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On Writing

a Memoir of the Craft
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Jefferson County Public Library.
Feb 11, 2017WendyLC rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I read it twice, the first time soon after it came out, the second time this week. The first time I recall that I reeled back in horror when he described a verb mood as a "tense," but I've long gotten over that. So, he's not a grammar expert--no big deal. It's not that the basic advice isn't good: * read a lot -- good and bad books both, as you'll learn from both * write a lot, and set a production quota and meet it * critique groups are of limited use and should be avoiding during drafting * don't revise forever--twice through is good enough * be dogged in seeking publication It is good advice, though you can read it many other places for free, online and in books going back fifty years. But this book is too much about Stephen King and too little about writing to be considered a good writing craft book. And this time, my opinion did not change much. I rolled my eyes at the portrait he presented of the hard-working young writer. Oh the work ethic aspect is good and the doggedness bit is good, and the "present yourself professionally" advice is good. All are requirements, but five publications in the Podunk Review getting the guy an agent for a novel not yet written? Not true in 1999 when this was first published, and laughable today. Perhaps true in 1967...but the publishing world radically changed between then and 1999, and he should have asked someone whose father was not Stephen King how it was going for normal writers. Also, he really slides by the fact that this young writer dude has made $100 in sales over a few years (plus a literary prize payout--and literary prizes almost always have an entry fee, so the imaginary writer might have spent twice that to win the award) while King has made -- well, I don't know, but surely well over over one million times that much. The gulf between them is wide and the chances of crossing it for the imaginary writer dude are near zero. The average annual salary for novelists is $4000/year and genre novel advances have gone down, not up, since Carrie, as difficult as that is to comprehend. It's a bit duplicitous to imply otherwise. As is saying "the money never mattered to me." If he and his wife were still living in a trailer rather than having two "summer homes" on both sides of the same lake, I bet you he wouldn't be still "writing anyway because the money never mattered." The money does matter -- it matters to the bank and power company, but I guess rich people forget that sort of thing. It's a rare person can write for thirty years and make $4000 per year on average and still soldier on. I've met a few, and I applaud them, but I know a lot more who gave up because making perhaps $2/hour seems a little insane after a few decades. And of course today, self-publishing ebooks has radically changed everything. So this book is almost hopelessly outdated. All of this information is available elsewhere, and there are some terrific craft writing books with detailed and actionable advice, but this isn't one of them. This is pretty much only for people who like Stephen King. It's beloved by them, but I'd bet you it never turned a wannabe into a real writer.