Lessons From Stephen King.

Stephen King is one of the most notorious horror novelists, a true maestro of the macabre and grand master of gore, so when I began reading his very own memoir I became quite invested in seeing a whole new side of King outside of his dark narratives.

"On Writing" is an amalgamation of King's experiences and memories as well as his tips on how to be the best writer you can be. The best thing about this book is easily the tone he uses while writing it, like you're sitting next to him on the porch listening to him reminisce on his greatest achievements and failures while giving you advice on how to make the most out of what you're doing. In other words, the book doesn't feel condescending or like you're taking facts from an expert, it feels natural and encouraging listening to King talk about how he overcame struggles with writing some of his most notorious books such as "Carrie" and how it was his loved ones who pulled him through it.

King's book also provides a toolbox, a very useful one that isn't used for maintaining cars, but rather for maintaining good writing. Every writer directs a certain amount of emphasis on certain parts of their toolbox and for me two of those parts are style and vocabulary. King describes vocabulary as something you shouldn't put much conscious thought into, "Remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to mind, if it is appropriate or colorful. If you hesitate and cogitate, you will come up with another word- of course you will, there's always another word- but it probably won't be as good as the first one, or as close to what you really mean." (118)

 I think this tool means so much to me because hesitancy is the number one roadblock for me when it comes to writing, I have all these ideas in my head and then all of a sudden, a wall of uncertainty comes down and I find myself redoing everything with less joy than before. King encourages you to avoid this scenario by speaking what comes to mind, by being direct and sincere with your words because it's what you want to say. Writing is an art form, a way of expression and interpretation, and you should never settle for less than what you truly want for that.

Another tool that I really value is adverbs. King compares adverbs to dandelions, one of them makes your yard pretty and unique, but too many of them will cover your yard and make you realize they're truly weeds. The reason I'm so drawn to adverbs is because in my writing I often feel the need to make things as picturesque as possible, so that the reader never feels slighted of any emotion or detail, but King makes it known in his book that it's better to keep it simple and not overrun your book with detail because, "fear is the root of most bad writing." That's a quote I'll keep with me for a long time and I owe it to metaphorical toolbox full of writing tips.