Monday, February 12, 2007

What writing is all about? Stephen King's "On Writing"

"[...] Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy. [...]"

My first impression on "On Writing" by Stephen King was how-to manual. I was wrong. I was captivated until the end and I am puzzled whether it's about writing or Stephen biography - autobiography, in this case. He has illustrated the procedures in a very story-like and I never felt that I was reading a book on Writing. In the past i had tried reading "how to write a damn good novel?". Got lost before I reached half. The matra to writing, stressed many times at many places by Stephen, is "Read a lot and Write a lot". Practice is the only thing if you really want to improve your writing. It took him years before he finally made his stand in the writing world.

He also suggested that interest should come first for writing. The quotes above, from the end of the book, explains it all.

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