On Writing - Stephen King reviewed by Thomas

The Kindle has been seen to revolutionise the publishing world, by allowing aspiring authors (hopefully myself included at some point) the opportunity to self publish their work, cutting out the middle man in the publishing industry. What this has seen is an influx of DIY books providing the magic formulas, and general bull that you can write a book in 48 hours and then retire. Of course that might be a slight exaggeration but I don't see it being too far from the truth. Now for certain items such as the formatting, a few helpful guidelines to get it right is fine. Especially if this is a dream, you don't want to be making silly errors in the formatting. However, I am a fan of the saying "stick to what you know" (maybe that's why there is a lack of writing on my behalf).

After it was recommended I decided to read 'On Writing' by Stephen King, a man well qualified in telling me the truths behind wanting to write more. No magic formulas, no guaranteed success plan to follow, just a blunt realisation of what the path to being a successful author entails.

The book contains a small C.V. to show a few aspects of his life which helped shape the man and author today. There is a lot to take away from the book, and it easy to follow and it contains small bite size chunks. A few of the pointers include "writing with the door closed" i.e. just blasting down what you want to say, not stopping to get side tracked or allowing pesky readers the chance to critique it before it is finished. Also of note is the formula 2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%. It is as simple as that. It covers areas such as vocabulary, grammar and story, right through to examples for editing and lists of books to read, which Stephen recommends. The grammar section is interesting, and an area where most people have forgotten the basics (guilty as charged) and the book makes you think more about what grammar to use and also highlights grammar to avoid.
Overall, it is a fascinating incite in to the mind of successful author with a few pointers to help you on the way. It is worth reading for general work purposes, if you are a Stephen King fan and of course aspiring authors.