The bulk of Stephen King’s career has revolved around the horror genre and I read many of these books in school, mainly the lesser known ones like Nightmares and Dreamscapes, The Tommyknockers, Skeleton Crew, and the Richard Bachman (King’s pseudonym) book, The Regulators.
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of horror – and seeing the movie version of It as a kid made me never want to watch a horror film ever again - but I don’t think it’s the genre that makes King’s books so successful.
What kept me reading his books were his well-written characters, his strong sense of humour, and his engaging, conversational storytelling style. I think these skills are why he was able to write non-horror stories like 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption' (from the Different Seasons novella) - which I found even more moving on paper than on film - and why his book, On Writing, works so successfully.
On Writing is part how-to-write guide, part autobiography, split into three sections – how he became a writer, the art of writing, and the accident he suffered in 1999.
Part One takes us through his childhood and the early stages of his career. For a long time he had little success, accruing a sizable collection of rejection slips. Eventually his breakthrough came with the novel, Carrie, which was published while he was working as a high school teacher.
In his section on writing, he discusses his approach and his use of freewriting – going wherever the story takes him. The ‘you can’t write without reading’ adage is present and bears remembering, and he includes writing exercises and examples, evening mentioning by name authors who he thinks are good and bad at what they do.
King had shelved On Writing for over a year, restarting his work on it only days before being hit by a van in 1999. In the third part of the book - with moments of anger and his requisite dark humour - he takes us through the accident as well as his reflections on life and of writing.
On Writing is a straight-forward, dynamic read that will appeal to writers, non-writers, fans, and non-fans – virtually anyone will be able to get something out of it. It’s a book that really highlights Stephen King’s effectiveness as a communicator and his ability to tell a good story.