The Art of Writing According to Stephen King

‘The road to hell is paved with adverbs,’ so says the bestselling author. Also, ‘If you’re describing what a character says, just write “he said,” … not “he pleaded” or “he gasped.” Well, I wonder how many lessons I taught on both these parts of English language. Also, disparaging description, his writing must be spare, sparse, skeletal in fact. I have not read any Stephen King books, maybe because I know a little of the films and they are definitely not for me but I am interested in his thoughts on writing. The article that brought all this to my notice was about his book: A Memoir of the Craft, celebrating a 25th Anniversary edition. He would I think agree with Virginia Woolf (A Room of One’s Own) about the need for a defined writing space … with a door! As for his style, well, each to his own and his readers are obviously totally enamoured. I can see that a completely pared back style enables the narrative to move forward apace without any clingy details getting in the way. However, poetic prose with plenty of description will always be my choice.