A Memoir Of The Craft By Stephen King

How the Guide to Writing Was Written When starting out as a new writer, who wouldn’t want to read a book written by a famous author focused on the mechanics of writing? Fortunately, for people born after the year 2000, Stephen King wrote exactly this. In his piece, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, King successfully inspires and teaches writers on their journey through telling stories from his past that influenced who he is today, as well as giving the readers concrete advice about successful writing. In the first section of the novel, King writes memoirs about the various parts of his childhood that he remembers. Through these events that are accompanied by his insightful perspective as an adult, King exposes his readers to the truth of
He believes that “good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation” (King 128). He fully accepts that you do not have to listen to him, but hopefully the established trust formed from part one combined with the gravity of King’s name itself, will have some influence on the reader. King shares his opinion and advice on topics ranging from the usage of active verbs and passive verbs, to adverbs and style. He “believe[s] the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and [he] will shout it from the rooftops (King 125). All of his thoughts on what he believes is the best way to write a story are shared with the reader. Throughout this section, all the declarations made by King are followed by numerous examples. What I found especially intriguing in this section is how King doesn’t have to tell you why the examples are examples; they are so efficient in showing rather than telling that the reader simply sees King’s reasoning with their own eyes. Logos is employed here as King relies less on telling others his opinion, and focusing more on the reader seeing and believing with their reasoning in their own head. This combination of ethos and logos results in the reader understanding King, through both trust in him and trust in themselves to think logically. By the end of the second section, the reader has been both inspired and informed of King’s
His classic and lovable style of writing equipped with both honesty and detail attracts all kinds of readers. Although sometimes crude in his diction, he makes it work to his advantage. The tone of this piece is rather upbeat and personal, even when the subject matter gets grim. I think that this allows the focus to continually be placed upon the words that King writes. When writing anything, the author has the power and the choice to do it however they please. Sometimes the words just flow out, sometimes they are accidents, but more often than not they are written in a particular way that to the writer, attributes to their purpose. King tells the reader that “the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself” (King 236), and King learned the most from his