On Writing- Blog 2

So, I'm going to be honest; I think that I liked the CV better than the Toolbox to Chapter 9. I did enjoy some of the reading after the CV though. I loved how he used the toolbox as a metaphor for all the mechanics you need for writing, and I also loved how he kept going back to the "muse" that is inspiration. The stories being found like fossils was also interesting to me. I really admire Stephen King for trying to be entertaining while basically writing a "how to" guide to writing. He kept the reader consumed in his writing even in the duller parts.

I personally learned a ton from reading the Toolbox to Chapter 9. First, I learned the importance of reading a lot. As Stephen King said, you can learn just as much from bad writing as you can from good writing. This was a real eye-opener to me because I really don't read enough. I learned that I need to start reading more if I want my writing to get better. Another big thing I learned was that you need to be true to yourself in your writing. Write about what you know, and write down the first words that come to your head. There's no need to find a synonym or extra "fluff". I am so guilty of making my writing to where it will please other people and not myself. This book showed me that I can write the way I want to and possibly please my reader even more at the same time. How exciting! One tactic of King's I found kinda weird was that he didn't like using a plot. He couldn't even predict his own stories most of the time. This would drive me INSANE.

King's take on English cracked me up. His hatred for adverbs was so great that he mentioned it in just about every chapter. I also liked how he mentioned that too much description in a book can be worse than not enough description. I absolutely hate a book that has too much description. It makes the story painfully boring. That's King's goal: don't take away from the story, and use anything you have in your toolbox to improve it.

All in all, I still do like Stephen King's On Writing, but I did like the CV better than the Toolbox to Chapter 9. King is one of the best writers that I have read. I have actually dreamed about meeting him the past three nights in a row. I'm not even kidding. I even dreamed that he was in our class last night. Weird, I know, but true haha. I cannot wait to finish this book and see what other tools are waiting to be uncovered in On Writing. Stay tuned for my final blog! Thanks for reading!