I just finished On Writing, by Stephen King. I highly recommend it. For the first time (that I’m aware), I agree 100% with The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, which wrote “This is the best book on writing. Ever.”
If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a novelist, this book will inspire you to start writing.
I’m not going to summarize his points here, because you should really go out and buy the book. But I will share the biggest takeaway for me.
When King thinks of an idea for a story, it all starts with a situation. [High school outcast chick develops ability to control things with her mind.] Then he just starts writing. [Carrie walks to school and runs into her friend. She decides he should burn. He does.] He tries to be as honest as possible about what the characters would actually do and think, and he writes it.
On the second draft, he looks for themes and more carefully develops them.
I know, I know. Stephen King is a brilliant science fiction writer, and I’m, well, I’m a blogger who has a website called Herbietown. True enough. But Stephen King used to be an English teacher who folded laundry for extra money.
Some will say that King’s approach works for popular fiction but would never work for real literature. Look, I never said I wanted a Pulitzer. I just want to use my imagination.
Maybe some day, after we pay off my student loans, I’ll give it a shot. I’m envisioning a thriller that takes place in corporate boardrooms1 and airport lounges (where I spend vast chunks of my time). And surely the Internet will play a role…
1 windowless conference rooms
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