On Writing and Stephen King
Created | Updated Nov 14, 2005
My English teacher at school always said 'Read like a writer and write like a reader' and for the longest time I didn't know what that meant.
I love reading and I love writing. Reading stories can be a joy. The Author takes you by the hand and leads you to places that have never even occured to you before and shows you things. A good author can do this so simply that you wonder why those ideas never occured to you before. My favorite example of this is in H.G. Wells novel 'The War of the Worlds' in which the Martian War Machines are giant Tripods. I love the idea that something so simple can become so alien, almost to the point where you can not imagine just how these things can move. Yet when you read the book you never doubt it for one minute. Beautiful.
My own attempts to write stories have had mixed results, the earlier ones in particular were pathetic to say the least. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't capture that moment of conviction that made a reader accept what i was saying. That was about the time I first picked up the one book that changed all that.
Horror has never been one of my strong points. I remember being a kid and being terrified of the picture on the front of the book that my mother was reading. 'Carrie' by Stephen King. One of the early ones with the picture of the girls face covered in blood. Who would have guessed that the author of this book would be such an inspiration?
Time for a little info. Stephen Edwin King, born in Portland, Maine in 1947, has been writing novels since the Seventies. 'Carrie' was one of his first bestsellers. Since then he has been on of America's top Horror writer with books like 'The Shining', 'It', and 'The Dead Zone'. Many of his books have ben turned into movies, like the beautiful 'The Green Mile' about convicts on death row.
In June of 1999, King was hospitalised after he was hit by a Van while walking along the shoulder of a country road in Maine. It was around about this time, shortly after he recovered from the six operations needed to save his life, that he wrote the book 'On Writing'. It isn't a story, it's part memoirs and part information. In it's simplest form it is a master storyteller telling people about how he tells stories.
This brings me back to my opening statement. 'Write like a reader'. Write it the way you would say it or the way you would read it. Why use big words that you barely understand when you can get your point across much simpler? 'Read like a writer' Ask any author for advice and the first thing they will tell you is to read anything you can get your hands on, The good and the bad. How else are you going to know how your own work reads unless you read stuff yourself?
I love writing stories. I write fanfics that I post on an official site, and I'm working on some original ideas of my own. I read books and comics all the time and I get feedback from my fanfics. I'm learning through all this how to write interesting stories that may one day take readers by the hand just like I mentioned earlier. When my own story is ready I'll find a place for it so it can be read and I'll take all the reactions to it, good and bad, and I'll learn from it.
My advice to potential writers? Next time you go to a bookstore or library go to the 'Stephen King' section and see if they have 'On Writing'. If you can't see it can it hurt to ask at the counter? It can't, can it? Trust me, it is worth it.
I love reading and I love writing. Reading stories can be a joy. The Author takes you by the hand and leads you to places that have never even occured to you before and shows you things. A good author can do this so simply that you wonder why those ideas never occured to you before. My favorite example of this is in H.G. Wells novel 'The War of the Worlds' in which the Martian War Machines are giant Tripods. I love the idea that something so simple can become so alien, almost to the point where you can not imagine just how these things can move. Yet when you read the book you never doubt it for one minute. Beautiful.
My own attempts to write stories have had mixed results, the earlier ones in particular were pathetic to say the least. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't capture that moment of conviction that made a reader accept what i was saying. That was about the time I first picked up the one book that changed all that.
Horror has never been one of my strong points. I remember being a kid and being terrified of the picture on the front of the book that my mother was reading. 'Carrie' by Stephen King. One of the early ones with the picture of the girls face covered in blood. Who would have guessed that the author of this book would be such an inspiration?
Time for a little info. Stephen Edwin King, born in Portland, Maine in 1947, has been writing novels since the Seventies. 'Carrie' was one of his first bestsellers. Since then he has been on of America's top Horror writer with books like 'The Shining', 'It', and 'The Dead Zone'. Many of his books have ben turned into movies, like the beautiful 'The Green Mile' about convicts on death row.
In June of 1999, King was hospitalised after he was hit by a Van while walking along the shoulder of a country road in Maine. It was around about this time, shortly after he recovered from the six operations needed to save his life, that he wrote the book 'On Writing'. It isn't a story, it's part memoirs and part information. In it's simplest form it is a master storyteller telling people about how he tells stories.
This brings me back to my opening statement. 'Write like a reader'. Write it the way you would say it or the way you would read it. Why use big words that you barely understand when you can get your point across much simpler? 'Read like a writer' Ask any author for advice and the first thing they will tell you is to read anything you can get your hands on, The good and the bad. How else are you going to know how your own work reads unless you read stuff yourself?
I love writing stories. I write fanfics that I post on an official site, and I'm working on some original ideas of my own. I read books and comics all the time and I get feedback from my fanfics. I'm learning through all this how to write interesting stories that may one day take readers by the hand just like I mentioned earlier. When my own story is ready I'll find a place for it so it can be read and I'll take all the reactions to it, good and bad, and I'll learn from it.
My advice to potential writers? Next time you go to a bookstore or library go to the 'Stephen King' section and see if they have 'On Writing'. If you can't see it can it hurt to ask at the counter? It can't, can it? Trust me, it is worth it.
