Book of the Week: On Writing by Stephen King

A (relatively) short book that’s part memoir and part “how-to”. King is one of the most recognizable names in all of fiction and nonfiction, let alone the horror genre. Indeed, the only horror book of King’s I’ve read is IT and that was last month. I am a huge fan of the Dark Tower series and in reading it, I became quite a fan of King’s prose and dialogue.  This books starts with a semi-brief recap of King’s childhood and formational events in his life that lead to his becoming a successful author. Once it gets rolling, the book is filled with insightful information. Some of my favorite takeaways:

If you want to be a great writer, write every day. King recommends ten pages or roughly 2,000 words a day.

“The road to hell is paved in adverbs”

Never ever use a passive voice