As an aspiring author looking for inspiration and advice on all things writing, I had been hearing great things about On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King, so decided to give it a go! I'd half expected a more structured textbook-type of a book, but this wasn't to be the case. The first part of the book is about how Stephen King, one of the most successful writers of the last few decades, came to be a writer in the first place. This memoir is fascinating, funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. It could be one of his novels, and you have to keep reminding yourself that this is the man himself, telling his own story - the good, the bad and the decidedly ugly parts are all here. Then we move onto his tips for writing ... a kind of rough guide. He openly admits that what he is telling the reader won't take long and that you should avoid lengthy tomes on how to become a best seller. You can either write or you can't - all he is providing is a framework to help make you become a better writer, but only if you put the work in. Littered with some memorable advice like "The road to hell is paved with adverbs" - which he demonstrates with some fine examples - are written in such a style that you forget that you are trying to learn stuff and just sit back and let his words soak in! I would recommend this book even if you don't think you like Stephen King (I'm not a horror fan, but have read a few of his other works). I wouldn't even say that you necessarily have to be thinking about becoming a writer to reach for it. If you are just interested in how someone finds their way to the job they really want to do, or maybe how a writer goes about their craft, then this works on that level alone. I read the audio edition, which is narrated by Stephen King himself, which I felt added a little extra something.
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.
Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.84.
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