An Initial Response to Stephen King's "On Writing."

 TOPIC: "ON WRITING” -- After reading the first 50 pages of Stephen King's "On Writing”:

        King's book is rich in description and vivid stories about his childhood, and the reader is adroitly informed of the upbringing which lead him to be the writer he is. While stories of a personal printing press and malicious babysitters illuminate the audience to the darkness and horrors of King's experiences and inspirations, it is not any horror story that is most memorable to me. Instead, King's adventures with his brother seem to me to be the fuel behind his entrepreneurism and willingness to put himself into the world. Perhaps no anecdote is as telling as his magnet experiment with his brother, encapsulated by the following:

"Dave cut the cord off an old lamp someone had put out on the curb with the trash, stripped the coating all the way down to the plug, then wrapped his magnetized spike in spirals of bare wire. Then, sitting on the floor in the kitchen of our West Broad Street apartment, he offered me the Super Duper Electromagnet and bade me to do my part and plug it in.

I hesitated - give me at least that much credit - but in the end, Dave's mechanical enthusiasm was too much to withstand. I plugged it in. There was no noticeable magnetism, but the gadget did blow out every light and electrical appliance in our apartment, every light and electrical appliance in the building, and every light and electrical appliance in the building next door (where my dream-girl lived in the ground-floor apartment)."

There are things that are more relatable to much of the population than siblings, and growing up with my brother as my best friend, which remains to this day, I found this story to be similar to much of my childhood. Me and my brother walked all around town and sold beef jerky sticks while growing up in Salem, and we explored much of the city and wildlife.

The book brings light to much of King's life and provides and adequate background for his authorship in horror; with so many bizarre experiences, be they painful, socially traumatizing, or emotionally draining, reveal to the reader that which King draws upon to formulate the themes and emotional progressions of his novels and short stories. 

Perhaps the most valuable or applicable element of King's writing is that his entrepreneurism was pursued no matter the obstacle and that he always tried a different avenue to being successful when something did not go his way. He figured that his writing would eventually be good enough, and that his work would eventually be published. I think what I can draw from his work to submit broadly, and have fun with what I'm writing, or I won't want to write it. I think that King must have fun with his writing.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Q&A with Linn-Benton Professor Chris Riseley

Image
When I started interviewing Chris Riseley, I knew that he was a writing professor and led a few clubs at LBCC. What I did not know was the impact he has had on this community. When a student interrupted our outdoor interview to thank Chris for inspiring him to complete his education when he thought he could not, I began to realize how appreciated Professor Risely really is. In his 13 years of teaching at Linn-Benton Community College, Riseley has not just been a college professor, but a part of the fabric of both Albany and the state of Oregon. Known by students all across the campus, he has taught multitudes of pupils over his career.  Quirky enough to own lizards, cats and goldfish, he brings his big personality and enthusiasm to educate not just to the classroom, but life itself. In my interview with Chris I got a glimpse of the infectious energy that he brings into his classrooms and optimism that students leave his classrooms with about their writing, their careers, and their live
Read more

A Review of "Daylight" by David Kushner

Image
In the quest for the next big music star, or even next great song, society scours the internet (and everywhere else, too) for even a hint that an artist has potential. By observing the Billboard Hot 100 , one name you'll come across is David Kushner. Never heard of him? All the better. At 23 years old, Kushner began his professional music career in 2020. His music has been streamed more than 500 million times, and his most notable single reached a peak of 47 on the Billboard Hot 100... so far. Is Kushner the big thing in music? You'll have to listen to "Daylight" to make a decision. David Kushner’s "Daylight" is a somber tune from a baritone voice that explores our inner conception of morality and our struggles with our inner self. The song is haunting, and the accompanying video matches the theme of the music. Check out the full lyrics here . The video starts with Kushner entering a church with a young boy while singing of his desire to stay away from his
Read more

Journalism for Spring 2023 in Review

I was able to meet almost all of my goals for this term and progress my abilities in news writing significantly. My greatest accomplishment for the year, and not only the term, was my sports article format. My writing also became more concise as I was able to break large paragraphs into smaller ones as a habit. This allowed me to develop a precision in directing my storytelling that allowed me to explain multiple concepts successively. My improvement of nut graph, leads, and captivating intros was certainly developed along this term, and I strongly feel that much of my writing now competes at a professional level.  Goals from the Beginning of the Term: "I think that my first goal for the term is to create a format for my research summary pieces, because I love to read peer-reviewed journals and present the information from them in a simple format that is easy for persons to understand who have a limited education in the topic at hand." It is interesting to reflect on my first
Read more