My time with “Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”

A fortnight and four days. 

Pink Post-it tabs stick out of the book, marking 25 different pages to return to; to reference during my revisiting of the book. My commonplace book was now, finally, broken in. 20 pages of notes written with a black roller-ball, quotes and important things in fountain pen, and any books mentioned in pencil. It has been a long time since I’ve dived into a book this way. No book has consumed my time like that, let alone for a fortnight and four days. It’s not a new book, yet I think it’s one of my favorites that I read in 2025.

Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, came at an interesting time in my life. I have been setting timed sessions to sit at my computer at 4 am in the morning to work on a project, any project. Sometimes it’s painting miniatures, sometimes it’s reading, sometimes it’s writing. I have been writing for this blog more often. I’ve enjoyed getting back into writing. I enjoy drifting through the flow of the words exiting from my mind to keys to the page. It’s a river I enjoyed visiting as a kid. I remember entering school competitions in writing. While I never won, I also remember the great English teachers that taught me. Stephen King reminds me of some of them.It helps that he was one for a bit. 

The writing gives the feeling of the teacher ,while strict, still wants the best for the students. He speaks in a way that is easy to understand, able to ease complex concepts to an intuitive lesson.  This is the teacher that will not help the ones that are lazy or just in class cause they have to. Though if you had trouble understanding the subject (maybe even got the lowest marks), as long as you actually tried and gave a shit, he would help you as much as he can. “If you don’t want to work your ass off, you have no business trying to write…well–settle back into competency and be grateful you have even that much to fall back on.” Harsh words that mix with his harsh teachings.

I find it a hard novel to discuss, mainly due to its structure. The first section is a memoir to show “how a writer was formed” in King’s own words. The section after talks about writing. It’s not a recipe, there’s nothing here that tells you, “Do these steps, and bam, novel!”. It’s like a guidebook. King, throughout the book, breaks down the numerous tools in the writer’s toolbox. The ones that are important such as grammar, vocabulary, and active tense. There are ones that may come and go. Throughout the entire section, there is a constant reminder that the story is what is important. It’s what he views as the most important thing in a novel. Then, it details the fun King finds in writing and the joy it brings him when hitting sections of the story that pull the reader in.  Reading this was a joy as it was akin to a friend telling you the thing they are passionate about.

There’s other, smaller sections throughout the book that all deal with writing in some way or form. One of King’s sons talks about how reading stories aloud is an important part of his life; how it immersed him into the worlds in a new way. The other son holds a Q&A with his dad about the process of the two of them writing books together and other random questions (it’s a Q&A transcript. People will ask all sorts of stuff). The foreword talks about an important book which influenced him to omit needless words and a reminder of editors who do “divine work”. I have a friend, which I trust most, editing this.I have to agree: their work is divine. 

I care about this post on this small little blog enough that I want to make sure it’s well-written. There is something about Stephen King’s writing in this book that spoke to me. That lit a fire under me to write and read more. I didn’t want to put the book down; it became the one of the two books I tried to make sure I read in the morning. I was taking it with me to take more notes during lunch instead of eating. I am still doing some self reflection, searching for why I write, and this won’t be the last time I come back to this book. It’s going to stay on my shelf where I can see it, and all of its post-it tabs. I’m even keeping the bookmark in it.

The bookmarks I use have a space for notes and just below that, five blank stars waiting for a personal rating. On my blog, I circle around the term of review. I move away from ratings, and limit myself to a word count to help me be concise while getting my point across. This will be my first break from all those limitations. 

This book is one of the few on the blog to get a star rating from me.

5 stars.