"On Writing" Response

Stephen King On Writing Response
As a fan of King’s fiction, I have found this book most interesting in its autobiographical aspects. Clearly his goal in writing this is to provide readers with incite into his experience as a professional writer but reading about his real-life circumstances that led to the creation of novels like The Shining and Carrie is particularly fascinating. I also appreciated King’s ability to write about his substance abuse. This seemed to be a moment of role reversal; rather than his life influencing the creation of his characters, one of his characters, the nurse from Misery, altered the way he though about his life and his craft. It is similar to the realization he makes, albeit delayed by a decade, that he is an alcoholic just like Jack in The Shining. However, Jack’s character merely seems to be an impetus for that realization, while Annie provided motivation to stop indulging his destructive tendencies.
Another interesting portion of this book revolves around King’s view of writing as a form of telepathy. It makes sense the way King phrases it but I had never though of writing in this sense. Telepathy, however, may not be the most appropriate word for what King is trying to explain. I find it more analogous to a time capsule or the etchings on gold plates NASA had launched into space. The information and images contained within are able to travel across time and space, and do indeed conjure images in the reader similar to those experienced by the writer. The only reason I say that telepathy may be an inappropriate phrase for this type of interaction is that it is always one-sided.