On Writing by Stephen King

[King Bob]

I read this because I thought, mistakenly it turns out, that he would discuss horror as a genre. (Does he do that in another book?) But King has a style that keeps you reading, so I did finish it, even though I'm not a writer.

The first part is autobiographical up to about when  he started to be successful as a writer. The second part is focused on his thoughts on writing, with occasional bits about his own books, and those bits kept me reading. His advice seems reasonable to me. Then he has a section about his nearly fatal accident. He finishes with (a short version of?) the story 1408, first unedited, and then showing his edits and notes on them. I kind of just skimmed that part.

The autobiography parts were the best. But then, if I were a writer I might say different. So if you're not a writer, maybe just read the first part.

[Greg]

I figured there has to be another review of this book here since both DM and I have talked about it ad nauseam.

I really enjoyed it. It was more of a cheerleading book than concrete steps. But sometimes you need that.

I've been tempted to read Chuck Wendig's "Damn Fine Story" which is a similar tome and has been getting a lot of good reviews in my bubble.

[Drunk Monk]

I’ve always thought writing on writing is silly, but oh so tempting. Then there’s those books on writing that are so dry that you get bored and think ‘wth am I bothering with this?’ This is my top recommendation for aspiring writers. King remains the master of readability and I still need several of his tips from this, or I just feel inadequate when liberally using adverbs.