February 19, 2012

"A Memoir of the Craft" by Stephen King

For a long time now people have been reading Stephen King’s novels, marveling at the genius he manages to put on paper. However, while we keep on reading his works of fiction, a lot of us have noticed a distinct lacking when it comes to knowing what the master himself thinks like in real life.

It’s one thing to learn about an author through his imagination, but it’s another to learn about him from what he truly thinks and says. Probably with this in mind (as well as a fat paycheck) Mr. King released an autobiographical work titled On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft.

This book is basically divided into two main types of texts. First of all, there are the memoirs in which King does what pretty much anybody would do in a memoir: he shares his thoughts and analysis on the events he remembers that marked his life in one way or the other.

On Writing. A Memoir of the Craft (Book cover)
This part is at times quite amusing and fascinating as it allows you to see how the master of horror came to be, covering his story from his early days as a struggling writer, to his nearly fatal 1999 accident, ending with his recovery in the years afterwards.

The second type of writing you are going to find in this book can be likened to a master writing class, as he actually teaches you practical knowledge about the art of writing a story.

If you are an aspiring writer yourself then you will find that a lot of this information is exclusive in the sense that these are techniques that Stephen King developed himself.



Stephen Edwin King, (Author)

Stephen Edwin King


Personal site

Here is a man who probably needs no introduction. Stephen King is known by virtually everyone as being the master of horror, coming up with classics such as It and The Shining, but his literary talents to extend beyond that as he delivered plenty of memorable novels in other genres, including 11/22/63 and Under the Dome.

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