On Writing (豆瓣)

作者: Stephen King
出版社: Pocket Books
出版年: 2002-7-1
页数: 320
定价: USD 7.99
装帧: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 9780743455961

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　　Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms... (展开全部) 　　Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."
　　 King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.
　　 King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
　　
　　
　　 As his diehard fans know, King is a member of a writers-only rock 'n' roll band (Amy Tan is also a member), and this recording starts off with a sampling of their music. It may sound unsettling to some, but King quickly puts listeners at ease with his confident, candid and breezy tone. Here, King tells the story of his childhood and early influences, describes his development as a writer, offers extensive advice on technique (read: write tight and no bullshit) and finally recounts his well-known experience of being hit by a drunk driver while walking on a country road in 1999 and the role that his work has played in his rehabilitation. While some of his guidance is not exactly revolutionary (he recommends The Elements of Style as a must-have reference), other revelations that vindicate authors of popular fiction, like himself, as writers, such as his preference for stressing character and situation over plot, are engrossing. He also offers plenty of commonsense advice on how to organize a workspace and structure one's day. While King's comical childhood anecdotes and sober reflections on his accident may be appreciated while driving to work or burning calories on a treadmill, the book's main exercise does not work as well in the audio format. King's strongest recommendation, after all, is that writers must be readers, and despite his adept performance, aspiring authors might find that they would absorb more by picking up the book. Based on the Scribner hardcover (Forecasts, July 31, 2000).
　　
　　Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
　　 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
　　
　　
　　
　　Adult/High School-By the time King was 14, the scads of rejection slips he'd accumu-lated grew too heavy for the nail in the wall on which they were mounted. He replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing. This straight-up book inspires without being corny, and teens suspicious of adult rhap-sodies to perseverance will let down their guard and be put at ease by the book's gritty conversational tone. The first 100 pages are pure memoir-paeans to the horror movies and fanzines that captivated King as a child, the expected doses of misadventure (weeks of detention for distributing his own satirical zine at school; building an electromagnet that took out the electricity of half a street), and hard times. King writes just as passion-ately in the second half of the book, where the talk turns to his craft. He provides plenty of samples of awkward or awful writing and contrasts them with polished versions. Hand this title to reluctant readers and reluctant writers, sit back, and watch what happens.-Emily Lloyd, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
　　
　　Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
　　 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
　　
　　
　　 In 1981 King penned Danse Macabre, a thoughtful analysis of the horror genre. Now he is treating his vast readership to another glimpse into the intellect that spawns his astoundingly imaginative works. This volume, slim by King standards, manages to cover his life from early childhood through the aftermath of the 1999 accident that nearly killed him. Along the way, King touts the writing philosophies of William Strunk and Ernest Hemingway, advocates a healthy appetite for reading, expounds upon the subject of grammar, critiques a number of popular writers, and offers the reader a chance to try out his theories. But most important, we who climb aboard for this ride with the master spend a few pleasant hours under the impression that we know what it!s like to think like Stephen King. Recommended for anyone who wants to write and everyone who loves to read.
　　-"Nancy McNicol, Hagaman Memorial Lib., East Haven, CT
　　Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
　　
　　
　　 King could write a phone book and make it not only a best-seller but also gripping reading. So expect his fiction-writing how-to to be a megahit that reaches plenty of readers besides wanna-be novelists. It is riveting, thanks to King's customary flair for the vernacular and conversational tone, and to the fact that he flanks his advice with two memoirs, the latter recalling his near-fatal 1999 stint as the victim of a bad driver. The first memoir, "C.V.," concentrates on his life as a writer, which began in childhood. It took some time to publish for money, but ever since Carrie garnered $400,000 for paperback rights, he has been the Stephen King. He loves to write, though he emphasizes it is far more work than play. Loving it is essential, though, and having a good "toolbox," full of vocabulary, grammar, and the usage and mechanics prescribed by Strunk and White's perdurable Elements of Style, is next most important. It is invaluable to read a lot, and the key to novel writing is following the story--not a plot that can be charted or outlined, but the developments natural for the characters, given the situation they are in. For himself, King says, good health and a good marriage have been crucial, never more so than during his recovery from the accident. Good advice and a good, ordinary life, relayed in spunky, vivid prose, are the prime ingredients of what must be considered not at all the usual writer's guide. Ray Olson
　　Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
　　
　　
　　 Generous, lucid, and passionate, King (Hearts in Atlantis, 1999, etc.) offers lessons and encouragement to the beginning writer, along with a warts-and-all account of a less-than-carefree life. The composition of this memoir, King's first nonfiction work since Danse Macabre, was interrupted when he was almost killed by a drunk driver in 1999. The first portion of it shares the making of the writer: his impoverished but experientially rich childhood, his first efforts and influences, the threadbare existence he and his wife Tabitha lived until the publication of Carrie, and his remarkable success thereafter. There are some delightful anecdotes here. In a late-night creative frenzy, his wife sleeping in their London hotel room, King asks the concierge for a place to write and is led to Rudyard Kipling's desk. Though intimidated, King proceeds to write the beginnings of Misery, then thanks the concierge, who tells him, "Kipling died there actually. . . . While writing." King discusses his problems with drugs and alcohol and offers an assessment of his own work (he doesn't think much of Insomnia or Rose Madder, but he liked Cujo and regrets that he was too drunk at the time to remember writing any of it). Written largely while recovering from his accident, the rest of the memoir answers the questions King hears from aspiring writers, as well as the questions they should be asking, but don't. With examples that reach from T.S. Eliot to pulp fiction, there's much trenchant material here on how to construct a story, how to revise, and how to go about building a career. King stresses character and situation over plotting, and insists on basics-like Strunk and White and, above all, endless reading and writing. While his proposed output might intimidate some, his enthusiasm wins out.A useful book for any young writer, and a must for fans, this is unmistakably King: friendly, sharply perceptive, cheerfully vulgar, sometimes adolescent in his humor, sometimes impatient with fools, but always sincere in his love of language and writing -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
　　
　　
　　 The Washington Post Book World Combines autobiography and admonition, inspirations and instruction. It's an enjoyable mix. -- Review
　　
　　
　　 The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)The best book on writing. Ever!
　　
　　USA TodayA fascinating look at the evolution and redemption of one of the hardest-working storytellers writing today.
　　
　　The Washington Post Book WorldCombines autobiography and admonition, inspirations and instruction. It's an enjoyable mix.　　

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第260页

夜葬

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher and I scream. "Sorry, sorry, you're okay, Stephen," someone says--when you're badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name, everyone is your pal. "Tell Tabby I love her very much," I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled, very fast, down some sort of descending... (更多)

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher and I scream. "Sorry, sorry, you're okay, Stephen," someone says--when you're badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name, everyone is your pal.
"Tell Tabby I love her very much," I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled, very fast, down some sort of descending concrete walkway. All at once I feel like crying. (收起)

2012-01-30 12:59:50 回应

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第256页

夜葬

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says not hardly. I ask him if I'm going to die. He tells me no, I'm not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton, because my youngest child--the one I just took to the airport--was... (更多)

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says not hardly. I ask him if I'm going to die. He tells me no, I'm not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton, because my youngest child--the one I just took to the airport--was born there twenty-two years before. (收起)

2012-01-30 12:54:44 回应

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第256页

夜葬

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says not hardly. I ask him if I'm going to die. He tells me no, I'm not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton, because my youngest child--the one I just took to the airport--was... (更多)

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says not hardly. I ask him if I'm going to die. He tells me no, I'm not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton, because my youngest child--the one I just took to the airport--was born there twenty-two years before. (收起)

2012-01-30 12:54:44 回应

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第260页

夜葬

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher and I scream. "Sorry, sorry, you're okay, Stephen," someone says--when you're badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name, everyone is your pal. "Tell Tabby I love her very much," I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled, very fast, down some sort of descending... (更多)

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher and I scream. "Sorry, sorry, you're okay, Stephen," someone says--when you're badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name, everyone is your pal.
"Tell Tabby I love her very much," I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled, very fast, down some sort of descending concrete walkway. All at once I feel like crying. (收起)

2012-01-30 12:59:50 回应

收藏
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第260页

夜葬

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher and I scream. "Sorry, sorry, you're okay, Stephen," someone says--when you're badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name, everyone is your pal. "Tell Tabby I love her very much," I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled, very fast, down some sort of descending... (更多)

Still breathing in great leaky gulps, I am lifted out of the helicopter. Someone bumps the stretcher and I scream. "Sorry, sorry, you're okay, Stephen," someone says--when you're badly hurt, everyone calls you by your first name, everyone is your pal.
"Tell Tabby I love her very much," I say as I am first lifted and then wheeled, very fast, down some sort of descending concrete walkway. All at once I feel like crying. (收起)

2012-01-30 12:59:50 回应

收藏
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第256页

夜葬

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says not hardly. I ask him if I'm going to die. He tells me no, I'm not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton, because my youngest child--the one I just took to the airport--was... (更多)

I ask him if I can have a cigarette. He laughs and says not hardly. I ask him if I'm going to die. He tells me no, I'm not going to die, but I need to go to the hospital, and fast. Which one would I prefer, the one in Norway-South Paris or the one in Bridgton? I tell him I want to go to Northern Cumberland Hospital in Bridgton, because my youngest child--the one I just took to the airport--was born there twenty-two years before. (收起)

2012-01-30 12:54:44 回应

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为了完成book review的作业，于是花了个周末看完了。老师列的12本书里面，只认识这一个作者，还是因为11年暑假看了他的杜马岛。书的第一部分是讲他成名前的早期生活，第二部分是讲如何写作，许多地方都是跟英语语法有关的，比如不要使用被动语态，尽量避免使用副词等，其实个人感觉这一部分用处不大。第三部分是讲他在写这本书的时候遭遇的车祸，有两处细节部分看完眼眶有些湿润，这次经历应该也是为他的杜马岛的创造带来了不少灵感。总的来说，这本书更类似自传，可能他还是更擅长写小说。不过，值得一看。我现在要开始头痛我的book review该怎么写了。