Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft

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In Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, King talks the hierarchy of bad writers to great writers: "... 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." (King 142) He conveys that the only time one is able to shift up this hierarchy is from competent to good. In his eyes, bad writers cannot become competent, and good writers cannot become great. In my eyes, however, this is very contemptuous, and one can take a step up this pyramid anywhere with enough experience, dedication and the utmost discipline. Throughout his memoir, King goes into great detail of what a bad author he used to be. In his early days of being a writer, he faced constant rejection, but still kept his rejection slips on his wall to help him grow. He knew he wouldn’t become a successful writer in a day; the constructive criticism some publishers offered him through these slips helped him take baby steps up the hierarchy. And this is the gateway of becoming a decent writer: the ability to make the most of criticism in a positive manner. Once King started getting better, he began to write a continuing story in his…show more content…
However, one can be trained into becoming a great writer, but mostly only through himself/herself, through discipline and motivation. Stephen King was not made a writer; he molded himself into one, starting with the short stories he wrote as a child. From that, he started writing in Dave’s Rag, and then started writing his own supernatural stories. With the overwhelming amounts of rejection he faced through these years, he remained truly motivated to get better, and kept writing. That is a must when one wants to become a better writer. Experience is everything, and one cannot expect to become a decent writer
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