I've read it from cover to cover many times. When I lived in Barcelona I lent it to this very cool chick from the US with tattoos of Koi fish on her feet. She p

I've read it from cover to cover many times. When I lived in Barcelona I lent it to this very cool chick from the US with tattoos of Koi fish on her feet. She promised to return it, "don't worry, it's back this week". I never saw her again. I remember his advice about adverbs. He likens them to dandelions if I remember correctly. It was one piece of advice I didn't get. I got that he had seen the adverb abused and as Mr. King is a man of taste he recoiled in horror - I recall he can't bring himself to use the word "zestful" for similar reasons. Adjectival phrases describe nouns, adverbial phrases describe verbs. If you're fine with adjectives then why wouldn't you be fine with adverbs? Honest question. However when I read a -- "what are you doing here", she screamed mightily -- I chuckle and think of Stephen's (may I call you Stephen?) advice. Regarding talent. In On Writing he preaches Read Lots, Write Lots. He hammers that home. You don't have the time to read? You certainly ain't got the time to write. From the reading list he gives out at the back of the book you can see for yourself his taste in authors and let me tell you it's not Dan Brown territory. When Stephen (okay, King) equates talent to successfully published I think he's telling a little white lie and he knows it. Untalented writers get published all the time. Why? You can work that out for yourself. I think King tells this porky in this article because he is trying to dispel fear. His target audience here are aspiring writers. He thought they'd need to hear this stuff to keep the demons at bay. That was before his horrific accident. After that he wrote On Writing and you don't find that equation in there, let's just imagine that his brush with death allowed him to man up and drop the pretense. Stephen King is talented. Stephen King, last I heard, manages to sell a fair number of copies. But not everyone who sells a fair number of copies is talented. Did I mention Dan Brown? I think you get the point (he said haughtily). Funny thing is, a lot of _serious_ critics wouldn't rate King at all. He's just a horror story / fantasy story writer they will say dismissively. He's not Proust, he's not Hemmingway. I've grown out of King (sorry, don't hate me) but damn it, that guy can turn a phrase. He writes like you are his companion, like he's taken your arm at the elbow and is walking with you awhile discussing personal matters. He scared the living _shit_ out of me when I was younger, The Shining is a genuinely frightening piece of fiction and boy is it well written. The Stand is an awesome piece of work that held me spellbound. Ditto, It. Long books both but I didn't want them to end. Maybe I have less patience now but it is rare I encounter a long (> 500 pages) book that I'll read with unflagging enthusiasm from cover to cover. I figure, if you've got something to say, say it briefly, winningly and championly or get off my lawn.