On Writing by Stephen King
Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 9/10
I read On Writing because I just wanted to become a better storyteller. But his tips on becoming an okay-ish, or maybe if you’re lucky, a good, fiction writer were applicable in pretty much any other area that requires hard work and dedication. On Writing is not a manual on how to write, like The Elements of Style. It is part memoir, part personal opinion on what makes great writing and better fiction, which, given Mr. King’s status as one of the most prolific fiction writers of our time, can be taken as truth.
He starts by describing a writer’s toolbox. The toolbox contains multiple levels; on the top level, right when you open the toolbox, vocabulary. You get this by reading. A lot of reading. And don’t just concentrate on the big-brain books that are chock-full of SAT words; read indiscriminately, because what matters is not how long the words you use are, but how well they fit. But you need a large lexicon so that when a fancy big word does fit, you’ll need to use it. Just like that odd star-shaped screwdriver you have in your real toolbox just in case. The second compartment of the first level is grammar. This is basic ninth grade English stuff – make sure your verbs agree, etc. There’s not much to be said here, and I think every single writer in the world (even the bad ones) would agree with King on this point.
Underneath the top level of the toolbox, under the vocabulary and grammar, is style. Reading The Elements of Style helps here. In particular, King vehemently hates using adverbs to describe how someone said something, or using another verb in place of “said”. The dialogue and the character’s developed personality should tell the reader how the words are being said. There are no guidelines on how to break up chapters, paragraphs, or sentences, because these things come with time. What works for one writer may not work for another, so it’s important to write, and write a lot.
The other levels of the toolbox are not quite defined, but they include building characters, depicting scenes, and developing motifs, themes, and symbolism, all of those goodies in English class. I loved his section on characters and dialogue. The few times I wrote fiction, I had a set storyline that I wanted to have happen, and therefore I had predefined character traits for all of my characters. This is the wrong way to go about it. People in real life are never one-dimensional; no one is “the bad guy” or “the insufferable damsel”. We all have backstories, and characters should have them too. Characters should have a motivation for their actions, and it should be explained, either by description of the character, or his/her dialogue. Humans are extremely sensitive to awkward sounding dialogue. There are books (and movies, but that’s a little more nuanced) where dialogue just seems artificial. Maybe it’s because no one in real life ever says that phrase. Or maybe the character shouldn’t speak like that because their backstory doesn’t match up. Whatever the case, it’s important to make characters into living entities that dictate the plot, instead of the other way around.
Then, there is the issue of theme, motif, symbolism, pretty much everything I wrote commentaries on throughout high school. King emphasizes that you do NOT start with these ornaments at the beginning; the story comes first all the time. Later, after you re-read, you can notice certain repetitions that you might want to bring out in your second draft. These things are important, yes, but it is not worth detracting from the story in order to add some imagery in. Your goal as a fiction writer is to enrapture the reader, keep them reading so long they forget to eat, not make it into a couple university bookstores.
This has changed the way I watch movies and I suppose it will change the way I read fiction also (I haven’t finished a book since On Writing yet). When I watched Tigertail, the Taiwanese movie on Netflix, I recognized a lot of recurring images. The dishwashing scene that never happened in the beginning contrasted with the dishwashing scene at the end, father and daughter side-by-side. The poignant (in Netflix captioner’s terms) violin music playing at the beginning and regularly throughout, with slight modifications to indicate to the viewer “oh something new is happening!”. But a part of me wondered if that was added after the initial writing, or if the director knew he wanted to have these two juxtaposed scenes and fit the story around that. It seemed to me like the latter, because I could see it from a mile away, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. While I’m on the topic of Tigertail, let me just express my frustration at the dialogue between father and daughter. NO ONE PAUSES THAT MUCH BETWEEN SENTENCES!! I know the relationship is a bit strained and they’re not as close as other father/daughter duos, but people never talk like that.
Anyway, let me try to bring this review back to my original thought: that Stephen King’s tips on writing will help me in probably everything but writing fiction. The quote I remember most vividly is “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” Reading, or watching educational Youtube videos, is a passive skill. You can learn things passively. You understand things by creating. To cement your foundation in fiction, you need to write. To truly learn how to code, watching smart Indian people on Youtube code is not enough; you need to code. And this extends to everything else in life. I would recommend this book to just about anyone. It was funny, candid, and extremely helpful. At the very end, he talks about his horrific accident which derailed his progress on this book for months. He talks about how he sometimes writes too much, but at certain times, it’s writing that bring him back to life. Writing brings him, and all of us, happiness. And best of all, it’s free to write — unlimited happiness!
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