Stephen King's book-- On Writing

I know there are hundreds of 'how to' books out there which tell you the best--most productive--way to write. I've read a few of them and by in large they basically go over the most obvious mistakes writers make and give a few tips on how to avoid them. However, a couple of years ago, I picked up Stephen King's book titled On Writing. It's sure not a Stephen King thriller, but that little book gave such a positive punch to my writing, that I woke up this morning and decided to post my brief review. The book is part Mr. King's life and struggles as a writer, combined with some of his real physical problems--like being run down by a wayward driver and nearly killed. I was fascinated by his grit to overcome those problems.

However, on a more practical side, reading the how to on writing gave me a number of tips that have stayed with me. I'll only cover one of the many in this post. When I began writing my first novel, The Red Scarf, I judged my progress by hours spent and word count. As I continued to add to the manuscript, I began to realize my productivity was reduced each day as I used my delete button to remove about a quarter of what I had written the day before. Mr. King in discussing his methods mentioned how he wrote. I can't quote him, because his book is not in front of me, but basically it went something like this; "When you're writing your first draft, write as rapidly as you can, not bothering to correct grammar or misspelled words." That was an interesting thought, but what he said next was even more so. "Stop writing when you have written 2500 words." He went on to say that some days he finished writing by 10 in the morning. Other days it would be sometime after lunch. He realized, because of the effort it takes to concentrate, true productivity and inspiration takes a drop after a few hours. It was one of those "Oh my gosh" moments for me. My productive had fizzled each day, sometime during the last quarter of my writing, and it showed.


On Writing is in paperback now and it's well worth the few dollars, if it will make you more productive as a writer. I've just scratched the surface on this post--I'll add more later.