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Discuss the advantages of traditional education
Discuss the advantages of traditional education
Discuss the advantages of traditional education
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Stephen King’s “On Writing,” is a memoir of the author’s experiences as a writer and serves as a guidebook for those who choose to enter the craft of writing. Stephen King writes about his childhood and young adulthood, relating stories that made him the writer he has become. Stephen King then moves into the mechanics of writing, offering advice and insight into a successful career that has worked so well for him but remains distant for thousands of others. “On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft” is not written in the traditional textbook format. The structure of this book works as an educational tool is because it offers a personal look at how writing has affected one successful novelist's life. Each section of the book contains something important about the craft of writing. The book also includes a great deal of about the personal impact writing has had on Stephen King's life. In the First Forward, Stephen King looked to his peer Amy Tan for a justifiable reason to work on this piece of non-fiction. Amy replied, “No one ever asks about the language.” King states, "What follows is an attempt to put down, briefly and simply, how I came to the craft, and what I know about it now, and how it's done. It's about the day job; it's about the language." (xiv). As a successful novelist, King has lived the experiences that a writer would not only like to learn from, but perhaps live someday. Discovering how success happened to someone that the aspiring writer might admire makes the dream seem more real, almost attainable. This success as a writer makes Stephen King an expert on this subject, thus making his perspective authoritative. The base of non-fiction writing is research. In a soc... ... middle of paper ... ...s educational system on traditionalism that focuses on fluency, appreciation, and comprehension. King states, “no one can be as intellectually slothful as a really smart person” (138). As a whole we are “creatures of habit”, thus resisting changes in the traditional sphere of academics. King uses his spin on popular culture to engage future readers and inspire the next generation of writers. “Some of this book—perhaps too much—has been about how I learned to do it. Much of it has been about how you can do it better. The rest of it—and perhaps the best of it—is a permission slip: you can, you should, and if you're brave enough to start, you will.” (King 269-270). “On Writing” is a poignant, educated, and inspiring book, a book that is sure to help hundreds of struggling writers and will motivate others who may pick up the book not for inspiration, but mere curiosity.
Before they even pick up a pen, novelists are given a task of giving their book a point. Book readers are often searching for something specific when they pick up a novel: supernatural elements, a romance, or anything else. Having something “different” in a world of the same story being told over and over again helps, but what makes a novel successful is how relatable a novel is to the readers. A theme is unable to be told unless the reader is able to associate themselves with the characters and situations that the author is almost required to set the story up with. One such author is Stephen King, whose real experiences and overwhelming amount of brand-tagging gives him credibility in his writing, making him one of the most popular modern writers of the past few decades. The novelist Stephen King demonstrates the theme of intolerance as seen in his book Carrie through the use of elements such as characters, setting, and diction.
On Reading to Write, Stephen King is promoting the idea that becoming a writer involves doing “two things above all others: Read a lot and write a lot.”
Before they even pick up a pen, novelists are given a task of giving their book a point. Their audience are often searching for something specific when they pick up a novel: supernatural elements, a romance, or other elements. Having something “different” in a world of the same story being told over and over helps, but what makes a novel successful is how relatable a novel is to the masses. A theme is unable to be expressed unless the audience is able to associate themselves with the characters and situations that the author sets the story up with. One such author is Stephen King, whose real experiences and overwhelming amount of brand-tagging gives him credibility in his writing, making him one of the most popular modern writers of the past few decades. The novelist Stephen King demonstrates the theme of intolerance as seen in his book Carrie through the use of elements such as characters, setting, and diction.
I strongly agree with Mr. King that the desire to write always being with a love of reading. In Stephen King’s memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, he reiterates how important reading is to a writer. One cannot exist without the other—their unbreakable relationship is what makes lots of reading so vital to become a great writer. The pure act of reading teaches lessons impossible to learn without actually doing it. “Every book you pick up has its own lesson”, but this lesson cannot be taught unless the book is actually read (King 145). If one has a desire to read, and loves feeling like they are in a world of their own, the next logical wish is to want others to feel how they feel. Writers are born out of avid readers, which is a nice
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
Although it has only been 2 weeks that I have been attending in this writing course, I have already expanded my knowledge greatly and gained plenty of courage in a very little time period. I am not an avid reader, nor do I ever bother to take my own time to go out and pick up or buy a book, but throughout the weeks, I have been assigned to read a new article every week, and each article has made me realize the power and potential reading has to a single person. How it can change someone’s life drastically. I mostly enjoyed reading “The Importance of the Act of Reading” by Paulo Freire, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie, and “All Writing is Autobiography” by Donald M. Murray.
King’s popularity is based on his skill of create interesting characters, to make a realistic plot, and on his intense awareness of what terrifies his readers. King often talked about the experiences in his own life that have led to this awareness, including being abandoned by his father as a young child (Kraft 3). As a result of his great storytelling abilities, King has become one of the bestselling authors of all time and has made a big influence on the development of popular literature (Kraft 2).
Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir, was a very interesting book to read, to say the least. Frank in his opinions, King did not shy away from telling the reader what makes a good writer: talent and ambition. King had a colloquial tone throughout his book even cautioning the reader that “this is a short book because most books about writing are filled with bullshit” (9). Through this book, readers found out about eventful events that happened to King as a child and how they influenced him to write some of his most popular books. For instance, a wilderness area near his house gave him the inspiration for the setting of his book, It. He states, “the kids in It called it the Barrens; we called it the jungle” (30). King, does not believe himself to be a perfect writer, regardless of his popularity. The reader was not only entertained with his stories, but also gained knowledge about writing and the fact that it isn’t easy. Although King grew up with nothing and even lost hope a few times, he always went back to writing.
Making the decision to become a writer for some, is a childhood dream. For others, it is a later in life decision, such as the case of Rebecca Goppert and Stephanie Jackson. Both of these writers share some characteristics, yet they are uniquely different writers. The decisions of when, how, and what to write vary between the two, yet they complete a book on the same train of thought. Both of these writers are talented and skilled in their professional lives, and have proven to be highly valued for their creative output.
As these few tales reveal, my memories of writing are strongly connected with the intense emotions I felt as I grew up. They are filled with joy, disappointment, boredom, and pride. I believe that each of these experiences has brought me to where I am today. I can only look to the future and hope that my growth will continue, and my writing will reflect those changes within me. As a writer, I have grown immeasurably and will continue to so long as I can find some paper and a pencil.
The book I chose to read for my Composition I class was On Writing, by Stephen King because I’m a huge fan of his work. He’s a great storyteller, his way of writing has always had me hooked, especially with the characters. My first King book was Carrie, it also turned out to be my all time favorite! The story is about a high-school girl, Carrie White, who gradually discovers her ability to move objects through her mind power. Tormented by her fellow classmates, she uses her telekinesis to seek revenge. To be completely honest, I chose to read On Writing because I was intrigued how Stephen came up with Carrie, and without a doubt, Stephen has not failed me with this book. King is famously known in the horror and fantasy genre with books like
Learning to be an adequate writer for certain people can be as easy as putting a pen to paper, but for others writing has proven to be a frustrating and difficult process. It can be challenging for a new student facing the first essay paper wondering what to sort out first; there is a great deal of confusing and tricky processes to follow, and rules to abide by. While the plethora of resources made available to avid seekers is practically limitless, it is no surprise that writing still isn’t a smooth process. Taking that into consideration, two profound authors in writing could aid with this kind of struggle. William Safire’s “The Perfect Paragraph” and Kurt Vonnegut’s “How to Write with Style”, providing their readers with an excellent
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” This quote is one of the most well known sayings from the famous creative writer, Stephen King. American history has been filled with hundreds of great and influential authors, starting from the creators of the first books in Ancient Rome to the stack of books in public libraries around the world. Throughout all of the famous and inspirational authors, Stephen King holds a spot in the modern world of literature. King has inspired thousands with his words and determination to carry on. He had a desire to be a writer as a child and never lost the interest even with age (“Growing up Believing in God”).
My passion for writing began at the age of four, when I would draw stories in the form of pictures and then ask my parents to write captions beneath the illustrations. I would give these stories to my brothers as birthday presents, pretending that they were one of the books you would find at a shop. This started as just a pastime, but by the age of twelve I had discovered the most powerful form of art in the entire world: creative writing. A form of art that doesn’t
Interested in writing the story of your life, but never thought of yourself as a writer? Maybe you once had aspirations of writing, but critique, or the responsibilities of life, derailed your dream? Or do you believe that only celebrities have life experiences worth recording for posterity? Autobiography writing can be described as, “the story of your best friend told by your worst enemy.” What is discovered through participating in a weekly Autobiography Writing Workshop is that it is not about grammar or exceptional prose, grades or competition. Living a life of destructive abandon isn’t required to have a story to tell. Autobiography is the journey that is uniquely your own, lived