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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

xI enjoy reading Stephen King and I love writing, so I bought a copy with great expectations. I found it disappointing in both structure and advice. The first 100 or so pages are almost pure biography. Labeled “C.V.,” this long section describes how King developed as a writer.

Unlike the biographical sections of other such works (Norman Mailer’s The Spooky Art, for example), most of the biographical stories have only the merest connection to learning the craft of writing. I couldn’t help thinking that King desired to write an autobiography to immortalize friends and family, but didn’t take the plunge and so instead lumped it into his book on writing.

The latter part of the book provides his advice on fiction writing, some of which is excellent and compelling. However, some of the advice understandably mirrors weaknesses that appear in King's own writing. I remember a high school friend commenting (he’d just finished The Mist, I believe) that King couldn’t “write a good ending to save his life.” This failing is well explained by his dislike for outlining and pre-conceived conclusions.

An English professor of mine called it “grooming your own thicket.” When writing without a clear idea of the conclusion, most writers have a snarled mess by the time they reach page 50. The branches of unresolved plot, so clear in the beginning, have grown out of control and enmeshed the writer in chaos.

I think that a huge number of promising writers have been hobbled by such advice. While some particularly gifted storytellers can often avoid this mess, many more give up writing or worse, produce unreadable drek. When I finished the book, I thought of that old saw “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” I thought that maybe a corollary might be “Those who can do, can’t teach.”

If you’re a beginning writer, realize that Stephen King is a one in a million writer (as proven by his incredible success) and what works for him may not work for you.