Quoted from KevinLenihan His book On Writing is part memoir, part instruction how to write. He talks a little about some of his books, but only as examples.

Yeah, but any huge spoilers that would ruin the read?

Quoted from SAC Steve, 11/22/63 has a really creepy reference to It in it when the protag spends some time in Derry. Very good stuff.

So I hear.  I have that one on my nook thing, but I have a ways to go.

Another interesting observation of King's: if you're a bad writer, you'll ways be a bad writer. No amount of training will change that. If you're a good writer, but not a great writer, you'll never be a great writer. Those people are freaks of nature and they are born to it(he doesn't consider himself one of them).

However, if you are a competent writer, you CAN becomes a good writer. You have to keep writing a ton and keep reading a ton. His book was written to help those people.

King is a personal fave. I've read most of his work. Yes, there are a number of references from work to work, but not in all. Listening (which is weird) to 11/22/63 for the second time.

On Writing is excellent, of course. His list of favorite writers is educational.

Stephen King is awesome.

currently reading "The Shining" and the discontinued/out of print "Rage" which I found on the internet.

This is a very good book and a pleasure to read. Strongly recommended.

R

King is King!

There will be no other.

I chew on an idea for months but then write everyday once I get started.

I start with my primary characters and a huge "what if"...

I then work through the story with general ideas in mind but no specific outcome.

It's the "what if" you wrap the story around.

From there, you pound and pound and pound at the story.

Shawn.....><

Quoted from Ledbetter   I like to pound and pound, and just like my best Antag, King...andn King, there will be mo other. I will chew, wrap, and pound and pound again I always have a very specific outcome...you get me? It's my story....pound pound pound... Shawn.....><

Yeah, I read this a few years and it was great.

Love the Kingy. 'It' and 'The Stand' are two of my faves. My only criticism of him is that when he writes a shit book he really makes it stink. 'Insomnia' and 'Dreamcatcher' are 2 perfect examples.

Quoted from stevie Yeah, I read this a few years and it was great. Love the Kingy.

I did too... read it years ago, I mean.  And, I passed it on. Every writer should read it imh.

Quoted from stevie My only criticism of him is that when he writes a shit book he really makes it stink. 'Insomnia' and 'Dreamcatcher' are 2 perfect examples.

Yep, I second that. 'The Stand' was a page turner and is one of my faves as well, but King writes so well sometimes I don't think he knows when to 'edit himself and get on with the story.' 'Needful Things' and 'Cell' hmm.

That said, I'd give my eye tooth to be able to write at his worst cause at least someone could come in and edit me.

And, I know we're not talking about King's other novels on this thread, but while we kinda are I just want to mention 'Gerald's Game' as another lesser known novel of his that scared the crap out of me... and not in the usual King way.

I read every book King came out with when I was a kid. And I was a kid when he was first becoming famous. So Carrie, Salem's Lot, Firestarter, Cujo, Four Seasons(my favorite), Dead Zone, The Stand...just off the top.

But then I got to Tommyknockers and I quit. It was awful. It just went on and on like mindless droning. I quit King cold turkey and refused to read him for like 20 years.

Well, having just read his book on writing, I have learned that Tommyknockers was written at the peak of his drug and alcohol addiction. He would write all night with cotton in his bleeding nostrils from the cocaine he was fueling himself on. So no wonder Tommyknockers was junk. And that was when his family finally did an intervention, and he cleaned himself up.

For me, the drug is coffee. And there is a point where coffee is so unhealthy you can feel it. And yet you often need it to plow through what you're trying to do with  writing.

You can call Tommyknockers junk but I read it when it first came out and to this day I remember some of the scenes vividly...that poor dog. LOL.

There were some good things in it, but it was a story that should have been a few hundred pages instead of what felt like War and Peace. It seemed like King was just pouring words out. I was only about 16 at the time, but it ended my Stephen King phase. But maybe it's time for a new King phase!

Stephen King is my absolute favorite author. Has he written some turkeys? Sure, but of all my favorite authors, he cranks out more good stuff consistently than anyone else.

I could not get through Dreamcatcher, but he's also had some books that I found impossible to put down. Heart In Atlantis, Bag of Bones, 11/22/63 among many. Wind Through The Keyhole was a real surprise for me. I would have bet money on me hating it because I HATE fantasy stuff, but I ended up really loving that one too.

As far as stimulants go in order to be able to write, I used to do my best after a few beers. Now I can't write at all after one. I don't drink coffee either. Occasionally I drink an energy drink or a Pepsi, but that's it. I don't smoke either so, in a way, I guess I'm a bit unusual for a writer.  

Insomnia was mostly crap and WAY too long.

I didn't have a big problem with Tommyknockers and I actually really liked most of Dreamcatcher.

Needful Things was also a fave, but it looks like pees didn't really like it?

Salem's Lot for me was the high point.

Been digging on his newest lately -- "Dr. Sleep" -- which revisits "Shining" territory with an adult Dan Torrence.

A bit silly in some spots, but strong on the whole -- and you can "feel" him having a good time building out the Shining mythos.  It is written for fans.  I am about two-thirds into it and the story is building very well.

"Salem's Lot" hooked me as a lifeling fan in my teens, but I hated "Cujo", though I seem to be the only one that ever complains about that particular book.  Perhaps most dig the concept, but few have actually read it?

Anyway, big influence on me.  So much that it is almost an effort sometimes not to blatantly copy his style.

On topic, I can also give "On Writing" a solid recommend.