On Writing

On Writing is a very casual, conversational type of book that actually teaches you how to write, and how to do it well. As humorous and subjective as it is, Steven King makes a lot of good points. I have never liked super uptight, factual type books (I'm looking at you, The Tipping Point), so I had no trouble getting through this one. I felt like his true personality spilled out onto the pages of that book. And if that's the case, I definitely like him and will be reading more of his books in the future. Let's get to the specifics, shall we?
First off, the structure of this book is amazing. I love organization, and each part of this book has a specific purpose. I enjoyed reading about his childhood and how writing intertwined itself from his early years. That's a real passion. If we're going to use some rhetoric terms here, then I'd say that King definitely has a lot of ethos in this context. He's a writer, has been writing from such a young age, and then he writes a book on how to write a book, basically. How much more credibility could you possibly need? Even though a lot of his suggestions are subjective and biased in his own ways, people will still want to take his words into consideration since he has been so successful in his field for a very long period of time. And honestly, a lot of what he's saying makes total sense. If you do set up the context of the situation correctly and describe the characters well enough, do you really need to emphasize to the reader how each line of dialogue is said with an adverb? I have been told my entire life that using "said" was not good enough or too child like. This is how I have been taught to think. If you really think about it on your own, then you realize that King actually has a point.