Stephen King

On Writing
Stephen King

Penguin Group
October 5, 2009
 Test -25 Questions: multiple choice, true-false, short answer and essay.
1.) Who was the one writer that Stephen King believed was a notable exception for bullshit
writing?
a. William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
b. Claire B. May
c. Jill Stephan
2.) True or False, was the first thing Stephan wrote a comic book?
a. True
b. False
3.) Which is the heart of Stephan's book, the thesis he believes is the very heart. There are two
thesis, pick the one that is first.
a. Good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals and then filling the third level of
your toolbox with the right tools.
b. Its possible to make a competent writer out of a bad one, and its equally impossible to make
a a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, to make a good writer out of a merely competent
one.
4.) What Kind of book is it?
a. Non-Fiction
b. Bibliography
c. Memoir
5.) True or False, did Stephen King get locked in a closet by his babysitter?
a. True
b. False
6.) What did Stephen care about most between 1958 and 1966?
a. movies
b. money
c. rockets
7.) If you want to be a writer, what are the two things above all else that Stephan believes you
need?
a. Motivation, Drive
b. Read a Lot, Write a Lot
c. Support, Knowledge
d. Money, Time
8.) True or False, was Stephen's first story ever summited for publication, accepted?
a. True
b. False
9.) Which was the first story that Stephan published?
a. "Spacemen"
b. "In a Half-World of Terror"
10.) True or False, did Stephan say, "I your a bad writer, no one can help you become a good one,
or even a competent one. If your'er a good and want to be great . . . fuhgeddaboudit."
a False
b. True
11.) Whenever Stephan sees a first novel dedicated to a wife(or husband), whats does he
think?
a. "How cute!"
b. "There's someone who knows."
c. "I wish I did that."
12.) Who inspired the main character in "Carrie?"
a. Dodie
b. Samatha
c. His Wife
13.) What was Stephan's wife's name?
a. Lilly
b. Rylie
c. Tabby
14.) True or False, did the book "Carrie" make his career?
a. False
b. True
14.) What year did he add drug addiction to his alcohol problem?
a. 1984
b. 1985
c. 1986
d. 1980
15.) What is Stephan's favorite place to read?
a. The blue chair in his study
b. In a tree
c. At the beach
16.) Whats the two tools you should put at the top of your toolbox?
a. Pencils, Paper
b. Vocabulary, Grammar
c. Screwdriver, Wrench
17.) True or False, did Stephan suck at teaching grammar in high school?
a. False
c. True
18.) What did Stephan say that is good writing is about? (Circle two answers and define it in
Stephan's words.)
a. Creativity
b. Being emotional
c. letting Go of Fear and Affectation -Defining some sorts of writing as "good" and other
sorts as "bad" is fearful behavior.
d. Making Good choices -When it comes to picking the tools you plan to work with.
19.) Finish this sentence Stephan wrote; "Writing is......
a. Seduction
b. Tedious
c. Complex
20.) To Stephan, the basic unit of writing is what?
a. The Paragraph
b. TheSentence
 c. The Words
d. The Letters
21.) Whats does Stephan say about the usage of vocabulary in this, "John stopped long enough
to preform an act of excretion?"
-That we will solemnly promise right now not to ever use "emolument" when we mean tip
(Or the concept anyway.) Don't ever dress up your you vocabulary, looking for long words
because you're ashamed of your short ones. Stephan says, "This is like dressing up your
household pet in evening clothes." i agree. Why say "excretion" when you mean "shit."
Why use the cousin of the word that first popped into your head, the basic rule of
vocabulary is: use the first word that comes to mind. If you don't it won't be as good.
22.) Did his wife intervene with Stephan's drug problem, or not? If yes how, If no why? (Short
Answer)
a. Yes
b. No
-When tabby was finally convinced that King wasn't gonna pull out of that ugly downward
spiral, she stepped in. She organized an intervention group formed of family and friends.
He was hit with "This IS Your Life" in hell, stuff. They began dumping trash bags full of
stuff from his office out on the rug. Which was full of used drugs. Then after that she said
"You can get help at a rehab or get the hell out of the house."
23.) Why did "Misery", a book he wrote. Describe Stephan's state of mind? (Short Answer)
-Stephan was an alcoholic and a smoker and by 1985, he became a drug addict. He became
conscious that he had a drinking problem in 1975 when he wrote "The Shining", but
wouldn't he wouldn't accept it. His problem began to scream for help in the only way it
could, through writing. Then while writing "The Tommyknockers" he was high on cocaine
with his nose bleeding and heart pounding. Misery!
24.) Where did the idea of the scene where girls are throwing tampons at a girl in the shower
room in "Carrie", come from? (Short Answer)
-Back in King's youth, he went into a girls shower room to clean rust stains off the walls.
He asked someone what the metal boxes on the wall was and in response that person said
"pussy plugs, for that certain time of the month." He noticed they had curtains for privacy,
and he asked about that as well. The response was, "I guess young girls are a bit more shy
about being undressed." Then one day while working at the laundry the memory of the
instance he had a vision of that happening.
25.) What are 10 tools for bettering your writing, did you learned? Add explained reason as to
why. Essay)

Interview- On Stephan's Baby Sitter

-To night we are interviewing Stephan King on the babysitter he had when he was a kid, Eula-
Beulah.

Q- So King, when you first met her, what did you think of her?
A- Well...she looked as big as a house!

Q- Hahaha... and, what else?

A- She laughed a lot.

Q- She doesn't sound like an awful person we were lead to believe from that whole locking you
in the closet story. Was sh....
A- No no, she was awful and that wasn't just a story, but a fact. She had a dangerous sense of
humor.

Q- How so?
A- There seemed to be a potential thunderclap hidden inside each hand-patting, butt-rocking,
head tossing out burst of glee. When I see those hidden-camera sequences where real-life
babysitters and nannies just all of a sudden wind up and clout the kids, it's my days with her I
always think of.

Q- How awful! Was she as hard on your brother David?

A- I don't know. Besides, he would have been at lesser risk.

Q- How?
A- At six, he would have been in first grade and thus at the gunnery range most of the day.

Q- What would she do to you on daily basis?

A- She...would be on the phone, laughing with someone, and beckon me over. She would then
hug me , tickle me, get me laughing, and then, still laughing, go upside my head hard enough to
knock me down. Then she would tickle me with her bare feet until we were both laughing again.

Q- Anything else she would do to you?

A- Hahaha... no shit! She was prone to farts- the kind that are both loud and smelly. Sometimes
when she was afflicted, she would throw me on the couch, drop her wool-skirted butt on my face,
and just let loose!

Q- ........
A- It was like being buried in marshgas fireworks. I remember the sense of suffocating and of the
dark, and I remember laughing. While it was sort of horrid, it was also sort of funny.

Q- Was there a reason she would do that?

A- Hell if I know! There was one thing I did learn from that experience.

Q- What is that?
A- She prepared me for literary criticism.
- Well that should wrap it up. Thank you King for that interesting Insight and we hope to see you
in the future.
 Glossary- Unfamiliar Words and Phrases

Emolument- means: a salary, fee, or profit from employment or office.

- "Make yourself a solemn promise right now that you'll never use "emolument" when you mean
"tip"...." Its used in this sentence as a word not to use when you really should write down the first
word that comes to mind.

Fuhgeddaboudit- means: slang for- for get about it.

- "If you're good and want to be great . . . fuhggeddaboudit." Using that words, Stephan's
referencing to something he stated a few chapters back. He's referencing rural slang and in doing
that he means some people have different writing strengths. Though only thorough your drive or
you passion will you get any greater and even then, wanting and doing are two totally different
things.

Fundamentals- means: a central or primary rule or principle on which something is based.

- "The first is that good writing consists of mastering the fundamentals and then...." What he
means is this sentence by using "fundamentals" is your vocabulary, grammar and the elements of
style.

Appositive- means: a noun, noun phrase, or series of nouns placed next to another word or
phrase to identify or rename it.
- "...-all those restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, those modifying phrases, those appositives
and compound-complex sentences." Stephan's using that words as and example of all the scary
unmapped grounds we face when we write. Then when we do get scared just think simple.

Rhetoric- means: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of
figures of speech and other compositional techniques.
- " "...that the beast writers sometimes disregard the rules of rhetoric." " Stephan is quoting
someone else, but the meaning behind using that word is that we don't always have to use every
literature rule out there every dame time. Some of the best writers don't always follow the rules,
and when they don't they are still brilliant.

Cavalier- means: showing a lack of proper concern; offhand.

- "....I thought I might have the basis for a good cavalier yarn." "cavalier yarn" in this sentence
means; he has an idea to the side now made up. A offhand thread that he can use into any of his
books if it fits.

The Three R's- means: refers to the foundations of a basic skills-orientated education program
within schools: reading, writing and arithmetic.
-"Besides, any amusement value the cofession-mag formula (it's called the Three R's-Rebel Lion,
Ruin, and Redemption) might have had for her at the start wore off in a hurry." Okay reading
what he writes, you left wondering if my meaning is correct?, right. Well then, Stephan is
cracking humor. At the time he was a literature teacher. He was going nowhere with his writing
at the time. His wife Tabby was trying to help earn a few bucks for he family helping Stephan
write short stories for magazines and such. It wasn't working out, so thats why instead of writing
(Three R's- reading, Writing, and Arithmetic), he wrote how they were failing or their path they
had so far with those three main writing skills that even high schoolers could do better. at.
Masochistic- means: psychiatry, a person who has masochism, the condition in which sexual or
other gratification depends on one's suffering physical pain or humiliation.
-"Only an idiot would make a second experiment, and only a lunatic-a masochistic lunatic-would
make a booze a regular part of his life." The usage of "masochistic" in the sentence was
Stephan's feeling on the matter of drinking until you pass out. The paragraph beforehand was
talking about his first time drinking, and his experience was awful.

Hemingway Defense- means: the role of substance abuse in writing.

-"I also employed the world-famous Hemingway Defense." Saying that, Stephan was aiming or
means fragmentation when editing an essay. Fragmentation means that the sentence that you
wrote is incomplete, yet is ended as if it were a sentence.targeting his alcoholic time in life.
When he wouldn't acknowledge it and didn't face his problems, instead he drank. Because "Real
men don't give in to their sensitivities, Only sissy-men do that"

Anal-retentive- means: also anally retentive), commonly abbreviated to anal, is used to describe
a person who pays such attention to detail that the obsession becomes an annoyance to others,
potentially to the detriment of the anal-retentive person. The term derives from Freudian
psychoanalysis.
-"Someone out there in now accusing me of being tiresome and anal-retentive. I deny it." God!, I
love him. If you have read the book before, then you know he is hatin on them. "Anal-retentive"
is the very proper use of the word and he's hatin on them by taking up their personality and
properness.

Frags- means: fragmentation when editing an essay. Fragmentation means that the sentence that
you wrote is incomplete, yet is ended as if it were a sentence.
-"It is possible to overuse the well-turned fragment (and Kellerman sometimes did), but frags can
also work beautifully to streamline narration, ......" Stephan used the word "frangs" in
abbreviation of fragments. He hates using the same word close together, its a pet peeve of his.

Conglomeration- means: a number of different things, parts or items that are grouped together;
collection.
-"You feel as Victor Frankenstein must have when the dead conglomeration of sewn-together
spare parts suddenly opened its watery yellow eyes." Using "conglomeration" or even the whole
sentence is just a metaphor. What he really means is that words create sentences; sentences create
paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe. They become alive. The whole
"conglomeration" of sentences turn into paragraphs which in turn become a book.
 Favorite Passage- why is it my favorite passage

"Is there any rationale for building entire mansions of words? I think there is, and that the
readers of Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind and Charles Dickens's Bleak House
understand it: sometimes even a monster is no monster. Sometimes it's beautiful and we fall in
love all that story, more than any film or TV program could ever hope to provide. Even after a
thousand pages we don't want to leave the world the writer has made for us, or the make-believe
people who live there. You wouldn't leave after two thousand pages, if there were two thousand.
The Rings trilogy of J.R.R Tolkien is a perfect example of this. A thousand pages of hobbits
hasn't been enough for three-generations of post-World War II fantasy fans; even when you add
in that clumsy, galumphing dirigible of an epilogue, The Silmarillion, it hasn't been enough.
Hence Terry Brooks, Piers Anothny, Robert Jordan, the questing rabbits of Watership Down, and
half a hundred others. The writers of these books are creating the hobbits they still love and pine
for: they are trying to bring Frodo and Sam back from the Grey Havens because Tolkien is no
longer around to do it for them."

I found this passage appealing for many reasons. It has a.... i'm at a lose of words to describe
the passage and it underlying meaning. Reading Stephan King's book, On Writing, a memoir of
the craft I was blown away. On Writing, is now my favorite memoire I have ever read. Just read
the passage!, the whole thought is a newly made contraption. That passage could just stand by it's
self.
Books capture us and don't let go, no matter the time or era. Naming the big players is just
icing on the cake and naming the The Rings is the perfect example. When "that" book captures
us we can't seem to let go. We will strive, no fight for that story to never end. Even when that
author dies, we seem to continue it somehow. We want that story to never end.
Its not just us who wants the story to continue on and on, its everyone who falls in love with it.
We, are coming together for a common love. We, as a diverse group of people, are working
together to continue "that" story. "That" story that we can't seem to put down. So, for my
reasoning for loving this passage most from Stephan's book, I believe is pretty clear. The
underlying meaning is to die for. Our love for a common "thing" is powerful and welded right
can continue/create a legacy that will last longer than a life time.

Top 10 Things I Learned- from the book and not in order

1. At first I thought Stephan was a loony, but reading the book I understand. I learned why he
wrote such fucked-up books/stories.

2. Don't be a shy writer. When writing use a more dominate voice, not a weak and pleaser voice.

3. When you write for more factually papers, you write for other people not yourself. When
writing, write for yourself then change it into a more factually voice that anybody could
understand.

4. Cut the bullshit!

5. Punctuation isn't everything, you don't have to fallow it to the dot.

6. Use words that pop into you head first. Don't try to cover up your poor vocabulary with a huge
word near the end of the sentence.

7. If your a bad writer your a bad writer. If your a great writer your only a great writer. If your a
brilliant writer than your a brilliant writer. You can change your level at witting, but that is with
pure motivation to become a greater writer. When writing, your putting yourself on the page.......

8. The top tools needed for writing are vocabulary,and grammar.

9. There is a such thing as drunk writing.

10. That Stephan King is boss.