1)___In the chosen excerpt, Stephen King has a lot to say about reading and how important it is to the writerly life. On page 146, he states, “You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your own writing until it has been done to you.” Do you remember being swept away by a story, novel, or more generally, a certain writer? Describe any memorable reading experience you have had, either recent or distant. Do you agree with King’s claim, that being swept away is necessary for your foundation as a writer?
I absolutely remember times I have been swept away by a story, because they are great times! My childhood I was undoubtedly mind-blown by the Percy Jackson series, in high school the simple yet elegant story “The Little Prince” had no right to be that good, and more recently the fantastical works of Orwell’s “1984” and Heller’s “Catch-22” have redefined what stories are to me. I back up King’s claims one-hundred-percent, as you need to know what kinds of things blow people away and then experience said things to even begin to comprehend how you yourself might craft a masterpiece. Writing comes from experience, and if you do not have the experience, you can not write.
2)___King has some pretty strident opinions on the necessity of reading. On page 147, he states, “If you don’t have the time to read you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.” Do you agree? Why/why not? What stops you from reading more? Where would you place reading on a scale of 1-10 in terms of importance to your writing acumen?
Once again, as I answered in the first question, it is all a matter of experience. Reading gives you that experience; technical experience, character experience, plot experience, historical experience, and so on. You need to compile your own catalog of experiences in order to effectively write and create stories, and the hands down best way to do so is reading. I would place reading in regards its importance on your writing as a solid 7. The reason I do so, and this seems very much to be opposed to King’s ideology, is that I think you can get this experience (although of course not in its true literary form) from television and movies. I would not suggest a complete substitution, but these other forms of storytelling can be just as good, if not better, and I do not think they should be discredited.
3)___On page 152, King describes his daily schedule, or ‘Practice’ as Gail Sheer would put it. He dedicates the entire morning to writing, how luxurious! He also states that writing and the writing life should take up around six hours of your day, at the least. You probably did not enroll at UNE to become a writer but rather an animal behaviorist, dental hygienist, marine scientist or [fill in the blank]. How do you foresee creative writing playing a role in your life, once this class is over? Will you be a writer who writes? [there is no other kind-]
The short answer is – I really hope so. I have career aspirations as a lawyer (both defense and prosecution), a politician, maybe a judge, so I know this will take up a large portion of my life. But I would like to keep writing, hopefully carve out time for myself (no way it will be six hours a day unfortunately) in order to have a side career and fulfill my dream of becoming a published author. I have heard stories that give me hope, such as the revelation of well-known political figure Stacy Abrams writing romance novels under a penname – surely she found the time! Short stories has been my forte as of yet, but I hope to find the will to create a novel (got everything laid out for it, just need to write it) and I have a deep dream inside me to write a comic book or two. So that is the long answer, but as I said before, to sum it up – I really hope so.
