On Writing

I just finished reading an amazing book that I didn't really think I would enjoy. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, By Stephen King. Now don't get me wrong, I love Stephen King's fiction and have read many and Deloris Claiborne is the only book that has made me laugh hysterically outloud, I almost couldn't control myelf. So I was being very skeptical about reading his non-fictional "memoir of the craft." Still, I have no idea why I thought that.

But I started reading it at work last week, because it was the only book I had and I friggin' loved it! It started off as him as kid and how he was always writing stories, and when he was a teenager, and when we went to college, and when he got married and had kids and was poor, and when he made it big, and when he was a drug addict, and when he was sober, and when he got hit by a car and almost died, that he was always writing.

And you know how everything you read is essentially a story, in once sense or another. You have a mental picture in your mind and as you're reading, you're playing it out in your mind like a movie and you're the director. Even if it's a text book. There's always and ending to what you're learning about. A math problem has a beginning and an end. So does the page in your biology book talking about how the liver plays a role to your body. There's a beginning and an end. On Writing, has neither. And you don't even care. Because it's just...there. No rise in tension, no climax, no denoument, no real resolution. And still, you don't care. In fact, you love it because it's so different than anything you've ever read. And I know there are more books out there like this, and I want to read them.

He discussed how writing/reading is somewhat like telepathy. The writer is trying as best as he can to describe the story he is thinking in his mind, with words. Words which are never really fulfilling at all. Yet when a reader reads the story, those images and thoughts become transferred to the reader's mind. So it's like time travel telepathy. Does that make sense?

So if you are ever so intrigued, I recommend reading this book. I mean everyone has to write whether you like it or not. Maybe this book will inspire you, or maybe it won't. Hopefully you'll love it, but maybe you'll hate it. Either way, I bet it will be different than most things you've read.