On writing - A Memoir of the Craft
by Stephen King

Review by Bruce Schirmers, KPCMG

Sometimes it takes me a while to wake up. Know what I mean? This thing was published four years ago in hardcover (two years ago in paperback). It has a quiet little title, nothing electrifying. There's no blood or gore or monsters gruesomely displayed, and it still took me until now to actually read the entire front cover. Which made me check out the back cover. Been there?

I read the credits in front; not bad. First Foreword; fair. And then I read the Second Foreword, which begins this way:

"This is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit. Fiction writers, present company included, don't understand very much about what they do-not why it works when it's good, not why it doesn't when it's bad. I figured the shorter the book, the less the bullshit…"

That's when I knew I had to have it. Want the best you'll ever read from a guy who has more than just money, influence, money and the rest? King shares with openness and honesty I don't recall ever seeing before. For example, he advises:

"Don't wait for the muse. As I've said, he's a hardheaded guy who's not susceptible to a lot of creative fluttering…just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks. Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you're going to be every day from nine 'til noon or seven 'til three. If he does know, I assure you that sooner or later he'll start showing up, chomping his cigar and making his magic."

Here's one last tidbit to tempt you:

"What's equally wrong is the deliberate turning toward some genre or type of fiction in order to make money. It's morally wonky, for one thing-the job of fiction is to find the truth inside the story's web of lies, not to commit intellectual dishonesty in the hunt for the buck. Also, brothers and sisters, it doesn't work."

Does the guy have a voice or what? But that's not all. His advice about storytelling, training your mind to sleep creatively, what readers recognize, sensory reality, intuition, endings, and developing the plot (or not), and the blessed relief he offers about theme.

Good reading.