On Writing: a Recommendation
There are certain books and authors which every good reader and dedicated writer should have in their collection. When creating a list of these, you’d be sure to include your Austens and your Fitzgeralds and your Salingers. These authors make up a part of the Western literary canon for a reason. But I think any good collection needs more than just the classics. It requires a straightforward book from the favorite genre of every aspiring writer: writing.
I’d like to think I have found such a book—a fine work that has been blessing writers’ bookshelves since 2000, written by one of the world’s most prolific modern authors. On Writing by Stephen King has markedly changed the way I approach my own writing. It has allowed me to realize that the goal is to write, with the sole reason being that you love to write. It is a book I am sure I will read again (and more closely). Perhaps the second time I will bring a pencil and highlighter, much to the delight of my high school English teachers.
On Writing is part memoir and part go-to writing guide. King’s introductory autobiography is a fascinating look into his authorial development. Not only does it provide a glimpse into the mind and motivations of one of the bestselling authors of all time, but it also provides hope—hope that anyone, no matter their background, can be a writer. All you need is the passion and the dedication to continuously practice and perfect your craft. The second portion of the book deals with the more nitty-gritty aspects of writing. King fleshes out his tips on characterization, on style, and on having the guts to mercilessly edit your work when you’re finished.
Within this second section, I found some especially potent pieces of advice. The first—and perhaps most emphasized by the writing community in general—principle is that to be a good writer you must write a lot and read a lot. I think this is sound advice, and, while it might seem obvious to the writing aficionado, it’s worth repeating once again. The second is an equation that I now have posted above my desk: Second Draft = First Draft – 10%. In other words: you always write more than you need.
Apart from these golden rules of writing, I also found two nuggets tucked inside the text. In part seven of the second section, King writes, “[W]riting fiction in America as we enter the twenty-first century is no job for intellectual cowards.” In context, King is addressing critics’ attempts to censor his dialogue. However, I think this applies to more than just dialogue. As writers, we have a responsibility now to embrace the topics that other people shy away from, not just in nonfiction, but in fiction as well. Some of the greatest pieces of social criticism were novels. King encourages writers to do no more and no less than write their truth without fear.
On a much less serious note, King aptly summarizes what writing means to me—and what it means to most writers—in just two words: getting happy. If writing doesn’t make you happy, it’s going to be obvious on the page. If it doesn’t make you happy, you’re improving neither your own life nor anyone else’s. And if it doesn’t make you happy, why do it?
Perhaps you’ve never been the type of person to read memoirs or advice books—or nonfiction in general. If nothing else, reading this book will give you an excellent conversation starter. (At a recent job interview, I spent five minutes talking about mine and my interviewers’ mutual love of On Writing.) But in my humble opinion, this book deserves to be part of the canon, rather than the conversation starters.