Why did I start this blog?Obviously from the title, there are two reasons. The first reason is Stephen King.
In 2000, Stephen King published an autobiography/writing guide, called On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. After reading this book, I've only got one thing to say about it.... If you ever decide to become a writer but know nothing about writing, then READ THIS BOOK!!! Out of all the self-help writing guides I've ever read, this was one of the most useful books of them all.
This book has three parts in it. The first part is just an autobiography of Stephen King's childhood and his early attempts at trying to get published (his first successful novel was Carrie, which is also a great novel and movie that I highly recommend). The third part of the book is also autobiographical, but this time it's about how Stephen King got injured in an automobile accident, and how he struggled through his injuries and tried to write again. Parts 1 and 3 of the book does not really give any practical writing advice. However, I find it to be very motivational for anyone who is lazy when it comes to writing (like me). When I look at the problems in my life, I realize that they are nothing compared to what Stephen King had to go through when he tried to write. Compared to him, I'm just a big blob of procrastination that can't turn off the TV and sit down and write. So, I'm going to face my small problems and also start writing seriously (hopefully, this blog will motivate me).
The second part of this book is a practical writing guide. This is VERY useful. It teaches you about the essentials of writing a novel; everything from developing your characters, coming up with plots, and fixing your grammer. Most of all, it tells you how to edit out the unnecessary details in your novel. In other words, get rid of those annoying adverbs. Seriously, kill the adverbs.
Writer: Die adverbs! Die! {stab}, {stab}, {delete}, {stab}
Adverbs: No! Stop killing me continuously!
But I bet that many of you are wondering why this writing guide is better than most of the others out there. Well, there are many reasons, but these three are the biggest of them all.
1) This writing guide was written by Stephen King, who is one of the best horror writers in history. He can be compared to other famous writers, like Poe and Lovecraft. So, after all the years of experience and success, Stephen King must know something about writing.
2) Along with his advice, Stephen King also included a rough draft and then an edited draft of his short story, 1408 (which also became a great horror movie). In other words, he doesn't just give us advice on how to write better, he also shows how he does it too.
3) This writing guide only gives us necessary and practical advice. Most other writing guides out there just fills up its page with unnecessary pieces of manure that is just a waste of time. They give out useless information that is not needed, and then give us exercises that most will probably ignore.
In conclusion, read On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King! It's a great book for the aspiring writer.
For more information about Stephen King, go to his website:
http://www.stephenking.com/index.html
PS: If you haven't noticed it yet, at the top of my blog page, it says 'John Smith: On Writing'. I hope that this blog will record all I know about writing, and then one day, like twenty years after I publish my first novel, I will be able to write my own 'On Writing' autobiography/writing guide, which will hold all I know about writing.
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