On Writing

Delightful and inspiring book from a prolific writer; King starts with his humble beginnings, his spike filled with rejection letters, the progression of more and more personal notes on the rejection letters like "2nd Draft = 1st Draft - 10%", a formula he took to heart and allowed his own writing to be slashed into more concise pieces.

* Best advice: read a lot, write a lot.
* Kill your television.
* 1st draft-- shut the door, just write, let the story out. The characters really should start to push their own story at some point. 2nd draft is what you let other people read.
* Read The Elements of Style (Strunk & White)
* Stories consist of 3 parts: narration (action, moving the story along), description, and dialog.
* King distrusts plotting a story- our lives are essentially plotless, plus plotting and spontaneous creation aren't compatible (HUZZAH!!!! BECAUSE PLOTTING IS MY WEAK POINT!)
* Building characters in fiction- pay attention to how real people behave, and tell the truth. In real life, there are no minor characters-- each of us is the star in our own life. Treat them as such.
* He shares his own frustration and shame that he carried around about the stuff he wrote.