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Stephen King: On Writing

it's ok. depends why you're reading it though - help with writing, or just interested in King? Both - go for it. for info and help with writing, you'd need to check out some other books, and King recommends some in On Writing.
 
You may like to have a read of the following thread:

Non-fiction Stephen King

On Writing is discussed by quite a few people :) I haven't actually read it myself yet, but will get round to it at some point. I am not a fan of his writing (or horror in general really) so haven't picked up his non-fiction work yet :eek:
 
I've read it and refer to it from time to time. I found it helpful. I figure an author who is so successful must know what he's talking about.
 
I enjoyed On Writing, it was an interesting read, both as an insight into his life and for the useful tips, although a lot of what he says is common sense. I liked "don't let the facts get in the way of a good story", that was one of my stumbling blocks.


Its a good, encouraging read, don't let his horror books put you off.
 
I have just purchased a copy of King's book on writing. I have dutifully used the search engine to locate this thread and avoid redundancy.

I would like to post some observations here as I read. I also picked up a book compiled by Jon Winokur entitled Writers on Writing (published by Running Press) which is a collection of quotations from hundreds of authors spanning many centuries. I shall ressurect this thread and post my comments as a series of replies, to overcome the inconvenience a brief window of opportunity for editing/appending. I shall add some interesting quotations from the Winokur collection.
 
In America only the successful writer is important.
In France, all writers are important.
In England no writer is important.
In Australia you have to explain what a writer is.

- Geoffrey Cotterell

(from Jon Winokur's collection)

P.S. - My apologies to France, but I found this amusing.
 
from AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN KING ON CHRISTINE

http://www.perfectworldusa.com/christine.htm

Lofficier: Do you consciously try to put something a little more subliminal into your work?

King: No, never subliminal. I think it should be out there where anybody can see it. I don't believe in the idea that symbolism, or theme should be coded so that only college graduates can read it. The only thing that that type of self-conscious literature is good for is for people to dissect it and use it to get graduate degrees or write doctoral thesis. Theme and symbol are a very strong and valid part of literature, and there's no reason not to put them right out front.
 
Just how scholarly can one be with Stephen King?

He dedicates his book on writing, in part to Amy Tang, who gave him encouragement.

http://www.authorsontheweb.com/features/authormonth/0102tan/tan.asp

Along with novelist Stephen King and columnist Dave Barry, Tan is a member of the literary garage band, the Rock Bottom Remainders, for which she sings the Nancy Sinatra classic, "These Boots Are Made for Walking," to raise money for literacy and first amendment rights groups. Tan's rendition of the pop culture classic can be heard on the CD album, "Stranger than Fiction," which benefits the PEN Writers Fund.


http://www.english.stir.ac.uk/post/mphil_gothic.htm



One need not be a Chamber - to be Haunted
One need not be a House -
The Brain has Corridors - surpassing
Material Place –

(Emily Dickinson)

http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/deans_office/news/archives/1002_special.html

New book from Alexandra Heberger

The supernatural depiction of modern American phobias and anxieties in the work of Stephen King Prof. Alexandra Heberger's (Department of German & Slavic Studies), The supernatural depiction of modern American phobias and anxieties in the work of Stephen King, has been released by Der Andere Verlag of Osnarbrük.

Heberger, with Master's degrees in English, Political Science, German and Linguistics and a PhD in German Studies, helps to demonstrate in this new work that the writings of Stephen King literally and symbolically reflect common phobias or anxieties about modern society due to the limitations and weaknesses of its institutions, governmental bureaucracies, technological developments, school systems, and communities, right down to the microcosm of familial relationships.

http://www.eng.helsinki.fi/main/studies/3_8_4.htm

A 2003 PhD Thesis on Stephen King:


Strengell, Heidi (CL)
The Multiverse of Stephen King: A Study of Genres (English Department Studies 3), Helsinki: Department of English
 
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/programs/2005/01/31/index.html

Stewart O'Nan, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1961). He's the author of many novels, including Snow Angels (1994), A Prayer for the Dying (1999) and The Night Country (2003).

He's known for writing about unsympathetic characters, criminals and delinquents, but he said, "I want [readers] to live and die for my characters even though they have massive faults. Popular culture has brainwashed us into believing that our heroes need to be blameless, and that just drives me nuts."

He got in trouble when he tried to publish his novel The Speed Queen (1997), about a woman on death row who sells her story to a famous American writer. In the original draft of the book, that famous American writer was Stephen King, and O'Nan wanted to call the novel "Dear Stephen King." Stephen King's lawyers threatened to sue if he didn't change the name of the character and the name of the novel, and eventually he did.

Later, he and Stephen King got to know each other and became friends, and last year they wrote a book together about the Boston Red Sox called Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season.
 
http://www.le.ac.uk/ee/pg/mamodlit.html

University of Leicester

Some Recent Dissertation Topics

* The Broken Poet: Destructive Forces in the Life and Work of Hart Crane

* Ted Hughes’s Crow: A Modern European Myth

* Sister Sister: The extents to which gynobonding is empowering and sisterly disengagement is debilitating in the works of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker

* ‘Bookers Are Not The Only Fruit’: A comparison of the Booker Prize (1995-1999) and the Orange Prize for Fiction (1996-2000)

* Through the Lens of Exile: V. S. Naipaul’s view on man’s "free state"

* Kipling and Masculinity

* Stephen King: Contemporary Horror Writer. A consideration of modern Gothic horror fiction – its affinity to, and development of, a classic tradition

http://noggs.typepad.com/the_reading_experience/2005/04/the_hard_facts.html

David Milofsky's article in the Denver Post utters aloud the not-so-concealed secret about American English departments: without Creative Writing, many of them might no longer exist. Only the infusion of creative writing students (undergraduate and graduate) each semester, being sent through their required literature courses, keeps some literature professors in business. Many of these students are perfectly happy to be taking these courses, as they understand that good writers know where their chosen forms come from and what the great writers of the past have done with these forms. Others, however, regard these required classes as a trial to be endured, not exactly what they had in mind when they decided Stephen King's job looked like a pretty good one.

http://www.english.stir.ac.uk/staff/adrian_hunter.htm

Adrian Hunter - Lecturer
M.A. (Glasgow), Ph.D. (Glasgow)
Interested in supervising work on any aspect of modernism, American literature, or short fiction studies and presently supervising a doctoral thesis on Stephen King.

http://www.penguinblogs.ca/whyte/archives/00000023.html
 
http://www.susanisaacs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=86&

Susan Isaacs writes:

Back in the late 80s, when I was in what was then the USSR, things were changing. It was after glasnost, I believe, but before perestroika. We had an Intourist guide, a lovely woman who was a doctoral candidate in English and American literature. We got to talking about what she was reading and she mentioned authors from Dickens to Sinclair Lewis, ones who portrayed the social and economic inequities of the capitalist system. I asked her if they were any contemporary authors she liked. “Yes,” she said, “Stephen King. We take him much more seriously than you do.” I told her that I took King’s work seriously and predicted his books would be around long after many highly-praised literary novels had been forgotten. I asked her if she had read “Misery” and she said no, I said “give me your address and I’ll send you a copy when I get back to the US.” Well, she never gave me her address and avoided me after that. I think the old fears of the government’s mistrust of citizens who read literature that was not approved, not properly communist, held her back. She did not want to be compromised by receiving a book that might not be considered proper reading. I’m so glad that now Russians can read Stephen King as well as work by other American authors – including mine.
 
Stephen King's book, On Writing is a lighter read than Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel or Umberto Eco's On Literature, but still it is worthwhile and entertaining (perhaps far more light-hearted and entertaining than the other two books mentioned).

Here is a good tip, from page 114 of Stephen King’s On Writing

Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life. I take a book with me everywhere I go, and find there are all sorts of opportunities to dip in. The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows. Waiting rooms were made for books – of course! But so are theater lobbies before the show, long and boring checkout lines, and everyone’s favorite, the john [bathroom/toilet]. You can even read while you’re driving, thanks to the audio book revolution. Of the books I read each year, anywhere from six to a dozen are on tape. As for all the wonderful radio you will be missing, com on – how many times can you listen to Deep Purple sing ‘Highway Star’.
 
And if you are Stephen King, you could do no worse than reading it yourself and heeding your own advice.


And why is this obvious piece of non-fiction squatting in the speculative fiction section?
 
Stewart said:
And if you are Stephen King, you could do no worse than reading it yourself and heeding your own advice.


And why is this obvious piece of non-fiction squatting in the speculative fiction section?
Click to expand...

Good point. I was reading stuff in the fiction section and just posted. Can it be moved?
 
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