Buy "On Writing" by Stephen King now from Amazon On Writing by Stephen King is an excellent book. One thing that makes it excellent, in my opinion, is the approach he takes on it; instead of writing a book on writing, or writing a memoir, he writes both. This book is a unique combination of King's writing experience and tips, as well as a memoir of much of his life, especially that of when he was a novice writer. This book starts out telling you of Stephen King's childhood and his experiences as he grew into the bestselling novelist he is to day. To be honest, this part intrigued and interested me more than the writing portions, which was why I primarily read the book. I just loved to read about the passion he had, and has, towards writing and to see him succeed. When I first bought this book I was a bit skeptical. I was referred to it by a friend, so I thought I'd give it a try - and I'm still surprised at how much I loved it. If you're a writer, or even if you're not, It's a must-read.
Yes, but, alas, it really teaches you nothing on how to create fantastic works and masterpieces. I strongly advise you not to copy his spontaneous, no-plot-method, because if you just produce a long line of stream of concious style of writing with no coherent plot, the ending is always doomed to fail as with many of King's novels and short stories. His endings are horrible. The more you plot, and find tools to create realistic characters (plotting through the eyes of the characters, I call it) the better the denouement will turn out to be. I will agree with one thing, though. Ideas do come from what-if situations. That you should copy.
I guess it's really a matter of opinion. I personally enjoy his endings. Sometimes the non-plot style works for some people, sometimes it hurts others. I do somewhat agree with the lack of actual writing advice learned from the book. That aspect was a bit lacking, though I wouldn't go so far as to say I didn't learn anything. I learned a lot on the methods and minor perks, but admittedly there wasn't some novel advice on how to write a novel.
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