In The Outliers, Malcom Gladwell theorizes that practicing anything for over 10,000 hours will yield success. Judging by Stephen King’s ridged work schedule and volumes of successful novels, I’d say he reached his 10,000 hours sometime in the early ‘70s. Although horror novels aren’t my style, I couldn’t resist a peek at King’s blueprint for success. As an aspiring novelist, I am fascinated by the work routine of other writers. Do they write at a desk, on the front porch, in bed? And since there’s no Inside the Actors Studio for writers, a memoir is the closest we book-lovers will get to an inside look at King’s process. In his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, King examines his life as a writer and uses his experiences as a teaching tool for young writers.
But On Writing isn’t your traditional creative writing textbook. King’s book is a dual-layered educational memoir, complete with homework assignments and examples from other texts. The author guides would-be authors through the process of writing a novel, starting with the incubation of that first, small idea. If you get stuck on the plot, King recommends switching the sexes of the two leads. Turn the cheating husband character into the cheating wife, for example. “When you finish your exercise, drop me a line at www.stephenking.com and tell me how it worked for you,” he writes. King encourages his pupils to think of writing as fun, and to continue working through any rough patches. (more)
