Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Creature from the Writing Lagoon: Stephen King on Writing


Those of you following me on Twitter or Facebook have recently been drowning in a deluge of quotes from Stephen King. My propensity to share the words of this man with my writer friends stems from my current submersion into his memoir of the craft of writing. Let me explain why I am so late to the game.

I grew up in a very protective religious environment. In an attempt to protect me from the evil of the world, indulgence in or association with anything that resembled evil was forbidden. I am not besmirching my parents by any stretch of the imagination. They encouraged me to pursue my dreams. Yet, this upbringing prevented me from experiencing the fullness of King’s writing prowess.

Recently, while researching sources for inspiration regarding writing tips for my blog, I came across Jane Friedman’s Top Ten Books on Writing. The one with the most reviews was On Writing by Stephen King and I had never read it. Hoping to remedy this as quickly as possible, I ordered a copy and anxiously awaited my date with corruption.

In this book, I have discovered a treasure trove hidden beneath my nose for so many years. Each page compels me to and yet I refrain from tweeting every other sentence. I have already experienced inspirational tales of personal writing lore and insight that rekindles a return to foundations forgotten and an avidity to write ceaselessly. Although I am only half way through my voracious consumption of the mind of King, I quell an urge to rush to the Paris stock exchange to purchase as many shares of Bic Highlighters as I can afford.

I implore the tribunal of King aficionados for patience. Everyone else join me in my primordial journey into the writing mind of a 350 million book bestselling author.

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3 comments:

  1. I have been enjoying the little quotes. The book was recommended to me, earlier this year, while I was taking an editing class.
    It's on my Christmas list.

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  2. A bit less turgid prose please. Follow the Hemingway.

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  3. Dear Anonymous,

    I knew I would get some comments about the use of big words. My editor recommended I pull back some also. I normally work hard to simplify my writing so that the masses can comprehend it easily. This time I threw caution to the wind and embraced the insecure child within me crying out to appear intelligent by using advanced vocabulary.

    ReplyDelete

 
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