Why Stephen King's Road To Hell Is Paved With Adverbs: I agree with that. But one of the things that I find so great about King's book is that he emphasizes almost exhaustively the importance of finding the type of writing that you are good at and sticking to it. He uses his career as an example and reflects on the writing life in general, but he's very up front about how much practice it requires, and he definitely doesn't entertain any fantasies about becoming your favorite literary great. King writes, "While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one." I find that genuinely encouraging.
Does anyone want to count the adverbs in that paragraph?
2 comments:
I don't like King's fiction, but enjoy his non-fiction--and On Writing is a terrific book even if, like me, you have no ambitions to be a writer. His best quote was "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time to write." I believe if you don't have (or make) time to read, you won't have time to do anything that requires a thinking brain!
I agree, Deb, and I like ON WRITING a lot, even if King tells us not to use adverbs and then uses a bunch of them in one sentence.
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