On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000) By Stephen King

"You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will."

The book opens in friendly, endearing and rather familiar fashion - as if King is speaking to a friend. This gives the book a casual, yet important feel that allows the reader to absorb a great level of information through easy-reading content in an informal tone.

"Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s."

One thing that is abundantly clear from the early pages, is that Stephen King values reading and writing on a consistent basis beyond anything else. He makes sure to advise readers to expand their horizons in regards to what they read and when.

"Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open."

King separates this non-fiction work into quasi-chapters that provide anecdotes, advice and examples of techniques and tricks of the trade, or rather, tricks of his trade, that might help to develop a writer's skills and motivations.

"The scariest moment is always just before you start."

Another thing King does extraordinarily well, is encourage the reader. This is not done in a patronising way, nor does it feel as though he is pandering to gullible fools who think they can write, instead, he pushes his readers to expand upon what's there already.

"Books are a uniquely portable magic."

One of the best things about reading this, is King's keen sense of humour, which comes through in spades from page to page - something that you perhaps would not expect of horror icon Stephen King.

"The road to hell is paved with adverbs."

Overall, I found this to be a brilliant piece of nonfiction that allowed me to form a little more of the writer within, as well as providing me with plenty of entertainment that made this a rather more enjoyable read than I had expected.

"Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life."