FrankieDWK

He definitely got in to my head, but thankfully no nightmares. The only time I ever got a nightmare from anything King related came from watching the movie IT. While watching it I honestly didn't think it was scary at all. But, I guess it just got in to my head and decided to spring up while I was sleeping.

Fantasy of You

I thought On Writing was a great book. All the advice S.K. gives seems pretty good to me. Even he said was said frankly, and without being condescending. He gives examples from his own life, which I found incredibly helpful and enlightening.

It's a great book, and if you don't like what it says, don't read it again. And why should you listen to him? Not like he's been published or made a few pound.

- FoY

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wmd

This thread seems a bit old to put a new post in, but since it has been revived I will add my two cents.

I am a King fan. On Writing is one of my favorite books in my collection and have read it multiple times (straight through and sporadically). The thing about this book is that I find it more inspiring than I do instructional, which is a good thing.

There is nothing wrong with reading the book and disagreeing with what he is saying. The craft of writing is an art form and there are numerous ways to accomplish the same thing.

As far as King's writing goes... His work falls into two categories imo. It is either exciting and great to read, or boring and hard to read. I think it is one or the other and he usually does not tread into the middle ground.

I don't know why you would say "I will never read a King book". You really did not give a reason as to why. Did someone turn you off of them? Bad experience with the writer? I dunno, but he obviously left a mark on you if you checked out two other books.

If you are still reading him, try Cell it is a newer book and jumps right into the action and never lets up.

And dont judge King by the movies that are made. When you are watching a movie you are not watching a Stephen King movie you are watching a movie based on a Stephen King book/story. There is a difference. I do not like watching a movie that was based on a book because the movie usually comes up short... way short.

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TinyMachines

I loved this book. At least, I loved everything up until his whiny story about almost dying. He makes it sound like the person was out to murder him.

The things I took from this book were the hate of adverbs. Everytime I read one I shudder now. And I completely understand the passive voice taking away from the certainty. Taking out the passive voice in my pieces has probably been the single greatest editing move I have made.

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Banzai

I agree. I have yet to find a movie which is better than the book it is based on- with the possible exception of Eragon (I slept through a large part of it, so I can't really judge). Athough, having said that, I did think that the film of The Green Mile was a very god effort. It wasn't as good as the book, but it went a long way.

And as for Stephen King, I am a fan of his books- though not having read that many of them. I have also read On Writing, and I liked it. The thing is not to look at it as a writing guide, but more of an autobiographical acount of his approach to writing. I did not take all of his advice, but it was interesting to see the thought process of a famous and very successful writer.

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movieman

'Fight Club': I believe even the author said that the movie was better than his book... primarily, I presume, because they had a better ending, since the rest of the movie followed the book fairly well.

Probably 'American Psycho' too, because they removed the 500 pages of gratuitous violence that just got tiresome in the novel.

But on King, I generally agree: 'Shawshank Redemption' is the only good King movie I've seen. The 'Stand' mini-series wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either; in part, I suspect, it was just trying to do too much for its budget.

But that's really what you should be doing in an outline in any case: the benefit of doing it as an outline is that you don't have to write hundreds of pages and then go back and rewrite lots of it because you didn't think things through properly before you started .

Now I'm going to have to buy this book and see if it's any good . I haven't read any of his fiction in a decade or so, but given his ability to keep me up until 5am because I wanted to see how the story turned out, he must have a few useful things to say.

zebedee

I really enjoyed this book, also finding it inspirational as well as educational.

The bit about adverbs was illuminating as they tend to grow like weeds in my own writing, I make sure to stamp out as many as I can now.

The only part that annoyed me was at the end when he went on about his accident, I think he should have waited a while before writing that part as he comes across as whiny.

movieman

Yeah, I bought the book and I'm about half-way through it now, so I decided to go back to the novel I'm writing and look for adverbs: I thought I was doing well, but so far I'm finding about three per page to remove .

deviger

If you think the adverbs work you don't need to remove them just because the High Holy Stephen King doesn't like them. JK Rowling has become one of the richest people in the UK and she throws adverbs around all the time.

movieman

Well, I agree with him. I think the parts where I removed adverbs and rewrote were an improvement over what I had before.

cyberspecter

Stephen King isn't the only writer to advocate the elimation of most adverbs in writing. Many writers will give you the same advice as will Strunk & White's, "Elements of Style".

“Adverbs are another indication of writing failure. Exactly the right verb can eliminate the need for the adverb.” William Sloane

“Omit needless words. Watch for adverbs that merely repeat the meaning of the verb.” Strunk and White

“Most adverbs are unnecessary. . . . Again and again in careless writing, strong verbs are weakened by redundant adverbs.” William Zinsser




The fact JK Rowling is wealthy doesn't prove adverbs are wonderful things. Her books are imaginative enough for her to get away with some pretty awful writing, but she is the exception to the rule. She was lucky enough to come along at just the right time with just the right story. Most of us won't be that lucky.

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Rob

It's not a rule, it's a preference. There are plenty of good authors who use adverbs frequently. It's true that often an adverb that's propping up a poorly chosen verb can be replaced by a better verb, though there's plenty of fiction out there where neither the author, the publisher or the readers care.

Cheers,
Omni

cyberspecter

True enough. Well put.

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