On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

In this combination memoir and writing guide, best-selling author Stephen King tells of how he came to be a writer and, in the process, explores many aspects of writing, from plot construction through some of the nuts and bolts of getting a book published. Much of his advice is quite traditional: find a quiet place to work, concentrate on character, master grammar and punctuation, keep THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE handy. And, like all good writers, he stresses the primary importance of reading, and in an amusing reconstruction of his childhood and teenage years, he writes about his obsession with books (among other things). The section in which he relates his brush with death after being hit by a drunken driver is especially compelling--very much like a Stephen King novel.