Stephen King

When it comes to non-fiction, my experience is limited. Most of my logged reading time has either been from a dull, simply factual textbook or from a monotonous, sleep-inducing book that I was required to read. However, among the few non-fiction books I've read, On Writing by Stepen King was by far the most interesting. I haven't read his fiction, but if his non-fiction is any indicator of its flow and personality, I'm sure I would like it as well.

Stephen King's style throughout On Writing made the subject matter so much more enjoyable. I liked how the autobiographical first part of the book helped me connect with Stephen and get a feel for how he writes, not to mention the fact that he got me far enough into the book that I couldn't with a good conscience put it down. I thanked him for making his examples humorous and making up back stories that could hold my attention. But what I liked most by far about Stephen King was when he used a blunt, sometimes crude, way to instruct me about writing. He revealed his pet-peeves about writing and spoke so vehemently against them that I try my best to avoid writing in such a way. My motive in this isn't to be a better writer, but to keep myself from writing something Stephen would cringe at (if you noticed, there isn't a single adverb in this entire post). Stephen King has given me something to aspire to when it comes to non-fiction, and I'm sure that his fiction would give me something just as difficult to best.