"He splattered"

While reading On Writing, I noticed that Stephen King always maintains his calm tone throughout the entirity of the text. In  one passage, King discusses death with his mom, and throughout the passage there did not seem to be any remorse regarding the subject.

King discusses two deaths within the passage. One was a young girl who drowned, and he discusses how his mother, who witnessed the tragedy, was "waiting for a rescue boat that never came and listening to that girl scream until her strength gave out and she went under." After this, he talks about how his mother read him a comic book.

The other death was a sailor who committed suicide by jumping off of the roof in Maine. "'He splattered,' my mother said in her most matter-of-fact tone."

With a "matter-of-fact" tone? One of Stephen King's personal fears is the fear of death, so I don't understand how someone exposed to death can write calmly about it. Stephen King discusses in his novel on channeling emotions and writing how you feel. He also elaborates on the fact of using personal experiences to embellish the writing.

So with that being said, wouldn't it be beneficial to the reader to write with some remorse? Stephen King is a renowned horror writer, but dealing with fictional events such as this, I expected something more.

I know what it's like to see a dead body, to have the presence of death looming in the same room. Sucking the life out of everything within the space. I expected King to pick up on the elements of this, but instead he briefly discussed their deaths. I just expected more gloom, not just a tiny vague paragraph regarding such a strong subject.

Writers are Shaped, not Created

Not how one writer was made; I don't believe that writers can be made, either by circumstances or by self-will (although I did believe those things once). The equipment comes with the original package.


Mr. Stephen King is brilliant. As I was reading through my book, he brings up an interesting point about how writers have raw talent, and you can shape that talent and create something ordinary into something extraordinary.


He uses an example of when he was younger he was moving a cinderblock across the garage, and he envisioned himself as the 'strong man' from the circus. He is able to show that the creativity starts at a young age and that by refining it they could harness their writing potential.


I love this. Reading about his vivid experiences when he was younger allowed for me to reflect on my own childhood. Well.. My altered childhood.


Every year, my family and I go to Myrtle Beach and do EVERYTHING there. And by everything, I literally mean everything you can think of. Shopping? Check. Swimming? Check. Tanning? Check. Parasailing? Check. The list goes on and on, but for the sake of retaining your attention I'll cut it off there.
One of the things that I remember the most was crawling through Ripley's Aquarium pretending I was a marine biologist. Not even a scuba diver like most kids would pretend to be, I had to give the fish medicine. I would climb up the sides of the glass and start hugging it, screaming to my Mom to get me medicine for the fish because they were dying. You would think that after getting pried off of the glass by my grandmother that I would have learned my lesson... not even close.


At the aquarium there is a large tunnel that engulfs you in their habitat. On several occasions, I found myself face to face with several Sand Tiger Sharks. But seeing how I believed I was a marine biologist, the content sharks 'needed' my help. Embracing my marine biologist role, I ran and pressed the emergency stop button within the tunnel. I remember thinking to myself, "Now no one can hurt my babies!" Once the police came and had a stern talk to me, I thought that it was time for my babies to grow up and take care of themselves.


Writing may come easily to some, but for other people it could be a struggle. King emphasizes that as long as you practice it'll become easier to write. As long as there are memories along the way to help ignite the flame of writing, then it'll become an easy process to master!

AND WE'RE OFF!

HAPPY FIRST POST!

For my Advanced Composition class, it was assigned to read a book and post weekly about it! I chose On Writing by Stephen King. I've only read the three forewards so far, but I just wanted to write an initial post about my expectations for this assignment. I've grown up reading Stephen King, I used to be obsessed with him and then I would move on to another book. I was a weird kid... I would usually read alone while the rest of my friends were off playing. I didn't mind though, reading allowed me to experience new things that the playground couldn't satisfy. Anyway, I have high expectations for this book. I really want to see a new part of Stephen King that I haven't seen before - not only through his memoirs but through the language of the text as well. I also want to find a better understanding for myself through the text, maybe new methods for writing that I can utilize through my final days of high school and in my new adventure: college. Let's hope that these things come true as I read the book!