections in NYC, yet he got an agent and started selling his work. See? So many people think there's a big secret about getting an agent and that you must have connections to do so. I'm the first to step up and say that's not true at all. That's coming from someone with zero connections, parents who aren't famous and no White House internship.
If you haven't read On Writing, I'd suggest you pick it up.
The next craft book I'm reading? How to Read a Novel. I want to try and review craft books as I read them because I've gotten a dozen e-mails (thank you!) from people asking what writing books I'd recommend. I may go back and review some of the recent writing books, if you all like the book reviews.
Congrats to everyone who sweated last week! If you haven't posted your stats, there's still time! :)
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8 comments:
I've read On Writing and loved it. Another great one is Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm.
This is by far my favorite book...
I too don't really like most of King's novels, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a lot to say about the craft.
Plus, the first section about his life is really funny!
I love Stephen King, but yeah, his books are creepy. I think I saw the movie Dreamcatchers once, based on his book.
I wrote 10k for my first week!!! I'm so excited. I literally went from 26k to 36k. :)If I kept this up I'd be done in three weeks. But... no jinxing it.
I haven't read King's writing book but it's on my list! :)
It's one of my favourite writing books. I've only read one other of his books (way too scary for me). The other writing book I love is Writing The Breakout novel by donald Maass.
This one's on my keeper shelf. Can't wait to see what others you pick!
It's a good read for sure. My other favs are On Becoming a Novelist (Gardner) and Characters & Viewpoint (Orson Scott Card).
Characters & Viewpoint is a little academic, but worth the read.
I thought On Writing was so fascinating! Good recommendation.
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