The Second set of 100 pages

The What Writing Is and Toolbox sections of On Writing showed me how deep thought goes into writing even one single sentence. Stephen King explains all aspects of writing, including how to write within your own vocabulary. He says, "One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you are maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones." He means that it's better to use smaller words in the right ways. He also says that the first rule of vocabulary is to, "Use the first word that comes to your mind." Well, I agree with King and his view on vocabulary, because one of my pet peeves is when people use vocabulary in the wrong way. King also makes it known that grammar is just as important as vocabulary. "Bad grammar produces bad sentences," he said. Knowing how to use correct grammar is one of the key tools in writing. Overall, I think hearing Stephen King tell me about grammar and writing makes me more likely to actually listen and put the advice to good use because he is such an interesting character.

The 1st 100 Pages of On Writing

I’ve been a Stephen King fan long before this book and it reminds me why I love his stories so much. On Writing begins with a very humorous description of his life and his forms of writting. The second foreword tells how most books about writing are as King said "are filled with bullsh*t", that also pretty much sums up my opinion of them as well. But to be completely honest, I have actually really enjoyed reading these first hundred pages, because they are not what I would have normally expect. I never would of imagined writing books as being full of questionable words that I can't even type on a school blog, even though I would LOVE to quote some of his stuff from this. But I can relate to some of the stuff that he has written. Such as his story about "strep throat", haha. But as far as with the needle stuff, no way, I shudder. I hate needles. He didn't make it any easier to read with all those descriptions either, eeeekkkkk. "Loud kissing sound" and "hot fluid" do not make needles sound any more appealing at all. However, I do have to admit that I laughed at the part about the poison ivy. I'm not allergic to it, so I found it even more funny, because I can not relate to that. I didn't really care much about his publishing stories though, even though I'm pretty sure that's what I'm supposed to care about. The stories about his ideas for books and how he got rejected so often; it just didn't appeal and/or impress me. I mean, it's not that I don't admire his effort or respect the fact that he kept trying despite the rejection he got into; it just did not seem as important to me to read. The stories about the newspapers in school when he wrote the book on "The Pit and the Pendulum"; however, were much more interesting and thus kept my attention entirely on them. But as of this moment the book is going well and I am enjoying it; well the first one-hundred pages atleast.