Becoming A Writer In Stephen King's On Writing

Improved Essays
In Stephen King’s, On Writing, he tells of his journey and struggles in becoming a writer. In high school, he was known for having a, “restless pen,” and his teachers knew that he needed an outlet for his thoughts. He opens by explaining how he had been called to the school’s office, but unlike any normal situation, he was there to see the guidance counselor, not the principal. The guidance counselors had been notified of a position at Lisbon’s Weekly Enterprise, as a sports reporter. King is offered the position, and although apprehensive, he jumps at the attempt to make a name for himself; King had previously been rejected by Dave’s Rag and The Drum.
On the first day of his new position, he encounters his new employer, John Gould, who King

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    For the article “Shitty First Drafts” we read this week, it remained me something about writing. This is a essay written by Anne Lamott, who is the author of six novels, the food reviewer for the magazine, a book reviewer for Mademoiselle, and a regular contributor to Salon.’s .“Mothers Who Think..” She’s busy because of several occupation at the same time, but there's still a question that what made her writing attracted? In this essay we read, there may be the answer.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In “The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscript,” Donald Murray is saying the writing process only starts when you finish your draft. He hints amateur writers are different from professional. Professional writers complete a first draft and feel they are only beginning that is the difference between the two. Murray speaks about how the writer has to develop a special kind of reading skill to progress while writing drafts. The point of this essay is to express to readers the importance of revising and getting better with your writing skills and pieces as time goes on.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stephen king in his essay “Reading to Write” is very specific on what he wanted to accomplish and he accomplished this by finding himself within others. What King wanted to find within others was their tone of voice on paper. He would read other work and would criticize every detail about it, criticizing other work helped him decide on what he liked and didn't like to be included in literature. The very beginning of Stephan King’s life he learned how to write by reading. He expressed on how being a good author consists of two things, reading a lot and writing a lot.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    An idea that I found important in Stephen King's memoir "On Writing" is his statement "stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position." Personally, I found this statement inspiring. Often, I find myself creating excuses which keep me from writing. This is often because I believe a certain topic is hard to write about, or I am not particularly interested in my subject.…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Linda Chen Mr. Felder AP Language & Composition 25 August 2016 Comparison of On Writing: A Memoir and On Writing Well Stephen King’s memoir, On Writing, is a novel about King’s experiences as a writer and was effective in teaching amateur writers what it is truly like to be an author. Although his teachings are not as direct in his book as Zinsser’s, most of his rare advice are just as useful. Overall, Stephen King applied many of the concepts suggested by William Zinsser into his memoir, however there are parts in King’s book where Zinsser’s teachings are not applied.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A series of small waves pressed the sail boat against the alge dock as his cold and cracked hands desperately yanked on the rope in an effort to raise the sails. Dark clouds had moved in the night before and had stayed overnight providing a refreshing sprinkle of rain every now and then. He looked out over the vast plain of unsettled water and saw one individual white cap rise up among the rest only to be pushed back down. Due to the lack of sunlight the frigid water appeared black and lifeless but he knew that below it was a complex community of different species. He then bent over the side of the boat and reached for its securing ropes.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    When reading The Everyday Writer, written by Andrea A. Lunsford, director of the program in writing and rhetoric at Stanford University, I realized the importance of revising and reviewing of writing. Learning the process of writing will help greatly; therefore, assignments in the future will be more advanced and proper. In fact, peer editing is a fantastic strategy for the perfect paper; sometimes when one edits their own work they might overlook a few things, having someone else edit the paper gives another perspective to the writing. Being open to another opinion and attaining other opinions can open the mind to improve the writing. Seaman High School, where I attend, offers the Writing Center, ran by students and staff is to help improve…

    • 195 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rhetorical analysis of Stephen King’s, “Reading to Write” Novelist Stephen King branches off in this piece, to orchestrate the correlation between reading and writing, and to answer the question of if the two skills are related. He bases these claims off of his own personal experience as an author. The article is published at a high point of his career, now having enough respect as an author to instruct others on the craft. King’s purpose is to instruct the reader, more specifically, young writers. He wishes to inform them of the importance of reading, and how the things you read will affect what you end up producing with your own paper and pen.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How the Continents Came to be One day while Zeus was down on the earth helping and looking around at all the humans, he met a very nice mortal woman. He went up to this beautiful woman and he started to flirt with her. “I don't think I have ever met a more beautiful woman in all the world” said Zeus. “Well thank you, you very nice looking man” answered the woman. The man then asked the woman if she would like to go on a trip with him.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To avoid discouragement, Hosking quickly and repetitively lets his readers know that anyone can become a skilled writer and reap the benefits of that skill. Hosking uses a casual and optimistic tone to encourage his readers to follow five easy tips that will improve their writing skills. He empathizes with the insecurities his readers may have regarding their ability to write and offers words of encouragement. His tips are short and concise and can be easily performed by the average citizen. Hosking makes it clear that you do not need to be a professional author or scholar to become a better writer.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    King, even after getting hit by a reckless driver, pulled through and completed this book. On page 269, he says, “Writing did not save my life- Dr. David Brown’s skill and my wife’s loving care did that- but it has continued to do what it always has done: it makes my life a brighter and more pleasant place.” With that one sentence, my whole opinion of writing changed.…

    • 1578 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jamals dream of being a writer seems difficult because of the kind of education that his school offers. But, When Jamal connects with William, which movielocity claims him to be “a mentor who will challenge and change him forever” ( 2001, p. 1). His writings and confidence improve immensely. William always offers to help Jamal write and how to make his appearance look like he is a confident writer to Professor Crawford. With the help and support, dreams can become easy to achieve and a reality with help and support from…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have to take a writing course? Ugh. This was the feeling I had when I first registered to take this course and it wasn’t a good one. It had been years since I had to any kind of writing development course. After taking this course throughout the semester it has been an immense help in my development as a college level writer.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How We Spend Our Lives “When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner’s pick, a woodcarver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory.” (qtd.…

    • 681 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Stephen King Reflection

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jared Tremblay-Barris Period 1 8/27/15 On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - Reflections S1 - Part One: After completing this section of the book, I was able to come to the conclusion that I admire Stephen King for his quick delivery of information and for his informal, relatable tone. One aspect of this section that intrigued me started in the beginning when King explains this book is “[his] attempt to show how one writer was formed. Not how one writer was made” (18). This statement provided food for thought because, at first glance, the two words both describe formation and creation of a writer.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays