On Writing No. 3

Flashbacks are probably the most confusing part of a book for me. I’ll just be sitting there in the groove of the book, and out of nowhere, it’s 20 years later. I completely agree with King’s idea of using flashbacks as little as possible. I also agree with his theory of showing what’s going on instead of just stating what’s happening. That’s probably the most difficult thing for me to do, but I believe that after enough practice, I might be able to fine tune that skill.

I liked when King spoke of using symbolism and themes in the second draft of a story because I’ve always tried to do so in the first draft, and the result was always a less than acceptable excuse of a story. It’s interesting to think that some stories with beautiful symbolism may have started as just a story until the writer re-wrote it and found the deeper meaning.

I do, however, disagree with King when he says to let your friends read your second draft. Maybe some people have a lot of friends who are brutally honest, but I know the majority of my friends would protect my feelings at any cost, and I’d never know how they really felt about my story.

State of the Union Address

First things first, I don’t consider myself a republican or a democrat. I’m moderate, and I try to listen to everyone’s opinions equally. However, no matter how hard I tried, I spent the entire State of the Union Address wanting to put the television on mute just so I wouldn’t have to listen to President Obama speak anymore. As my mom put it, “He’s his own biggest fan.” I do agree with many of the things than I disagree with, but I believe that’s only because of the way Obama worded his statements. This speech is just another “Yes We Can” campaign.

However, like I said, Obama made some valid points. I know I always do better in a class with a great teacher. I agree that we should pay teachers more. Without teachers, no American would be able to achieve anything. Lowering the cost of higher education would be so beneficial for bright students who work as hard as they can but can’t afford college. During the 1800s workers fought extremely hard to earn equal pay for equal work, so I agree that this should be done in every job field.  Simplifying credit card forms would definitely help Americans who are in a bad spot from making a poor decision.

Only two things stood out to me that I really didn’t agree with. While we are racing other countries, we also owe money that we don’t have. We can’t afford to spend more money to fund things. I like the strategy of using every source of energy we can, but what happens when we run out of those sources?

While my mother makes wonderful commentary, I think the best way to watch this speech would be sitting next to John McCain. I watched the State of the Union Address on NBC, and they got wonderful shots of McCain shaking his head in unashamed disagreement and distain. I think we would have a great time passing snide notes back and forth.

On Writing, No. 2

I would like to begin this blog by saying how much I adore King’s style of writing. His informal, personal style does a wonderful job of pulling me into the book, and it helps me understand the points he’s trying to convey.

The point in the book that has been burned into my brain the most is that writing is telepathy. I love the idea that I can put my thoughts into someone else’s mind without ever uttering a word to them. After really considering this point, I became baffled at how I have thrown away writing opportunities. Now I see writing opportunities as a way to make the world see things my way, which, as a sixteen year old high school student, doesn’t happen often.

Another point I enjoyed was how much proper grammar and high vocabulary affect how well your ideas come across and how seriously people take you. I know I’ve been on Facebook several times and have seen people getting into political debates, but I just can’t seem to open up to their views because when someone writes, “dat mane aint got no clue wut he doin”, I automatically assume that person is a fool. At the same time, when someone says, “I’m going good.”, it gets under my skin as well.

King has definitely sparked the idea in my mind that I have the ability to become a good writer. When King said it was possible “to make a good writer out of a merely competent one”, I realized that I am not, as I’ve always believed, a bad writer. I’m a competent writer, and at some point in my life, I will become a good writer.

On Writing CV

The beginning of On Writing showed me several things about Stephen King, one of them being that his life was more disturbing and upsetting than I could have ever imagined. It’s safe to say that roughly half of my annotations contain the word “disturbing”. An instance that stood out the most to me was when he wrote about his babysitter Eula-Beulah. Although the story was upsetting, I was drawn into it because I saw what he was exposed to. I saw what made him the writer he is today. That’s mainly what I took from this first chapter. I saw the elements that made Stephen King such an exceptional (and disturbing) writer.

Something that really bothered me at the beginning of the book was King’s excessive use of curse words. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not the type of person to get on someone’s case about their language. However, my very first annotation said, “The excessive use of cursing makes it seem like he’s trying to prove a point.” Although it let up after only a few pages, there were so many curse words in the beginning of the book that I felt like King was trying too hard to prove that his book isn’t like every other book about writing.

I feel that this chapter mostly shows King’s relationship with his mom. After he copies his first cartoon, it seems like everything after that is done to please his mom and to see her smile. I also found his story Happy Stamps quite sweet because it too showed just how much he loved his mom.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I think the whole purpose of the first chapter was to get you acquainted with King’s past, so we can understand why he writes and thinks the way he does.