On Writing

The best book ever written on the subject of writing fiction (in my ever-so-humble opinion) is Stephen King's On Writing. The reason for this is the same reason that his fiction has been so wildly popular for the last forty years- his voice. No matter what he's writing about- a town taken over by a buried UFO, modern-day vampires, a woman who might very well die handcuffed to her own bed with no one for company but her dead husband- his voice is true. He welcomes you in, he wants to tell you a story. Every one of his books is like coming home to find your favorite uncle sitting at the kitchen table, having a drink and rolling a smoke over the oiled checkered cloth; he's waiting for you, and you can tell from the grin on his face that he's got one hell of a tale for you. Even in the novels I didn't care for (and there have been a couple), his voice is always true. He is not an author, or a novelist- he's a storyteller; he is a wordslinger. He's never less than honest with you. King's voice is the strongest it's ever been in On Writing, where he sits you down and tells you all about writing. There is no secret formula, no arcane magic, and no real sure way to success. If you want to write, you write. Write honestly, write what you love, never use a fancy word because you think it might sound better- just write. That is the secret. If you are a writer, you do it for yourself first. You want other people to read what you've created, yes- but the act itself is a wholly selfish one, and there's nothing wrong with that. If you're a writer, write. Every day that you don't, you've only failed yourself.