Literary Techniques Used In Stephen King's On Writing

Stephen King had considered the idea of a memoir that spoke on the craft of writing but was never sure if he had the authority on the topic. This doubt faded during a conversation with Amy Tan where she urged him to write his book that used his life events as lessons to strengthen the skills of beginning and future writers. He finished his book, titled On Writing later published in 2000 by Scribner’s Sons, with the persona of a regular person who has been through the authorial ringer and wishes to mentor the next generation of writers in how to make their time better spent. His casual tone allows readers to better understand his various messages on the craft of writing, accomplished through the use of conceits, metaphors, and similes which

King illustrates his advice mainly through the use of comparison. In the diction level of the toolbox He speaks on his abhorrence to adverbs, writing ”it is the voice of little boys wearing shoe polish mustaches and little girls clumping around in Mommy’s high heels” (124). This comparison shows how it makes a writer look like they are trying too hard to seem like a professional. Through the comparison of children that act in foolish ways to seem serious, thus having the reader learn why they should avoid adverbs in their writing whenever possible. He uses a foundational metaphor on another building block of story formatting: the paragraph. The humble paragraph uses all the skills that were put into the toolbox to craft a world within its lines. King assures the reader that if they go nice and slow the sky's the limit, stating ”As long as you stay level-on-the-level and shave even every door, you can build whatever you like—whole mansions, if you have the energy” (136). His ending statement elaborates on the importance of not being afraid of a large task, going word by word, and not rushing through until the work is finished with strong foundations. This is how one can be a better writer, not rushing through a task and then seeing they went in unprepared but coming in, their toolbox stocked, understanding the need to go slow. The metaphor allows the reader to understand less glamorous concepts in an understandable way that permits remembrance of what he is