On Writing

Tomorrow we go to Sedona. We went to South Mountain today and I took more pictures of sprawling vistas and flowering cacti, which I'll probably post tomorrow.

Here's a little bit about the book I finished a few days ago.

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Book 5: On Writing, by Stephen King

As a writer, I found this book very inspiring. The first half is a kind of memoir, short tales about his colorful childhood. There are a few writing tips thrown in there, but the majority are in the second half. The more detailed tips about grammar I've been taking into consideration as I edit my novel.

He has other ideas as well, about how to structure a story. He doesn't work well with a pre-drawn plot, so he starts with a situation. He says "Misery is 'two characters in a house,' ... Gerald's Game is 'one woman in a bedroom,' and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is 'one kid lost in the woods.'" This way, the story and characters can grow and develop as they will and the plot isn't forced to go one way or another. I like this idea, and may work on a short story this way. Not that I plot everything at first, anyway. It feels more like I've gotten permission to write without preconceived structure.

It has laugh-aloud humor, entertaining stories, and good advice from a very successful author. Anyone who writes, is thinking about starting to write, or finds writers themselves interesting would enjoy it.