review on writing stephen king

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A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2000

A useful book for any young writer, and a must for fans, this is unmistakably King: friendly, sharply perceptive, cheerfully...

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.

Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2000

ISBN: 0-684-85352-3

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000

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BOOK REVIEW

by Stephen King

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR

by Paul Kalanithi ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 19, 2016

A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...

A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.

Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”

Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015

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Word of Mouth

Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, on writing: a memoir of the craft.

There is an immutable law that states: "People who love law and sausage should never watch either being made." People who love reading, I think, are a bit different. Who among us, in the middle of the latest work by one of our favorite authors, hasn't stopped and asked in wonder, "How do they do it?!"

Stephen King, in his (first) Forward to ON WRITING: A Memoir of the Craft, chats for just a bit about how he had been toying with writing a book about writing but wasn't sure if he had anything worth saying. The answer is yes, he does; and he has a few other things worth saying as well, about writing, about perseverance, and about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.

ON WRITING is divided into five parts. The first, "C. V.," is largely, and wonderfully, autobiographical. It is not one of those intimate detail from first-breath-to-yesterday accounts; it is what King describes, quite accurately, as a series of snapshots. Even if you know every damn thing there is to know about Stephen King, from his shirt size to whether it's boxers or briefs, don't skip this part. "C. V." implicitly demonstrates what a talent this man is. I was familiar with a great deal of what is contained in this section, yet King is so compelling a wordsmith that I could not read fast enough, even though I (usually) knew what was going to happen. There are also a number of nuggets in here --- his account of the moment he got his inspiration for CARRIE, his battle with substance abuse --- that are worth reading about even if you have encountered these stories elsewhere. What does "C. V." have to do with writing? Quite a bit, actually; it exhibits --- sometimes painfully so --- the bits and pieces of the composite of the man we know as Stephen King. How does he do it? This is a part of the answer.

The second section of ON WRITING is titled "The Toolbox" --- what writers should bring with them when they sit down to write. These include things like vocabulary and grammar and a little volume titled THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE. "The Toolbox" contains very basic stuff that is so basic that a lot of us forget we have it. King's metaphor here is wonderful and provides a good introduction for what is the meat of the book, the third section, which, appropriately enough, is titled "On Writing." This is the section where King parts the curtain and reveals how he does what he does. King leaves out nothing here: he gives his reader an account of such things as where to write, when to write, how to handle revisions and the dreaded writer's block, who to show your work to (and when), and how to submit it. The "gosharootie" part of this section, however, is King's accounts of how he handled problems he encountered while writing such novels as THE STAND and MISERY. Then, to top it all off, he gives his reader a writing exercise, with an invitation to send the results to him!

There is more. "On Living: A Postscript" is a blow-by-blow account --- the most complete one that I have read --- about the near-fatal injuries that King sustained approximately one year ago. Again, King demonstrates incredible talent here. His ability to bring the reader to tears one moment and howling with laughter the next --- during the account of his accident, no less --- is on glass case display. And what does this accident have to do with writing? Everything, actually. King, post-injuries, didn't know whether he still had the stuff. And when he wanted to try...well, read the book. You might want to send Tabitha King a thank-you note too.  

Last of all: "And Furthermore, Part One: Door Shut, Door Open" takes the reader through a first draft and revision of the first part of 1408, from King's audiobook BLOOD AND SMOKE. King shows us what he changed, and why. This is extremely fascinating, especially for aspiring writers: not even King gets it right the first time through. "And Furthermore, Part Two: A Booklist" is just that: a list of the best books that King has read in the previous three to four years. If you are on the lookout for new authors, this is the place to go.

ON WRITING is not an interlude between last year's HEARTS OF ATLANTIS and the forthcoming (at some point) FROM A BUICK EIGHT. This volume stands on its own. It will not replace THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE; it does, however, merit a place on your bookshelf right next to it. This may well be King's work of broadest appeal. Aspiring authors will find it invaluable. Fans of The Man will be fascinated. And those who have never read a book by Stephen King will discover what the rest of us already know. Highest possible recommendation.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on October 3, 2000

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

• Publication Date: October 3, 2000
• Genres: Nonfiction
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner
• ISBN-10: 0684853523
• ISBN-13: 9780684853529

EXCERPT On Writing A Memoir of the Craft By STEPHEN KING Scribner Read the Review I actually began On Writing in November or December of 1997, and although it usually takes me only three months to finish the first draft of a book, this one was still only half-completed eighteen months later. That was because I'd put it aside in February or March of 1998, not sure how to continue, or if I should continue at all. Writing fiction was almost as much fun as it had ever been, but every word of the nonfiction book was a kind of torture. It was the first book I had put aside uncompleted since The Stand , and On Writing spent a lot longer in the desk drawer. In June of 1999, I decided to spend the summer finishing the damn writing book — let Susan Moldow and Nan Graham at Scribner decide if it was good or bad, I thought. I read the manuscript over, prepared for the worst, and discovered I actually sort of liked what I had. The road to finishing it seemed clear-cut, too. I had finished the memoir ("C.V."), which attempted to show some of the incidents and life-situations which made me into the sort of writer I turned out to be, and I had covered the mechanics — those that seemed most important to me, at least. What remained to be done was the key section, "On Writing," where I'd try to answer some of the questions I'd been asked in seminars and at speaking engagements, plus all those I wish I'd been asked...those questions about the language. On the night of June seventeenth, blissfully unaware that I was now less than forty-eight hours from my little date with Bryan Smith (not to mention Bullet the rottweiler), I sat down at our dining room table and listed all the questions I wanted to answer, all the points I wanted to address. On the eighteenth, I wrote the first four pages of the "On Writing" section. That was where the work still stood in late July, when I decided I'd better get back to work...or at least try. I didn't want to go back to work. I was in a lot of pain, unable to bend my right knee, and restricted to a walker. I couldn't imagine sitting behind a desk for long, even in my wheelchair. Because of my cataclysmically smashed hip, sitting was torture after forty minutes or so, impossible after an hour and a quarter. Added to this was the book itself, which seemed more daunting than ever — how was I supposed to write about dialogue, character, and getting an agent when the most pressing thing in my world was how long until the next dose of Percocet? Yet at the same time I felt I'd reached one of those crossroads moments when you're all out of choices. And I had been in terrible situations before which the writing had helped me get over — had helped me forget myself for at least a little while. Perhaps it would help me again. It seemed ridiculous to think it might be so, given the level of my pain and physical incapacitation, but there was that voice in the back of my mind, both patient and implacable, telling me that, in the words of the Chambers Brothers, Time Has Come Today. It's possible for me to disobey that voice, but very difficult to disbelieve it. In the end it was Tabby who cast the deciding vote, as she so often has at crucial moments in my life. I'd like to think I've done the same for her from time to time, because it seems to me that one of the things marriage is about is casting the tiebreaking vote when you just can't decide what you should do next. My wife is the person in my life who's most likely to say I'm working too hard, it's time to slow down, stay away from that damn PowerBook for a little while, Steve, give it a rest. When I told her on that July morning that I thought I'd better go back to work, I expected a lecture. Instead, she asked me where I wanted to set up. I told her I didn't know, hadn't even thought about it. She thought about it, then said: "I can rig a table for you in the back hall, outside the pantry. There are plenty of plug-ins — you can have your Mac, the little printer, and a fan." The fan was certainly a must — it had been a terrifically hot summer, and on the day I went back to work, the temperature outside was ninety-five. It wasn't much cooler in the back hall. Tabby spent a couple of hours putting things together, and that afternoon at four o'clock she rolled me out through the kitchen and down the newly installed wheelchair ramp into the back hall. She had made me a wonderful little nest there: laptop and printer connected side by side, table lamp, manuscript (with my notes from the month before placed neatly on top), pens, reference materials. Standing on the corner of the desk was a framed picture of our younger son, which she had taken earlier that summer. "Is it all right?" she asked. "It's gorgeous," I said, and hugged her. It was gorgeous. So is she. The former Tabitha Spruce of Oldtown, Maine, knows when I'm working too hard, but she also knows that sometimes its the work that bails me out. She got me positioned at the table, kissed me on the temple, and then left me there to find out if I had anything left to say. It turned out I did. (C) 2000 Stephen King All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-684-85352-3

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[book review] on writing: a memoir of the craft by stephen king.

January 10, 2019       Erica Robyn       26 Comments

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King was a wonderful blend of memoir and lessons about writing fiction. I am a huge Stephen King fan, so I really enjoyed learning about his life and his process!

I can’t believe it took me so long to give this one a read! If you’ve been putting it off as well, I highly recommend moving it closer to the top of your TBR list!

Let’s dive in!

My Thoughts on On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

As this is Stephen King, I’m not going to focus on the writing style for long. I will simply say that I really enjoyed how this book was organized; it was sectioned into various chunks, but it all flowed so well and King tied everything together wonderfully. I loved that he added in a few callbacks to something that he had written about earlier in the book, this was such a fun touch!

The first chunk of the book was about his life, centering mainly on his childhood and teen years before moving on to his marriage and early career. This helped to show the reader what his life was like and how his childhood shaped him as a writer. This was the most interesting section to me because I really enjoy learning more about individuals that I am a huge fan of, especially when they are the ones writing their story!

The What Writing Is chapter was awesome! I love how he painted a picture and then broke it down and relayed that to writing and telepathy. This chapter also housed one of my favorite quotes of all time:

Next up was the section called “Toolbox” where he begins with a wonderful story about childhood and a toolbox and then relates that to basic writing skills, or your tools, and explains these tools a bit.

Then we get into the section with the lessons about writing called “On Writing.” This section was slightly dry to me, simply because I am not a fiction writer so some of the tips and tricks didn’t really stand out for me. That being said, I still found it really interesting to read and I loved learning more about the craft! I will definitely be using a few things that I learned when an author sends me an draft of their book and asks for feedback. I also need to make use of a few lessons that I learned in my blog posts!

The book then begins to wind down with a section called “On Living: A Postscript.” This section was very difficult to read as it discusses King’s accident in detail. It was so heartbreaking to learn more about the van that hit him. I remember when this happened. As a Mainer, this was all over the news so I was aware of the details, but hearing it straight from him was so powerful.

This last section ends on a wonderful note, but it’s certainly not a section for the squeamish.

A few additional notes: King doesn’t remember setting Cujo, as it was during his drug and alcohol stage. I thought this was a rumor, but turns out it is true! Poor guy, I’m glad he got out of that phase!

Throughout the book, I adored how much he talked about his wife, Tabitha! It was so heartwarming to read about their support of one another. 

My Favorite Passages from On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.

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.

… books are a uniquely portable magic.

If I have to spend time in purgatory before going to one place or the other, I guess I’ll be all right as long as there’s a lending library…

I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.

If there’s no joy in it, it’s just no good.

Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.

… and one of the cardinal rules of good fiction is never tell us a thing if you can show us…

And I believe that most people smart enough to read a novel are also tactful enough to find a gentler mode of expression than “This sucks.”

The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.

My Final Thoughts on On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

If you are a writer of fiction, I highly recommend this one! There are so many wonderful lessons included that are written in such an interesting way.

If you’re simply a reader, I also highly recommend this one! I am not a fiction writer, but I still loved learning more about the craft! And of course, the section that was mainly memoir was so interesting!

Snag a copy through Bookshop to help support local indie bookshops:

Thanks for reading! Have you read any books on writing? If so, what was your favorite?

Reader Interactions

January 10, 2019 at 4:50 pm

I do hear this is a good one, and since I write fiction, I probably should grab it at some point. I knew he had a drug/alcohol phase and forgot things he wrote, but I didn't know he had gotten hit by a van at some point. How scary!

-Lauren http://www.shootingstarsmag.net

January 10, 2019 at 6:41 pm

I definitely recommend this one! I'd love to hear your thoughts when you pick it up and what you take away as a writer! 🙂 And right?! He came incredibly close to dying!

January 10, 2019 at 5:13 pm

I actually just picked this one up from the library. I hope to get it read this month! So glad it's a good one with lots of tidbits for everyone.

January 10, 2019 at 6:39 pm

Awesome! Enjoy!!

January 10, 2019 at 10:58 pm

Looks so interesting! Love the quotes. And I never knew until recently he had a drug phase- I remember reading something about some of the movies that were made from his books in the 80's or whatever and how he was affected by the habit. Glad he got out of that phase too!

January 11, 2019 at 11:48 am

January 11, 2019 at 10:56 am

I found this book interesting when I read it years back. It was interesting to find out more about King and his thoughts.

January 11, 2019 at 11:47 am

January 11, 2019 at 12:38 pm

I would say if you're going to read about writing, you can't do much better than Stephen King!

January 12, 2019 at 2:08 am

January 11, 2019 at 2:01 pm

I’m so terrible at writing fiction that I don’t think a book can help me, but I read this one in college and enjoyed it. Stephen King is one of my favorite writers. I liked learning about his life. Great review!

Aj @ Read All The Things!

January 12, 2019 at 12:28 am

I've seen this recommended several times as a book on the craft of writing. I'm not much of a King reader (too squeamish!) but I respect him as a writer. I'm also always interested in the intersection between life and art and I love memoirs that explore those links.

January 12, 2019 at 2:09 am

I would recommend this one for you up until the last chapter! 🙂 The first part of his life and all of the lessons about writing was so much fun! But that last chapter was where the graphic elements came in with his accident.

January 12, 2019 at 9:41 pm

I loved this book so much! I am so happy you loved it too. 🙂

January 13, 2019 at 5:18 pm

January 12, 2019 at 11:12 pm

One of the few Stephen King books I haven't read – I am working on Elevation now though. 🙂

January 13, 2019 at 5:19 pm

January 13, 2019 at 12:04 am

This sounds like a great read and I've always wanted a look inside of King's mind to see how he does what he does when it comes to crafting his stories.

It's so interesting!!

January 13, 2019 at 7:01 pm

I loved this book so much. I was very surprised by it when I first read it. I'm long overdue for a reread.

January 13, 2019 at 7:12 pm

January 16, 2019 at 9:57 am

I have read this one and I absolutely loved it. I love how he talks about his wife – he clearly sees her as his support and evidently loves her. I really loved the ending. Maybe not for the squeamish, but it also shows how much he truly loves writing.

January 16, 2019 at 6:25 pm

January 23, 2019 at 6:22 am

My mum gifted this to me a few weeks ago and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

January 24, 2019 at 12:03 am

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A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King | 4.56 | 231,165 ratings and reviews

Ranked #1 in Writers , Ranked #1 in Writing — see more rankings .

Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of On Writing from the world's leading experts.

Mark Manson Founder/MarkManson.net I read a bunch of books on writing before I wrote my first book and the two that stuck with me were Stephen King’s book and “On Writing Well” by Zinsser (which is a bit on the technical side). (Source)

James Altucher Founder/StockPickr Recommends this book

Ken Norton Recommends this book

Jennifer Rock If you are interested in writing and communication, start with reading and understanding the technical aspects of the craft: The Elements of Style. On Writing Well. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. (Source)

Cameron Kasky @LaddEveritt On Writing. My second favorite book of all time, next to The Toy Collector by @JamesGunn, the guy who made me want to become a writer in the first place. (Source)

Benjamin Spall [Question: What five books would you recommend to youngsters interested in your professional path?] On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft by Stephen King, [...] (Source)

Joann Corleyschwarzkopf @preetibose26 @Typical80sName By the way have you read Stephen King's book on writing.... it's fantastic (Source)

Kaci Lambe Kai These three books were very inspirational and broke down their way of creating in a way that was genuine and honest while still making me feel like I could be a writer. (Source)

Alina Varlanuta My professional path – copywriting – somehow intertwines with my unprofessional (hahaha) path – writing so I would recommend reading literature for both. Somehow reading and writing are two ways of doing the same thing: storytelling (even when you read you tell yourself a story in your own voice, bringing your personal emotion and empathy to the story you’re reading). The only difference is that when I’m reading, panic is far away from me, in a safe place. Nevertheless, the words below helped me rewrite and think twice before adding an exclamation point: On Writing by Stephen King. (Source)

Eric Olsen What I love about it is that King really takes you into his own process, and then leaves you these little titbits of how to stuff. (Source)

Andrew Cowan Yes. It is a surprise to a lot of people that this book is so widely read on university campuses and so widely recommended by teachers of writing. Students love it. It’s bracing: there’s no nonsense. He says somewhere in the foreword or preface that it is a short book because most books are filled with bullshit and he is determined not to offer bullshit but to tell it like it is. (Source)

Rankings by Category

On Writing is ranked in the following categories:

• #1 in Academic Writing
• #14 in Analysis
• #2 in Author
• #7 in Author Biography
• #20 in Autobiography
• #17 in Bibliography
• #29 in Biography
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• #33 in Communication
• #32 in Communication Skills
• #10 in Copywriting
• #4 in Creative
• #1 in Creative Writing
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• #45 in Documentaries
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• #30 in Factual
• #1 in Fiction Writing
• #35 in Filmmaking
• #29 in Graduate School
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• #47 in Insightful
• #58 in Inspiration
• #32 in Inspiring
• #76 in Journalism
• #63 in Knowledge
• #6 in Language
• #65 in Learning
• #14 in Memoir
• #80 in Motivational
• #26 in Nonfiction
• #1 in Poetry Writing
• #41 in Product Management
• #39 in Real Life
• #3 in Reference
• #7 in Research
• #8 in Screenwriting
• #6 in Songwriting
• #3 in Stephen King
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• #63 in Teacher
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The Literary Edit

Review: On Writing – Stephen King

As both an aspiring writer and an avid reader, I face constant battle over whether to dedicate the little spare time that I have to either reading or writing. That much of the past few months were spent training for the London Marathon has left precious little time for me to indulge in two of my favourite hobbies and consequently the writing of my own novel has, once more, been put on the back burner.

In a bid to get back on track with my own writing I borrowed On Writing by Stephen King – a book that has been praised by Caitlin Moran and recommended by a number of writers – both aspiring and published. Part memoir, part manual,  On Writing looks back on King’s experiences as a writer – both good and bad – as he attempts to advise his readers ways in which they can hone and perfect their own writing ability.

I’ve never read any of King’s novels, but On Writing certainly made for a compelling read – the memories of his early years offered a wonderful insight into what made one of the world’s most successful authors. He is honest without being patronising and creates a ‘writer’s toolkit’ for his readers – one that comprises of  a reading list, writing assignments, and basic advice on plot, characterisation, the basic building block of the paragraph and literary models.

It’s easy to see why On Writing is often hailed as a bible for budding writers and it has certainly given me some food for thought on ways in which I can improve my own.

About On Writing

Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer’s craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King’s advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999 — and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it — fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

About Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, Mr Mercedes, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. BothMr Mercedes and End of Watch received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel Sleeping Beauties with his son Owen King, and many of King’s books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including The Shawshank Redemption, Gerald’s Game and It.

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Book Reviews

On Writing by Stephen King: Book Review

Stephen King sits down to share his thoughts on the writing process. No matter what you think of his books personally, you have to admit that he’s a master at drawing in legions of fans. He prefaces his work with an explanation of what prompted him to write it. He was talking with author Amy Tan when he asked her what one question she wishes somebody actually would ask her at an author Q-and-A. “Amy paused, thinking it over very carefully, and then said: ‘No one ever asks about the language.’….But Amy was right: nobody ever asks about the language. They ask the DeLillos and the Updikes and the Styrons, but they don’t ask popular novelists. Yet many of us proles also care about the language, in our humble way, and care passionately about the art and craft of telling stories on paper. What follows is an attempt to put down, briefly and simply, how I came to the craft, what I know about it now, and how it’s done. It’s about the day job; it’s about the language.”

Divided into three main sections, King actually covers a lot of ground in this short book. The first section is a mini-memoir of his life and the events that influenced his writing. The second part is the mechanics, and the third is about his life-changing accident (which happened in the middle of writing this book).

I enjoyed the section about his life. I would never claim to be King’s “Number One Fan,” but I do enjoy reading his work. I can’t say that I know anything about his life. He was run over about 10 years ago, Joe Hill is his son, and Tabitha King is his wife. That’s about it. Oh, and that he was pretty strung out on drugs when he wrote some of his earlier works. That really has to be it. I liked seeing how King was formed as a writer. From his first attempts to emulate his favorite comics, to his mom telling him that he can do better, to the earliest stories he published, to the publication of Carrie , he covers a lot of ground in this section. My favorite bit might have been the story of getting the news of his son’s impending birth while at a drive-in movie.

Then he moves on to the mechanics. His best bit of advice is one that’s often quoted: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Being a reader, this is advice that I like! And then he moves on to basics like making the time to write, and how his process works. There’s the shut-door period, where he’s the only person who is reading his work, and then he opens the door to let his first readers have a crack at it. He writes about the tools of grammar, spelling, and avoiding adverbs at all costs (who knew that adverbs could be a pet peeve?). He writes about how to get yourself published and gives examples of a process that should work pretty well for most writers. I found his advice to be full of common sense, pretty encouraging, and easy to understand and follow through on.

At the end, he writes about his accident. When I first started this section, I admit to a bit of an eye-roll and a “here we go again” feeling. I’m one of those crappy people who got tired of all the stories he wrote after his accident about men who’ve had debilitating accidents. I know it’s heartless on my part, I know it’s cathartic for him, but there you go. Still, there was a point to including it here. It was very natural to include it as another memoir-like bit since it happened during the writing of this book, but there’s more to it than that. He seems to be saying that, yeah, he went through a horrendous experience that most of us can’t even wrap our minds around, but he kept writing. And if he can continue writing, we can continue to write or get started. It was healing for him and returned a sense of “normalcy” to his life.

Scattered throughout the book were references to his other books and different anecdotes about them. He writes that he’s a writer who just lets the story take him where it will rather than outlining everything in advance, so he’s often surprised by twists himself. I especially liked reading about how he originally thought Misery ‘s plot would turn out. He writes a lot about Carrie as well and what influences came to bear on that story. I just really enjoyed sort of “seeing behind the scenes” of some of the books that I’ve read.

I recommend this, obviously for King’s fans, but also for those in search of (I think) sound writing advice. There’s no mumbo-jumbo, mystical, channeling stuff. There’s nothing that sounds out of the realm of possibility. It’s basically about just sitting down and getting started. Maybe it will give you the push you need to do just that.

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Find author Stephen King on his website .

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I haven't read all of King's book and I don't want to, but I do think he's an amazing author and I take his advice very seriously.

Great review! This book is on my TBR list. I haven't read any of Stephen King's novels, but I would really like to read his memoir!

Feel free to include this link into the challenge I'm hosting, The Stephen King Project located here: thestephenkingproject.blogspot.com (if you'd like to include the button in this post, that would be great!) 🙂 We have monthly prizes!

I'm excited to read this one and was considering listening to the audio version. I just love his ability to tell a story and I love his digressions into other anecdotes.

I have 3 books I keep copies of on my desk at the office and on my desk at home – Strunk & White's The Elements of Style, Webster's New World Thesaurus, and Stephen King's On Writing. This is such a great resource, both for tips and techniques, but also for general advice and motivation.

Wonderful review! This is one of my favorite books on writing.

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On Writing by Stephen King — A Book Review of a Memoir of the Craft

Feb 27, 2021

On Writing  by Stephen King is a masterful work by the King himself — a book for which I can only leave an A+ review.

In the book, King shares his memoirs and earliest memories revolving around writing, ample writing advice, grammar and structure, and how his accident in 1999 changed his life. 

Now 73, Stephen King has written notable works such as  It ,  The Stand ,  Carrie ,  Misery ,  The Shining ,  Pet Sematary ,  Cujo , and more — many of which have been adapted to TV and film.

On Writing  by Stephen King forced me to think about my relationship with writing.

My writing habits and skills have certainly changed over the years.

When I first started blogging and writing when younger, I would write everything inside spiral notebooks. I had mountains and mountains of them stored in my room. If what I was working on was to be turned into a blog post — I would then take the handwritten piece and transpose it to WordPress by typing in.

Now, I write directly in my word editor with Grammarly to improve my writing.

What is Stephen King’s advice for writers?

You’ll have to read  On Writing  by Stephen King yourself to see what speaks to you, but I’ve captured what stood out to me most below:

1. Write, write, and write some more.

Daily writing and making mistakes are what will help you perfect the craft. If you don’t take writing seriously and don’t practice every day, then you won’t give yourself enough of a chance to get enough words under your belt.

2. Like most things, consistency is key.

Go and get yourself a copy of  The Elements of Style  by Strunk and White — your recommended pathway to learning how to style your writing .  Stephen King believes in this book, and I’ve also been affected by its perfection.

3. Form a character and learn to shape the book around its story.

4. Avoid adverbs.

5. Read a Lot

One of the best ways to better as a writer is to read a lot to absorb others’ styles and tools.

Also — if you’ve ever seen a Stephen King book, you know they’re often thick. Why? They’re filled with Stephen King’s descriptive language. Think of the five senses when you write, and help the reader experience the world in your imagination.

King divulges plenty more information regarding adverbs, plot, characters, grammar and passive voice, so don’t miss  On Writing  by Stephen King; it needs to be in your personal library for writing improvement when you need help.

Keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

About The Author

Christian Steinsworth

Christian Steinsworth is a 17-year digital marketing communications consultant implementing innovative and dynamic social media, email marketing, graphic design, video, and web development solutions for clients nationwide.

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On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Available Format(s)

Hardcover / Paperback / eBook / Audiobook

On Writing is both a textbook for writers and a memoir of Stephen's life and will, thus, appeal even to those who are not aspiring writers. If you've always wondered what led Steve to become a writer and how he came to be the success he is today, this will answer those questions.

The Twentieth Anniversary Edition contains contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King Publisher: Scribner (June 2, 2020) Length: 320 pages ISBN13: 9781982159375

From the Flap

"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write." In 1999, Stephen King began to write about his craft--and his life. By midyear, a widely reported accident jeopardized the survival of both. And in his months of recovery, the link between writing and living became more crucial than ever. Rarely has a book on writing been so clear, so useful, and so revealing. On Writing begins with a mesmerizing account of King's childhood and his uncannily early focus on writing to tell a story. A series of vivid memories from adolescence, college, and the struggling years that led up to his first novel, Carrie , will afford readers a fresh and often very funny perspective on the formation of a writer. King next turns to the basic tools of his trade--how to sharpen and multiply them through use, and how the writer must always have them close at hand. He takes the reader through crucial aspects of the writer's art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character development to work habits and rejection. Serialized in the New Yorker to vivid acclaim, On Writing culminates with a profoundly moving account of how King's overwhelming need to write spurred him toward recovery, and brought him back to his life. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower--and entertain--everyone who reads it.

Related Works

On Writing (Audiobook)

© Copyright © 2000 - 2020 Stephen King - All Rights Reserved.

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Ten things I learned about writing from Stephen King

The novelist James Smythe, who has been analysing the work of Stephen King for the Guardian since 2012 , on the lessons he has drawn from the master of horror fiction

• Stephen King short fiction competition – send us your stories

Stephen King is an All-Time Great, arguably one of the most popular novelists the world has ever seen. And there’s a good chance that he’s inspired more people to start writing than any other living writer. So, as the Guardian and King’s UK publisher Hodder launch a short story competition – to be judged by the master himself – here are the ten most important lessons to learn from his work.

1. Write whatever the hell you like

King might be best known – or, rather, best regarded – as a writer of horror novels, but really, his back catalogue is crammed with every genre you can think of. There are thrillers (Misery, Gerald’s Game), literary novels (Bag Of Bones, Different Seasons), crime procedurals (Mr Mercedes), apocalypse narratives (The Stand), fantasy (Eyes Of The Dragon, The Dark Tower series) … He’s even written what I think of as being one of the greatest Young Adult novels of all time: The Long Walk. Perhaps the only genre or audience he hasn’t really touched so far is comedy, but most of his work features moments that show his deft touch with humour. It’s clear that King does what he wants, when he wants, and his constant readers – the term he calls his, well, constant readers – will follow him wherever he goes.

2. The scariest thing isn’t necessarily what’s underneath the bed

Horror is a curious thing. What scares one person won’t necessarily scare another. And while there might be moments in his horror novels that tread towards the more conventional ideas of what some find terrifying, for the most part, the truly scary aspects are those that deal with humanity itself. Ghosts drive people to madness, telekinetic girls destroy whole towns with their powers, clowns … well, clowns are just bloody terrifying full stop. But the true crux of King’s ability to scare is finding the thing that his readers are actually worried about, and bringing that to the fore. If you’re writing horror, don’t just think about what goes bump in the night; think about what that bump might drive people to do afterwards.

3. Don’t be scared of transparency

One of my favourite things about King’s short story collections are the little notes about each tale that he puts into the text. The history of them, the context for the idea, how the writing process actually worked. They’re not only invaluable material for aspiring writers – because exactly how many drafts does it take to reach a decent story? King knows! – but they’re also brilliant nuggets of insight into King himself. Some people might think that it’s better off knowing nothing about authors when they read their work, but for King, his heart is on his sleeve. In his latest collection, The Bazaar of Broken Dreams, King gets more in-depth than ever, talking about what inspired the stories in such an honest way that it couldn’t have come from another writer’s pen. Which brings us to …

4. Write what you know. Sort of. Sometimes

Write what you know is the most common writing tip you’ll find anywhere. It’s nonsense, really, because if we all did that we’d end up with terribly boring novels about writers staring out of windows waiting for inspiration to hit. (If you like those, incidentally, head straight for the literary fiction section of your nearest bookshop.) But King understands that experience is something which can be channelled into your work, and should be at every opportunity. Aspects of his life – addiction, teaching, his near-fatal car accident, rock and roll, ageing – have cropped up in his work over and over, in ways that aren’t always obvious, but often help to drive the story. That’s something every writer can use, because it’s through these truths that real emotions can be writ large on the page.

5. Aim big. Or small

King’s written some mammoth books, and they’re often about mammoth things. The Stand takes readers into an apocalypse, with every stage of it laid out on the page until the final fantastical showdown. It deals with a horror that hits a group of characters twice in their lives, showing us how years and years of experience can change people. And The Dark Tower is a seven (or eight, or more, if you count the short stories set in its world) part series that takes in so many different genres of writing it’s dizzying. When he needs to, King aims really big, and sometimes that’s what you have to do to tell a story. At the other end of the spectrum, some of King’s most enduring stories – Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption, The Mist – have come from his shorter works. He traps small groups of characters in single locations and lets the story play out how it will. The length of the story you’re telling should dictate the size of the book. Doesn’t matter if it’s forty thousand words or two hundred, King doesn’t waste a word.

6. Write all the time. And write a lot

King’s published – wait for it – 55 novels, 11 collections of stories, 5 non-fiction works, 7 novellas and 9 assorted other pieces (including illustrated works and comic books). That’s over a period of 41 years. That’s an average of two books a year. Which is, I must admit, a pretty giddying amount. That’s years of reading (or rereading, if you’re as foolishly in awe of him as I am). But he’s barely stopped for breath. This year has seen three books published by him, which makes me feel a little ashamed. Still, at my current rate of writing, I might catch up with him sometime next century. And while not every book has found the same critical and commercial success, they’ve all got their fans.

7. Voice is just as important as content

King’s a writer who understands that a story needs to begin before it’s actually told. It begins in the voice of the novel: is it first person, or third? Is it past or present tense? Is it told through multiple narrators, or just the one? He’s a master at understanding exactly why each story is told the way it’s told. Sure, he might dress it up as something simple – the story finding the voice it needs, or vice versa – but through his books you can see that he’s tried pretty much everything, and can see why each voice worked with the story he was telling.

8. And Form is just as important as voice

King isn’t really thought of as an experimental novelist, which is grossly unfair. Some of King’s more daring novels have taken on really interesting forms. Be it The Green Mile’s fragmented, serialised narrative; or the dual publication of The Regulators and Desperation – novels which featured the same characters in very different situations, with unsettling parallels between the stories that unfolded for them; or even Carrie’s mixed-media narrative, with sections of the story told as interview or newspaper extract. All of these novels have played with the way they’re presented on the page to find the perfect medium for telling those stories. Really, the lesson here from King is to not be afraid to play.

9. You don’t have to be yourself

Some of King’s greatest works in the early years of his career weren’t published by King himself. They were in the name of Richard Bachman, his slightly grislier pseudonym. The Long Walk, Thinner, The Running Man – these are books that dealt with a nastier side of things than King did in his properly attributed work. Because, maybe it’s good to have a voice that allows us to let the real darkness out, with no judgments. (And then maybe, as King eventually did in The Dark Half, it’s good to kill that voice on the page … )

10. Read On Writing. Now

This is the most important tip in the list. In 2000, King published On Writing, a book that sits in the halfway space between autobiography and writing manual. It’s full of details about his process, about how he wrote his books, channelled his demons and overcame his challenges. It’s one of the few books about writing that are actually worth their salt, mainly because it understands that it’s about a personal experience, and readers might find that useful. There’s no universal truths when it comes to writing. One person’s process would be a nightmare for somebody else. Some people spend years labouring on nearly perfect first drafts; some people get a first draft written in six weeks, and then spend the next year destroying it and rebuilding it. On Writing tells you how King does it, to help you to find your own. Even if you’re not a fan of his books, it’s invaluable to the in-development writer. Heck, it’s invaluable to all writers.

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Seeking Prose

Raw words. short stories. meditations., book review: on writing by stephen king.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Recommend to writers everywhere!

I have a confession!

*whispers softly, hand cupped around my mouth*

I’ve never read a Stephen King book before. I’ve never been a fan of horror, and I’ve always associated the section of my library where King resided as the Dark Side of the library (quite literally). However I have known quite a few people who love Stephen King, and I can say this: those who love him, really love him. A lot. I can now understand why.

He is easy to read, and after having had him explain his process for the last nearly 300 pages, he is good at what he does. He gets a first draft done on average in three months!!! His are NOT short books either. He details both his personal journey to becoming the writer he is today and some of the tools he believes make good writers; tools he hopes any aspiring writer will put in his or her own toolbox. For a book about writing, it is actually quite gripping. I think even if you aren’t a writing nerd, he will make you wish you had that same magic that good writers have.

Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with books on writing. It is fascinating to delve into the mind of another writer and see where your own journey is similar and perhaps where it is different. But sometimes I have a hard time not feeling short when nudging up against someone else’s yardstick. (Especially when its such a prolific and successful yardstick.) This one weighed a bit more on the love side, even though I still had some of those “man, I’m not doing this right” moments.

Maybe one of these days, I’ll pick up one of King’s less scary books and see how it goes. Happy reading, Everyone!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can find my To Be Read page here . Please, if you have any future reading suggestions, leave me a comment. 😄

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6 thoughts on “ Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King ”

I have only read one of his books – many years ago, but he is prolific and has great quotes and tips on being a productive writer.

Like Liked by 1 person

This was an enjoyable read. I highly recommend it, as it was recommended to me. His tips on being a better writer are quite practical, too. I enjoyed engaging with them. 😄

I confess I’ve never read him either. Not a fan of horror. (I thoroughly enjoyed the “Shawshank Redemption” movie, however). This book on the writing craft looks good. Thanks for the recommendation.

You’re welcome! I’ve never watched Shawshank but it is supposed to be one of the greats. Maybe I’ll have to read it, and then watch the movie sometime.

This is a good, quick review Katie. I like your language (“dark side of the library,” “quite gripping,” “prolific.. yardstick”). Good pace, easy read. I don’t like overused exclamation points, though. For me, having chatted and played softball with him, and knowing where his accident happened (plus I once met the guy that hit him), give Stephen a clear and personable voice. And suddenly make me realize I’m quite biased!

Haha, this made me laugh. I DO overuse exclamation points, especially in my personal voiced writing 😄

There’s nothing wrong with being biased. We all have our favorites, and there’s the personal connection so that’s hard to resist. It was a good suggestion, and I enjoyed it. Thank you.

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Stephen King actually debated whether it was "okay" for him to write this book; he didn't want to seem presumptuous, and he was afraid it would make him feel like a literary gasbag.

Yes, even Stephen King failed, early on. He began by posting his rejection slips on a nail on his wall; later, he needed a larger object so he used a spike.

King also openly discusses how he overcame addictions to alcohol and cocaine with the help of his wife. A chapter about his recent unfortunate accident, when he was walking and was hit and seriously injured by a van, is also included.

King explains how important it is for writers to read and write a great deal, and also provides a list of recommended books to read. He suggests that writers have a copy of Strunk and White handy, and tells them how to build a multi-level writer's toolbox, which is full of grammar and vocabulary tools.

King also discusses how he unearths his stories, a bit like an archaeologist does, and gives details about how he edits his books. Writers would be crazy to ignore Stephen King's advice. And any of Stephen King's Constant Readers will enjoy hearing his telling of the story of his life thus far, and his thoughts on the craft of writing. Highly recommended.

Scribner, October 2000. Hardcover, 288 pages. ISBN: 0684853523 Ordering information: Amazon.com

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On Writing by Stephen King

November 10, 2023 by jmsudar Leave a Comment

I try to read On Writing at least once a year. It inspires me, it reminds me of why I enjoy writing as a hobby, and yes, because I’m a vain little person, I see parallels in the way Stephen King feels about writing to the way I feel about writing.

On Writing is Stephen King’s attempt at a writing how-to. He begins with some delicious autobiography, talking about trouble he and his brother got into, making it clear how much his mother struggled to raise them on her own, yet treated her sons like princes, and including one of the most horrifying tales of childhood otolaryngology you will ever read. It then barrels into several of the lessons King has learned in the composition of language. Really, as I write this, it’s not really a how-to, so much as a why, followed by a how you might pick up partway through the lessons King learned in his career as opposed to right at the beginning.

The how-to portion is concise and clear, exactly what it needs to be. It focuses on the language, a fact he emphasizes when stressing the origins of the book: a conversation with Amy Tan about questions she wishes she got at author signings. Oh to be an ear at the table of a Rock Bottom Remainders after-party. What fun. The language composition portion is the reason I read the book regularly: to try and keep the various tips fresh. Every year I seem to pick another one that I’ll remember a little better than before, and that makes the exercise worth it.

The story ends detailing King’s famous accident, in which a drunk driver obliterated his leg while King was taking a walk. Here he brings the story full circle, talking about how writing saved his life after the accident by giving him an outlet to focus on and a reason to get up every day. That is, by the book, what writing always has been for King: a reason to persist. I don’t perhaps feel that as intensely as I once did, my interests spanning more hobbies than they did in my twenties, but it still rings true, and I still write every day for a dedicated block of time, just as Stephen King recommends.

Read this book if you enjoy writing. Parts of it will ring true and parts will help you be a better writer.

Stephen King, if you or a member of your staff finds this, I have wanted to meet you for years but have an awkward confession: I like your son Joe’s style a smidge more these days… you’ve raised a hell of a legacy there.

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Why stephen king is right about this new horror movie with 96% on rotten tomatoes.

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All 66 Stephen King Books Ranked From Worst To Best

The fall guy's box office reveals a harsh reality of ryan gosling's movie career, matt damon's controversial $334m action movie hits netflix top 10 8 years later.

• Stephen King praises French horror film Infested for its scary and gross elements, showcasing spiders as big as puppies.
• Despite a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, Infested receives mixed audience reviews due to its treatment of spiders compared to other films.
• Infested explores social issues in France's colonial history, adding depth to its character beats and performances.

Stephen King is right on the money with his review of a new horror movie that boasts an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%. For obvious reasons, Stephen King is best known for his widely acclaimed and oft-adapted horror novels. However, apart from his books, he has also garnered immense attention for his interesting take on new movies and shows, especially the ones belonging to the horror genre.

Since he is considered the King of Horror, it is hard not to agree with most of his insights on horror movies and shows. Even when it comes to his review of a new horror movie, Stephen King's opinion holds immense value because the film delivers some genuine chills and thrills. And if Stephen King's endorsement is not enough to convince a viewer to watch it, perhaps its 96% Rotten Tomatoes score will.

Over the course of his literary career, Stephen King has crafted 66 novels and over 200 short stories, but how do his books compare to one another?

Stephen King Is Right: Infested Is A Scary, Good Horror Movie (& You Should Watch It)

Infested effectively harps on one universal fear.

Stephen King has shared his review of another horror movie, Infested , and he has nothing but praise for it. The King of Horror took to Twitter to reveal that he found the French horror film " scary, gross " and " well-made. " In his review, he also added that the film features " spiders as big as puppies " that " overrun a French apartment building. " The fact that Stephen King is commending a horror movie about arachnophobia speaks volumes about its quality because the author's work is known for creating some of the most terrifying visuals of spider-like creatures.

From Pennywise in IT to The Goddess in Revival , many supernatural beings in King's tales are twitchy and multi-legged, with each of their jointed appendages moving with bone-chilling precision. Despite exploring some of the most eerily memorable takes on the phobia of spiders, Stephen King found Infested " scary " and " gross. " His review serves as a testament to the effectiveness of Infested 's terrors and arachnophobia-inducing jump-scares. Unsurprisingly, Stephen King is not the only one lauding the French horror movie.

Why Infested Has 96% On Rotten Tomatoes (But Only 72% With Audience)

The disparity in reviews has lot to do with infested's visuals.

Even when it comes to its critical ratings, Infested has an almost perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%. Most critics have praised the film because its character beats are well-written, and even its cast members give memorable performances. One reviewer (C.H. Newell via Father Son Holy Gore ) even appreciated how, instead of being a typical creature feature, the film even includes hard-hitting themes surrounding the " social problems in France stemming from the country’s violent colonial history. "

Infested is available for streaming on Shudder with English subtitles.

Strangely, however, the film received a relatively lukewarm response from viewers. As some negative audience reviews suggest, many were unimpressed with the movie's depiction of spiders because other films like The Mist and Arachnophobia have featured even nastier arachnid encounters. Many audience reviews for Infested are also not in tandem with Stephen King 's take on the film. They say that, even though the film makes one squirm in their seat, it treats spiders as an afterthought and unfolds more like a thriller than a true horror movie.

Infested (2024)

Director Sébastien Vanicek makes his feature film debut with a story that follows Kaleb, who is about to turn 30 and has never been lonelier. He’s fighting with his sister over a matter of inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a bazaar and brings it back to his flat. It only takes a moment for it to escape and reproduce, turning the whole place into a dreadful web trap. Starring Théo Christine ( Suprêmes ), Finnegan Oldfield ( Final Cut ), Jérôme Niel ( Smoking Causes Coughing ), Sofia Lesaffre ( Les Misérables ) and Lisa Nyarko.

7 Stephen King Books That Should Be Movies, Ranked

S tephen King is, as his name suggests, the king of horror fiction (while occasionally delving into other genres). The combination of his vivid writing style, characters with unique personalities and special abilities, and epic stories that unfurl with riveting suspense make his work rife for cinematic interpretation. Within these spine-chilling stories, King infuses keen observations on the human condition, and how evil — both supernatural and real — manifests in our society. Stephen King's literary works have produced some of the greatest films of all time including Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining, " Brian De Palma's "Carrie," and Rob Reiner's "Stand By Me." Over 70 of his novels and short stories have been adapted into films or television shows, but since he is such a prolific writer — often churning out several books each year — there are countless that have yet to be adapted. This list ranks seven of Stephen King's engrossing page-turners that would be incredible to see on screen.

Read more: The 15 Best Horror Movie Directors Of All Time

"Later," Stephen King's version of "The Sixth Sense," features a teenage boy named Jamie Conklin with the ability to communicate with ghosts who cannot tell a lie.  Blumhouse was set to produce it as a miniseries starring Lucy Liu, but there have been no updates on the project since 2022. Similar to M. Night Shyamalan's acclaimed film, "Later" blends poignant moments of sadness, chilling gore of the ghosts' gruesome deaths, and thoughtful contemplation of our mortality and connection to dearly departed loved ones. "Later" also uses the gritty backdrop of New York City, with its corners and shadows rich in history and hidden mysteries, to foreground a story that juxtaposes Jamie's coming-of-age with the contemplation of mortality. But what would make a film adaptation of "Later" so exciting is its balance of different genres, specifically the intense emotion of bildungsroman narratives with the intrigue of a crime thriller.

Not to be confused with  Christopher Nolan's compelling Alaskan mystery "Insomnia," Stephen King's novel of the same name employs the disease as a catalyst for his protagonist's connection to the supernatural. After the death of his wife, Ralph Roberts begins having bizarre and unsettling visions and wandering on the street in the middle of the night. The use of strong visual effects could make the images of his nightmares really pop on screen. "Insomnia" takes place in Stephen King's renowned Derry, Maine, and features references to both "It" and "The Dark Tower." "Insomnia" could help expand the Derry Cinematic Universe! Much like his epic "It," the dense novel is over 800 pages, making film adaptation a challenge. Nevertheless, it would be fascinating to see how a filmmaker interprets the complex inner workings of Ralph's mind, especially the blurs between reality and hallucination.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" would be perfect for an indie filmmaker because the simple narrative takes place in the Appalachian wilderness and would require a very limited cast. Since the story centers on a nine-year-old girl named Trisha McFarland who separates from her mom and brother on a hike, a film adaptation would have to rely on a phenomenal, star-making child performance. 20 years ago, this certainly could have starred Dakota Fanning. Once Trisha's food and supplies dwindle, she begins to imagine having conversations with her idol, the baseball player Tom Gordon, and has strange visions of an evil lurking in the woods. A genre with roots dating back to "The Lord of the Flies," survival horror has often included younger children, allowing the audience to experience unsafe environments through the heartbreaking prism of their innocence. It would be fascinating to see a director frame the foreboding woods subjectively to reflect Trisha's growing blur between reality vs. her imagination as her hunger and thirst creep in. A film adaptation with Chris Romero serving as a producer was announced in 2019, but there's been no movement as of publication.

With Guillermo del Toro tackling "Frankenstein" and Maggie Gyllenhaal reimagining "Bride of Frankenstein," it seems the perfect time for a filmmaker to breathe life into Stephen King's electrifying version of this classic tale. While not directly taken from Mary Shelley's novel, "Revival" melds its existential questioning of our origins and the afterlife with a Lovecraftian finale of epic proportions and scathing religious critique. Much like the finale of "It" with the giant spider, there are large-scale visual nightmares that would be difficult to pull off, but very haunting if done well. "Revival" explores the lives of Jamie from his childhood in New England to his heroin addiction as an adult, and his stalker Charles Jacobs, a pastor who becomes a carnival husker and experiments with electricity after the death of his wife and child. Since the story spans the main characters' lives across decades, it would require a pair of heavyweight actors to give their intricate relationship the chilling tension it deserves.

One of the coolest aspects of "Duma Key" is the Florida setting; Stephen King uses the sweltering heat, jagged shells, abundant foliage, and haunted ghost ships to create a striking coastal atmosphere for his spooky story. It revolves around Edgar, a wealthy contractor who loses his arm and suffers a brain injury during a worksite accident. After his wife leaves him due to his psychological instability, he rents a bright pink beach house on the island of Duma Key. In another attempt to find some inner peace, he returns to his former hobby of making art. His paintings become supernatural windows into psychic visions and unleash an ominous force of evil. It's a really inventive concept, and the focus on such a visual medium makes the story ideal for cinematic interpretation, especially when combined with the vivid tropical setting and its labyrinthine mysteries of the shore and sea.

The Long Walk

It's been a while since we've seen a captivating dystopian thriller, and "The Long Walk" would make a excellent addition to the genre. However, it would take a skilled director to make what is, as the title implies, one long walk feel suspenseful and terrifying on screen. "The Long Walk" is set in a future America overruled by a totalitarian regime that hosts an annual event forcing teenage boys to walk four miles per hour without stopping. Three strikes, you're out. The last man standing wins. The prize? Whatever the winner wants for the rest of their life. "The Long Walk" brings to mind other popular movies such as "The Hunger Games" or "Squid Game." Audiences have a strange fascination with stories about life-and-death competitions for wealth and happiness. Perhaps it's because this era of economic and political instability has made it feel like even more of a dog-eat-dog kind of world. A film adaptation of "The Long Walk" could be a truly pulse-pounding and thought-provoking viewing experience. It's apparently going to get the live-action treatment thanks to "The Hunger Games" director Francis Lawrence , but things are still in pre-production.

Carnivals, depicted in films such as "Nightmare Alley" and "Freaks," have always been a mesmerizing cinematic backdrop, one that juxtaposes sparkling wonder with enigmatic oddities. It has always been a space for both joy and terror. Stephen King's "Joyland" is his pulpy homage to crime novels that follows a young carnival worker who hunts for the killer of a young girl brutally murdered on the haunted house ride. Her spirit still haunts the amusement park. Stephen King uses this setting to paint a colorful world with its own vernacular and cast of quirky characters. It would be interesting to see how a director would bring King's detailed rhythms of midway life onto the screen, juxtaposing the jovial iconography of cotton candy and puppy dog mascots with the twisted mystery of the funhouse or hall of mirrors — bringing to mind Jordan Peele's boardwalk sequence in "Us." "Joyland" blends nostalgic warmth, the supernatural, and the gritty underbelly of the fairground lifestyle. It has a thrilling climax that takes place on a swaying Ferris Wheel in the middle of a raging storm that would look amazing on screen.

Read the original article on SlashFilm .

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The Outsider: A Novel Hardcover – May 22, 2018

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• Print length 576 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Scribner
• Publication date May 22, 2018
• Dimensions 6.13 x 1.9 x 9.25 inches
• ISBN-10 1501180983
• ISBN-13 978-1501180989
• Lexile measure HL800L
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; First Edition (May 22, 2018)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 576 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501180983
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501180989
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL800L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.93 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.13 x 1.9 x 9.25 inches
• #134 in TV, Movie & Game Tie-In Fiction
• #486 in Murder Thrillers
• #1,804 in Suspense Thrillers

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The Outsider: A Novel

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About the author

Stephen king.

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, MR MERCEDES, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both MR MERCEDES and END OF WATCH received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel Sleeping Beauties with his son Owen King, and many of King's books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including The Shawshank Redemption, Gerald's Game and It.

King was the recipient of America's prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine.

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