The Hidden Mind
Book
When psychologists try to understand the way our mind works, they frequently come to a conclusion...

The Heart: A Novel
Book
Winner of the Wellcome Book Prize and the French-American Foundation Translation Prize Just...
Medicine Non-fiction

Consider the Lobster
Book
Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a sick sense of humour? What is John Updike's deal...

Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and The NHS
Book
Michael Rosen wasn’t feeling well. Soon he was struggling to breathe, and then he was admitted to...
Poetry Non-Fiction Memoir

One of Them
Book
Musa Okwonga – a young Black man who grew up in a predominantly working-class town – was not...
Non fiction Memoir

A Planet Full of Plastic and How You Can Help
Book
Everything is made of stuff. Some things are made of paper, like this book. And some things are made...
Plastic Pollution Eco

Harry Potter: A Journey Through Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts
Book
The history of magic is as long as time and as wide as the world. In every culture, in every age, in...

Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Nov 21, 2022

Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary Queen of Scots
Book
A fascinating and revealing new biography of Mary Queen of Scots in captivity. For almost two...
Non-fiction Scottish/ English history Mary Queen of Scots

Rachel King (13 KP) rated On Writing in Books
Feb 11, 2019
The first half of the book is largely a memoir of King's life, with a focus on his writing career. The reader learns things such as what inspired him, what he liked in fiction, his initial forays into getting published, as well as his many rejections and criticisms. I found it both interesting and ironic that his first big book, Carrie, was accomplished largely thanks to his wife's encouragement, as he never really cared for the main character. He could take the simplest ideas, put two random thoughts together, and make them into these successful stories. All of this is woven into the more mundane aspects of his life, from schooling, to various jobs, to meeting his future wife.
The second part of the book is all about what King considers good writing practices, as well some of the advice that King has received over the years, such as when writing a second draft, subtract 10% from the original. He even goes into the details of good grammar and repeatedly refers to Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. He finishes off this section by showing a section of a first draft he wrote, and then the edited second draft of it to give the reader an idea of how to approach the editing process.
A final section in the book goes into the details of when King was hit and nearly killed by a "blue van" and the effect that it had on his life and his writing. The accident actually occurs before he begins the second part of this book, giving the manuscript the possibility of never being completed. This was probably the most intriguing part of the book for me, as he was able to remember in vivid detail what happened to him, and yet he seemed to be oddly emotionally-detached from its long-term consequences for his life. There is only one short paragraph in which I actually pick up on some emotion, when he discusses how quickly the driver of the blue van will likely be returning to the road. At one point he also made the observation that the driver could have stepped from the pages of one of his novels. What I do love is that his passion for writing helped him to overcome his injuries and regenerate that need to keep putting words to the page.