Book 11: On Writing A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

I'm embarrassed  to admit it--in writing, no less--but I once said that Stephen King was a good story teller but not that great a writer. I remember being bothered by a line: "She shot him a gaze." I would have been fine with "She shot him a glare." Shot and glare work together. Shot and gaze are contradictory. I think the sentence is from The Dark Half, but I'm not positive that's the exact wording. It's what I remember.

I've read 15 of King's books. Obviously I enjoyed them because I kept reading them. It's pretty harsh of me to condemn King's writing because of one line. I apologize.

On Writing combines autobiography, writing advice, and thoughts on the mysteries of creativity. I highlighted a few ideas:

"Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's.

Also: 

"For me, good description usually consists of a few 

well-chosen details that will stand for everything else."

A few pages later:

"The key to good description begins with clear seeing and ends with clear 

writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary."

I have an unfinished story based on a retreat Darlene and I visited a few years ago. I rewrote it as part of an assignment for my last writing class. I was contrasting how the retreat was advertised with how it really looked. I didn't finish this version of the story either.

I spent a lot of time reading flowery descriptions of towns and B&B's and then working on the description of the retreat house. I wrote almost 1200 words and didn't get to the main action of the story.  I used my memories of the place Darlene and I visited and added some imagined details. 

I remember struggling with the description of the living room. Did I really need to describe all four walls? The main thing I wanted to include was the wall of bookcases  devoted to a collection of Hummel figurines. I have the main character wrinkling or crinkling her nose at the dusty smell. I made up the Hummel collection and the out of tune piano. Maybe I can ditch the mention of distinct seating areas. Remember, well-chosen details.

King also captured the need and compulsion to write. It raised the question of am I really a writer if I don't write enough? And what is enough anyway? I've been grappling with these questions for years. I expect that will continue. Writing classes help. My instructor Kim often mentions the importance of specific details. 

In other reading news, I've made it through the backlog of magazines over the past month. I didn't read all cover to cover, but I read parts of all the magazines. New magazines keep coming, but I hope to avoid another pile up.