This is a book review of On Writing by Stephen King.

How I got the book:

Bought it myself, years ago.

Background:

Stephen King is one of those writers who sells books at the level of Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, J. K. Rowling (on average, at least), and other popular writers. He’s published well over 40 novels and short story collections, lots of articles, and non-fiction books, including this one.

Earlier in his career, King was regarded as a hack:  some dude who knew how to crank out horror prose that readers would gobble up by the ton and whose books got adapted into movies of varying quality (no one will ever forget the movie adaptations of Carrie or The Shining; Maximum Overdrive, on the other hand…)

Here’s the thing, though: he got better.  And better.  And better.  Through a combination of talent and a lot of hard work, King become more than a horror writer.  He became a good writer, if not a great writer.  At the very least, he is a brilliant storyteller, creating memorable descriptions, characters, plots, and scenes.

In the late 1990s, he started On Writing, a book where he would relate his experiences and learnings related to his work as a writer.  The book got derailed for a time when he was struck (and almost killed) by a mini-van.  He finished the book after his recovery and incorporated that story into the book.

The book is as much about Stephen King as it is about the craft of writing, making it a highly personal account of how he became a successful author and what he learned along the way.

The strengths:

This book works well on two levels:

1. It provides some practical advice on the different skills or tools that a writer needs.
2. It provides an important case study (Stephen King himself) where he talks about his successes, failures, trials, and growth as a writer and as a person.

Some might argue that the story of recovering from being struck by the mini-van doesn’t add a lot to the book.  However, to me it’s the most interesting part of On Writing because it showed me that writing never stops being hard work, even for the pros.  You can lose your way for awhile, get rusty, and have to prevail over adversity; but, it can be done.

The areas for improvement

You could argue that King dwells a bit too much on himself, although the book is a memoir, not a textbook.  Another point is that writing markets have changed tremendously through the years.  King became a best seller years before writers stopped using typewriters, the Web became ubiquitous, big box and Internet retailers came to dominate book sales, and millions of pages of free content began appearing on the Web.  These days, people like J. C. Hutchins, Cory Doctorow and Scott Sigler may represent a more realistic path to success.  But who knows – writers are still getting published following more traditional methods.

Other points of interest:

King includes a list of the books that he read during the writing of this book, which is pretty darn cool.  It helps reinforce the point that good writers are voracious readers.

Verdict (9 out of 10): (every fiction writer would benefit from reading this book, especially early in their careers; non-fiction writers can still get some benefit as well)

My methodology for book reviews and affiliate links: I’ll provide an Amazon.com affiliate link (or other related affiliate link) for content if I think it’s worth buying and reading. If I don’t, I won’t provide an affiliate link. The affiliate link helps fund my content creation activities.

If you would like me to review YOUR eBook, book, or other content, please send me an E-Mail at markdykeman@gmail.com to get instructions on how to send your book or content to me. You’ll get my honest opinion about your book, either publicly or privately.

Most Commented Posts

• Social media blog post ideas for desperate people
• A page full of thank yous for some great people
• The Uncanny Evolving Social Media Blog List!
• The Reasons Why Other People Ignore You
• A simple theory on why social media is losing its mojo