Stephen King offers style hints to writers

By Anna Herkamp
Staff Writer

Many aspiring writers, or aspiring students, can vividly remember the frustration and tears associated with their high school writing classes, swearing up and down that they would never understand style, grammar and Modern Language Association rules.

For all those out there who want to write more than just those grade-deciding essays, a much-awaited book has finally been published. Stephen King's, "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft," is the style book no one ever got to study while writing papers and hoping they would somehow get those last rules memorized before the red marks began to show up all over pages of hard work.

King divides "On Writing" into two parts. The first part is a memoir in which King tries to describe his past and address the ever-repeated question of how he got to where he is now — the best-selling fiction author of our time.

He writes about the relevant aspects of his childhood, relating the details of his first memory, when he recalled, "imagining I was someone else." He writes with to-the-point elegance, describing how his father left his mother when he was a small child, leaving her alone to raise two boys. He details what it was like growing up as a child whose mother's jobs forced the family to move around constantly. For his fans, he answers many of the frequently asked questions about what he likes and liked as a kid. He recalls hitchhiking the fourteen miles to the Ritz theatre with his friend. He says he couldn't get enough of the movies as a teenager. Many times he used the themes of movies for his own writing, which he began in grade school.

Beyond his teenage years he describes college years where he met his wife Tabitha. She is praised throughout the book, but the most memorable scene is where she saves "Carrie," his first book, from the trash. Without her intervening, King may never have even finished the story.

Towards the end of the book, he talks about surviving the car accident that nearly killed him during the summer of 1999. Once again he gives Tabitha much credit for his recovery.

The second part of this book is a lesson in writing, primarily based around fiction, but there are many good tips for those who want to improve their non-fiction style.

King was an English teacher before he became a writer, and like all

English teachers, he has his pet peeves. He reminds his readers to use as few adverbs as possible and to mean what they say without using the passive voice. He does a satisfying job of going over grammar, keeping is short and savvy. Only King could make grammar and writing style so interesting and humorous.

King’s most poignant piece of advice for young writers is to keep writing no matter what your success and to keep reading. He says, "If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write."

Whether or not you like King and his books, "On Writing" is an excellent tool for anyone who wants to improve their own skills.

And for King fans, this book is a much-awaited testimony of the creation of one of the most acclaimed authors ever.

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Stephen King offers style hints to writers

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