Until my recent reading of Stephen King’s On Writing

Until my recent reading of Stephen King’s On Writing, I had never read any of his books. I bought one or two for a dime here or a quarter there at thrift shops, but they remain as the few unread books on my shelf. I found On Writing at a Salvation Army store. I wouldn’t have taken a chance on the new $9 paperback, but here the hardback edition was 50 cents. I took the plunge. Still, On Writing waited for my completion on another thrift writing manual-How You Can Make $20,000 A Year Writing No Matter Where You Live by Nancy Edmonds Hanson. The dated book held nothing new, and I put it down one third of the way in-if that. Somehow I found myself in the middle of a Lord of the Rings frenzy, and then I got to On Writing.Not only is King’s pseudo memoir slash writing inspiration unique for his fray into nonfiction, but On Writing also encompasses the horror powerhouse before and after his near fatal roadside accident. The early chapters focus on King’s childhood and youthful writing formations, and a postscript relives King’s account of being struck by a van.I was at least intrigued enough to finish the book. Some early chapters forced me to turn the book aside, but King’s writing chapters were personal page turners. In the end, however, my opinion on On Writing is meh.Several sequences of King’s tale are highly amusing in a gross and inappropriate way. His account of a fat baby sitter farting on his face while saying “Pow!” and daring little Stevie to eat eggs until he pukes is funny and yet slightly sadistic. Equally twisted is King’s as detailed as possible account of his van accident. Most of it was more information than I needed, but I did keep reading.I became more interested in the book when King reached the publication of Carrie. Although some of his words are quite offensive and downright vulgar, I’ve heard worse. I’ve probably said or written nastier-I know I have. Nevertheless, I was not impressed with King’s repeated F bombs and sex talk. I didn’t think it was necessary here, and briefly I wondered if this is why he is so popular? Millions of boys and girls must have been so excited to see naughty words in a book thirty years ago. Is Stephen King just all shock value?One of the highlights in On Writing is not King’s sailor language, but rather his humble beginnings. Mill work, rejection letters, trailer parks, laundry duty. It’s nice for little people like you and me to see a big wig like Stephen King started out in the pits as well. I thought I had it bad working in the kitchen at a nursing home-I don’t know if I could take washing hospital sheets!Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, and King’s determination helped get his first book Carrie on the shelves. I was, however, disappointed again by King’s detailed accounts of his subsequent alcohol and substance abuse. With his confessions in On Writing, King adds to the theory that to be a famous American author, you must have an addiction. King even quotes Hemingway in his text, and I hate Hemingway. My liking of Jack Nicholson in the film version of The Shining has also been diminished. King admits that the character of alcoholic writer Jack Torrance was majority himself and that he doesn’t even remember writing most of his books from that time.

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