Book Review: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Writing.

Writing is equal parts thinking, equal parts imagination and equal parts art.

When talking about refining our thinking and blossoming our imagination, we can probably learn from anything and everything. From all of life, actually.

While the life we experience may be enough for us to grasp the fundamentals of thinking and to grapple the magical stardust of imagination, the actual craft of writing is a skill still and all. Just like every other skill, writing too, is best learned from those, who are already the crackerjacks in the field.

Here, we’re talking about Stephen King…

It is not for no reason that Stephen King is renowned the world over as the King of Fiction. Having published over 64 novels in science fiction, horror, fantasy, crime, suspense and supernatural, Mr. King is revered as an inspiration for writers who seek to taste the ‘storyteller-glory’, doing the essential work of course.

In his book ‘Stephen King on Writing – A Memoir of the Craft’, Mr. King offers us a mixed bag of wondrous insights into what makes a storyteller ‘a storyteller’.

Part autobiographical memoir and part lessons in writing, the book exudes a beat that is super-hilarious, slightly witty and magnanimously honest at the same time.

The memoir, crafted as a set of stories, depict the picture-polaroids of his childhood landscape. Whereas, in the second chunk, Mr. King explores his understanding of the writing process, and shares it with the readers in an entertaining, humorous, and at times, in a hard-nosed yet unapologetic way. The toolbox he unfurls for writers is not only the sweet bread-and-jam or the saucy funko-pop of hotcake writing, but also, a reality-check, that’ll enable the writer to get down to the brass tacks, and look at their writing from the rational eye.

Each of the two parts is divided into several chapters, followed by a postscript in which he describes his experience surviving an accident and nearly escaping the jaws of death; also writing how the craft of writing helped him heal and grow out of the near-death experience, while he was still writing this book.

Obviously, I enjoyed reading the book. Even more so, I seemed to learn a lot of lessons on writing & life, some of which I’m going to elaborate in the next post on my website.

Stay tuned.

Good day!

Neha

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