Blog- On Writing p135-145

In this part of his book On Writing, King talk about how their are many bad writers in the world and famous writer like a Raymod Chandler can be bad writers but be confused as a good one. "He's a hack!" He talks about how good writing is mastering the fundamentals, and with a lot of help, determination, hard work and dedication to make a good writer out of a competent one. He also says it is a boat load of work and you have to work your ass off, if you don't then you will not write well.""There is a muse, but he's not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy dust all over your typewriter or computer station." He says the two most primary things to do if you want to become a writer is read a lot and write a lot. " If there's no joy in it, it's just no good."

Blog- Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider is a very interesting piece. It is an excerpt by rock star Niel Pearl sending his friend Zion Lodge a letter when Zion is in prison. It is an interesting piece of self discovery after Neil's family got killed. He explains his journey through the states and the places he visited in the way. He assures to Zion that his family will be ok financially because he will be there. Throughout the letter he reminisces about the old times. Zion was a close friend of his that was suppose to go on the motorcycle cross continent with him but he got caughted for smuggling drugs over the border and arrested. Niel wishes Zion was with the trip with him to give him some comfort and help him forget about the sadness that his wife and daughter died.

Blog- On Writing sections 5 to 7

Narrative, description and dialogue are definitely the three top rules that King often emphasizes. King says that without these 3 things, (the three D's but King uses narrative instead of drama) then you don't have a story. All stories, be it big or small, follow the same criteria when in comes to the narrative, description and dialogue of the story. It is these three rules that writers often are able to create while just writing. He says the plot should not even be included and that writers can have an idea of a plot but these three rules keeps the plot together.

A perfect day for Bananafish

A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a short story written by J.D Salinger. There are 3 parts to this story and they are all connected in one way or another. I really like the beginning when the woman is talking to her mother about her husband. It is as if you are eavesdropping on their conversation. The husband in the second scene is portraide as a wierd character that we find out he is from the war and how he gets a little to close with a very young girl. Throughout the second session of the story, you see instances where he would grab the girls’ leg, kiss her foot in water, tell her to come closer to him. She of course does not realize this behaviour is strange and likes his company. After he kisses the girls foot and she answers by asking him what he is doing, he too realizes that what he did was not normal, and in the last part of the story, he takes out a gun and it seems like he is about to kill his wife but he instead shoots himself.

Blog- What I have read so far

What I have read so far in the novel On Writing by Stephen King is a variety of his memoirs leading up to his inspiration for writing. Each of his painful memories including being stung by a wasp and then dropping a cinderblock on his foot as he pretended he was some sort of circus act. He had instances where he would copy out the “Combat Casey” comics and add his own details where he wanted. When his mother told him he was better than that and that he could create his own comic, he created a comic about “four magic animals who rode around in an old car helping out little kids. From the comic he made, his mother gave him a buck which was the first buck he had ever made in “the business”. The first story he sent for publication was to a magazine called Spacemen. His story was rejected but Forry, a literary agent who started the “short-lived but interesting Spacemen” kept the story. King wrote many stories that have been rejected by many publishing companies and would keep all the rejection letters tagged on his wall for motivation. As we kept practicing his writing skill with each story he would write, the publishing companies would start sending the work back saying things like “This is good, but it’s just not for us.”

Blog- Archibald the Arctic

Michael Winter’s short story Archibald the Arctic talks about brotherhood. Gabriel English is a seventeen year old in Newfoundland who idolizes his older brother Junior. His brother Junior is always getting into different types of trouble. During every experience including almost getting arrested for something his brother did, a threesome at a cottage and Junior getting hit by a moose, Gabe just could not help but continue to look up to Junior. Since Junior got hit by the moose from being a reckless driver, his insurance was to go through the roof so he decided to destroy the car(Datsun) himself which he had little success trying to crash it into snow banks. Everything his brother had, the insurance the car, loans, was under Gabriel’s name. Junior just couldn’t help but take advantage for his younger brother’s love for him. “It was as if he never expected me to live a life, so he’d better do it for me”

Blog- Chapter 9 The Jade Peony

In this chapter, it is under Sekky’s point of view and he is describing as his grandmother died and what led up to it. Sekky’s Grandma refused to go to the hospital saying it was only a cold. She could go through the garbage with Sekky to look for junk and hide it under her bed. The older siblings are embaressed at their grandmother for poking through the garbage like beggars and as they say this Sekky kicks Jung and there is a little sibling fight “You know little Son, whatever happens I will never leave you” I think this is a good example of believable dialogue because during the grandmothers final moments, she says this to the little boy, him not knowing really to answer. We also see some sibling jealousy when Sekky doesn’t have to go to Madarin school and brother Jung has too. Also some drama as the children complain in learning Mandarin and the father says they have no trouble learning latin, german and French and they answer it is because those are “logical” languages in a logical world and Grandmother tries to ease the tensions which she does rarely in the novel.