On Stephen King by Jane Clamp

As part of my constant efforts to improve my writing, I often read from my growing library of books on the subject. Some have been given to me (the equivalent of hinting that you smell when you receive bath foam for Christmas, perhaps?)

but most I have bought myself. Far and away the most influential title in my collection is On Writing by Stephen King. I have read it through twice in entirety and couldn’t count the times I’ve dipped in for help or inspiration and I h
eartily recommend it (with the caution that it contains swearing…)

The early chapters chart the writer’s own story to becoming the established name that he is today. From magazine articles and shaky starts, he found his stride and kept on walking. (Even when he was involved in a hit-and-run accident that so nearly claimed his life.) He reveals his modus operandi: a first draft in about three months, then putting it aside while he edits the one that’s been marinating. Regardless of your feelings on his genre, there’s no disputing that this man can write, and prolifically!

Several times in the book, he makes mention of his title Misery. Now, as a horror-phobe, I hadn’t read any of his work apart from Carrie, as a teenager. Yet, I found myself compelled to read it, trailing from one charity shop to another in vain and finally receiving a copy for Christmas (hurrah!). I’ll be honest, I read it to check up on SK. Here he was in On Writing, telling me how to craft the winning novel. Had he succeeded? Had he followed his own advice?

The aspect I loved is that Misery contains one novel within another. The protagonist is a writer famous for creating a popular character called Misery Chastain. However, having been “rescued” from a serious car accident, he finds himself imprisoned under the "care" of a psychopathic ex-nurse. 

At her insistence, and under real fear of punishment, he is forced to write a sequel – a lot of which appears within the text of Misery. It was fascinating to watch SK write in a different style as a different fictional author and to imagine the challenges that poses. I have enough trouble just writing as me!

So, in recommending both On Writing and Misery to you, I want to finish with a quote from On Writing. “I have written because it fulfilled me. Maybe it paid off the mortgage… but those things were on the side… I did it for the pure joy of the thing. And if you can do it for the joy, you can do it forever.”

Amen!

Jane Clamp is the author of Too Soon, a mother's journey through miscarriage (SPCK) and appears regularly on Premier Radio and UCB. She is currently in the final stages of editing her second novel, represented by Intersaga Literary Agency.