preview

Stephen King Writing Style

Decent Essays

A Review of Writing
In On Writing, a memoir by Stephen King, he expresses dozens of opinions on his craft and shares his beliefs with an audience of readers and aspiring writers alike. Similarly, although she never explicitly discusses them, Jeannette Walls (author of The Glass Castle) displays the same writing habits as Stephen King. To be more specific, Walls and King both leave out unnecessary words, use dialogue as a characterization tool, and believe in writing honestly. One of the first writing tactics King proposes is to, “Omit needless words” (King IX). He believes that enhancing a piece of literature by adding flowery language or by crafting long sentences does nothing other than alter the meaning of what you are trying to say. By the same token, Wall’s blunt and straightforward sentences such as, “I didn’t” (Walls 15) or, “He had a plan” (Walls 22) prove that she also leaves out needless words in her memoir. Instead of trying to embellish her writing by using decorative language, Jeannette Walls gets straight to the point and says exactly what she intends to. Through doing so, Walls is establishing a more defined image of her story as King suggested. Clearly, both King and Walls support effective diction that grants their audience the right amount of information to understand the story firmly. Dialogue often plays a crucial factor in bringing a story’s roles to life, which is why King remarks that, “Well-crafted dialogue will indicate if a character is

Get Access