Wednesday, September 01, 2004

If Anyone Should Know It's funny how Stephen King has become much more respectable lately to a group of people who used to abhor him:  namely stodgy English teachers. But if the trainings and inservices I've been going to the past few years are any indictation of how favorably his wind is blowing, English teachers who probably never read a single one of his novels are suddenly holding him up as an example to their students. The primary lightning rod for this praise is his book, On Writing, in which he goes into great detail not only about how he got started writing, but the nuts and bolts of the craft itself.  Their rationale is that he's a very successful writer, so he must know something about writing, right?  Also he can put things in a simple way that teenagers can understand and relate to. But while that's all true, and it's certainly a good book and an easy read, I've still been amazed at how other English teachers have latched onto it as some sort of jumper cable for starting up their students' dead writing batteries.  An elixir for all that ails their essays. All this fuss caused by the man who wrote the crap that is Maximum Overdrive. Related links: Stephen King:  "Everything You Need To Know About Writing Successfully -- In Ten Minutes" MaineToday.com:  Latest laptop initiative: Author to teach writing 7:44:27 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.