When the Popsugar prompt “A book with a career advice” came up, I instinctively selected ‘David and Goliath’ by Malcolm Gladwell. The book spoke about underdogs and giants in a power structure, mostly corporate. When the book failed to bond with me after a few pages, I realized that maybe I didn’t need to know about underdogs in companies anymore. Perhaps I have already mastered a few skills myself after years of living that life.

I was about 6 when I wrote my first Marathi poem, “dhaganche bhandan” (loosely translated as “War of the Clouds”). With a lot of encouragement from my reader, my grandmother (Nani), I wrote my second poem, “Aaiche laksha” (Mother’s care). At an age where I hardly knew anything, two of my poems were printed in a Marathi newspaper. We had children’s writing columns then.

I don’t remember writing anything after that. Some failed attempts at maintaining a diary I think (the pages torn or burnt after my adolescent heartbreaks), some terribly mediocre, ridiculous lyrics of some sad Bollywood-ish songs in my teens and a few more diary attempts, a couple other naive attempts of writing and editing for my B-school magazine – overall nothing noteworthy. I rekindled that love to a large extent about a year and a half back when I rejoined Social Media after bouts of illnesses.

I found it amusing how the word ‘career’ brings into our mind only competitive careers like bankers, doctors, engineers etc. None of my Popsugar people thought of choosing something to do with arts – maybe cooking or dancing or singing or – WRITING.

Why didn’t I think of choosing a book about a career in writing? I don’t really know if I will pursue it seriously or if I even have the craft in me, but why not read about it? And hence after a quick advice from a friend I decided to switch my attention to books that spoke about it. I couldn’t have made a better decision. Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ is a book that must be read by all aspiring writers, and should be re-read even if you have established yourself as one. It is not a step by step guide, but it pretty much covers some very significant aspects of the craft that is writing.

“On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” is King’s love story with “writing”. The romance is addictive. You feel King’s admiration towards the art and its artists. It may not be the best of writing advice books (I am not sure since this is my first one), but it sure connects with someone who has absolutely no direction.

The book is divided into 5 lucid sections. King begins with making the reader familiar with him and his early life. His first written story, his tryst with tragedies, his childhood, his mother, his disappointments, his life with his brother and his meeting with his wife Tabby (Tabitha King). The reader, during this section, firmly starts associating with King, in turn enjoying the further sections much more.

In the next section, King talks about the need to be as serious about writing as one is about other passions like running, gymnastics etc. One has to practice and practice regularly, King stresses, in order to make sure the craft is grasped. In this he gives us various little techniques with clear examples.

For King, the third section “Toolbox”, is a very essential section. Here he lists the mechanics of the language. The vocabulary, the grammar, the dialogue attribution, phrases, metaphors, similes, paragraphs – the working of the language and why is it the way it is and how it should be. One may want to argue here that every writer has a different style, and King doesn’t deny that anywhere. He tells us about the basics. The sculpting of the story is left completely up to the writer. But some bullet points are worth considering.

In the fourth section, “On Writing”, he doles out some advice about how one has to be a reader first in order to be a writer. There is no shortcut he says. He is also of an opinion that the reading should be diverse so that one can study the various styles. A very inspiring section, it also talks about ‘writer’s muse’. King also shows some perspective with respect to the agent-hunt and publishing. He answers the million-dollar question, “Is this all for money?” King’s answer to this is poignant and piercing.

“On Living” – the fifth section of the book – is a story from his life told in quintessential King style. Spooky, direct, humorous – One can imagine King not even batting an eyelid while recounting it. This gives us the backdrop of the book as a whole and how writing can heal and nurture.

The book culminates with a list of books that King read during the time he was writing this and a couple of other stories and books. These are interesting and vivid titles which make for a good book recommendation list.

The narration is slapstick, dashes of humor splashed across throughout so that the connection isn’t lost, plenty of anecdotes are shared for the points to be reinforced. What is also very interesting is that King has shared some amusing writing habits of other writers, in his own flair taking digs at some and expressing awe at others. I like how King did not stretch on an idea for too long and I also like how he kept the whole book entertaining, as if he is speaking directly to the reader through the black and white words.

There are many passages and quotes worth quoting but a few like the below will give you a feel of the book.

“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

“I have spent a good many years since—too many, I think—being ashamed about what I write. I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction and poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent. If you write (or paint or dance or sculpt or sing, I suppose), someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.”

“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support-system for art. It’s the other way around.”

“The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story … to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all.”

“There is a muse,* but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer station. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think this is fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he’s on duty), but he’s got the inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life.”

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

“The truth is that most writers are needy. Especially between the first draft and the second, when the study door swings open and the light of the world shines in.”

“The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting. Stick to the parts that are, and don’t get carried away with the rest. Long life stories are best received in bars, and only then an hour or so before closing time, and if you are buying.”

Some hilarious ones like –

“I have my own dislikes—I believe that anyone using the phrase “That’s so cool” should have to stand in the corner and that those using the far more odious phrases “at this point in time” and “at the end of the day” should be sent to bed without supper (or writing-paper, for that matter).”

“Reading at meals is considered rude in polite society, but if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”

I loved everything about On Writing.

Would love to know thoughts of the people who have read it.