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An
autobiography and a lesson for aspiring novelists.
Commentary
Generous, lucid, and passionate, King (Hearts
in Atlantis, 1999, etc.) offers lessons and encouragement to the beginning
writer, along with a warts-and-all account of a less-than-carefree life.
The composition of this memoir, King's first nonfiction work since Danse
Macabre, was interrupted when he was almost killed by a drunk driver in
1999. The first portion of it shares the making of the writer: his
impoverished but experientially rich childhood, his first efforts and
influences, the threadbare existence he and his wife Tabitha lived until
the publication of Carrie, and his remarkable success thereafter. There
are some delightful anecdotes here. In a late-night creative frenzy, his
wife sleeping in their London hotel room, King asks the concierge for a
place to write and is led to Rudyard Kipling's desk. Though intimidated,
King proceeds to write the beginnings of Misery, then thanks the
concierge, who tells him, "Kipling died there actually. . . . While
writing." King discusses his problems with drugs and alcohol and offers an
assessment of his own work (he doesn't think much of Insomnia or Rose
Madder, but he liked Cujo and regrets that he was too drunk at the time to
remember writing any of it). Written largely while recovering from his
accident, the rest of the memoir answers the questions King hears from
aspiring writers, as well as the questions they should be asking, but
don't. With examples that reach from T.S. Eliot to pulp fiction, there's
much trenchant material here on how to construct a story, how to revise,
and how to go about building a career. King stresses character and
situation over plotting, and insists on basics-like Strunk and White and,
above all, endless reading and writing. While his proposed output might
intimidate some, his enthusiasm wins out.A useful book for any young
writer, and a must for fans, this is unmistakably King: friendly, sharply
perceptive, cheerfully vulgar, sometimes adolescent in his humor,
sometimes impatient with fools, but always sincere in his love of language
and writing. -- Kirkus Reviews
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