Welcome to The Daily with Silstein here on Anchor. Today we will be discussing the book by Stephen King on writing A Memoir of the Craft. Writing tip show on The Daily with Silstein here on Anchor. And welcome to The Daily with Silstein here on Anchor.
I am Silstein and welcome to the show. Today as I said last week we started on the book by Stephen King on writing A Memoir of the Craft and we discussed what writing is. Today we're going to move on to the section he calls Toolbox and I'm going to read from that. You have not gotten your copy of this awesome book.
Please be sure to check it out. It's called Stephen King on writing A Memoir of the Craft and this was a gift that was given to me by my in-laws, wonderful in-laws for Christmas and it's been one of the greatest books on writing that I've read. There's so many. I plan to cover them but this is one very, very great book and there is a paper back and right now I'm going to begin on page 111 and thank you for joining us.
Grandpa says was a carpenter. He built houses, stores and banks. He changed smoke, camel cigarettes and hammered nails and planks. He was level on the level, shaved even every door and voted for Eisenhower because Lincoln won the war and that's what it says on the section to begin and says and here these are some lyrics as he points out.
He says that's one of my favorite John Prine lyrics probably because my grandpa was also a carpenter. I don't know about stores and banks but Guy Pillsbury built his share of houses, spent a good many years making sure the Atlantic Ocean and the harsh Seacoast winters didn't wash away the Winslow, Homer stayed in proud's neck. So he continues. As I smoke cigars though, not camels, it was my uncle Oren, also a carpenter who smoked the camels and when Faza retired it was uncle Oren who inherited the old fellas toolbox.
I don't remember it's being there in the garage on the day I dropped the cinder block on my foot but it probably was sitting in it's a custom place just outside the nook where my cousin Donald kept his hockey sticks, ice skates and baseball gloves and he continues on. The toolbox was what we called a big un. It had three levels, the top removal, all three containing little drawers as cunning as Chinese boxes, it was handmade of course, dark wooden slaps were bound were bound together by tiny nails and strips of brass and we'll be right back. And now we're back for the daily with Stilstein.
Part two on Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft here on the daily with Stilstein here on anchor. All right and now we're back as I leapt off. It was handmade of course, dark wooden slaps were bound together by tiny nails and strips of brass and this is from Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft we started reading about the toolbox and what he says about it. The lid was held down by big latches to my child's eye, they look like the latches on a giant slunch box.
Inside the top was a silk lining rather odd in such a context and made more striking still by the pattern which was pinkish red cabbage roses fading into a smog of grease and dirt. On the sides were great big grab handles, you never saw toolbox like this one for sale at Walmart or western auto he says believe me when my uncle first got it he found a brass etching of a famous Homer painting I believe it was the undertow lying in the bottom. One years later uncle Warren had it authenticated by a Homer expert in New York in a few years after that I believe he sold it for a good piece of money exactly how her wife as a which is I guess another name for his grandfather came by the engraving in the first place is a mystery but there was no mystery about the origins of the toolbox he made it himself. So it continues one summer day I helped uncle Warren replace a broken screen on the far side of the house I might have been eight or nine at the time I remember following him with a replacement screen balanced on my head like a native bearer in a Tarzan movie he had to toolbox by the grab handles horsing it along a thigh level excuse me.
As always uncle Warren was wearing khaki pants and a clean white t-shirt sweat gleamed in his grain army crew cut a camel hung from his lower lip meaning the camel cigarettes when I came in years later with a pack of Chester fields in my breast pocket uncle Warren sneered at them and called them stock eight cigarettes he continues on we finally reached a window with a broken screen and he set the toolbox down with an audible sigh of relief when Dave and I tried to lift it from its place on the garage floor each of us holding one of the handles we could barely budge it of course we were just little kids back then but even so I guess that fuzzed us fully loaded toolbox weighed between 80 and 120 pounds and we'll be right back. This is the Daily with Silverstein on anchor discussing the book by Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft we'll be right back and now we're back to part three of the Daily with Silverstein here on anchor here on the Daily with Silverstein discussing the book by Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft discussing the section on toolbox and welcome back and we left off with it's he says he continues on page 113 of his book and this is Stephen King on writing uncle orin let me undo the big latches the common tools were all on the top layer of the box there was a hammer a saw the pliers a couple of size wrenches and an adjustable sorry give me a second here a couple of size wrenches and an adjustable there was a level with that mystic yellow window in the middle a drill the various bits were neatly draw drawered farther down in the depths and two screwdrivers uncle orin asked me for a screwdriver which one asks either or he replied the broken screen was held on by loop head screws and it really didn't matter matter whether he used a regular screwdriver or the Phillips on them with loop heads you just stuck the screwdriver's barrel through the hole at the top of the screw and then spun it the way he's been a tire iron once you've got the lug nuts loose uncle orin he continues took the screws out there were eight which he handed me for safe keeping and then removed the old screen he set it against the house and held it up the new one holes in the screens frame made it up neatly with the holes in the window frame uncle orin grunted with approval when he saw this he took the loop head screws back from me one after the other got them started with his fingers then tightened them down just as he as he loosened loosened them by inserting the screwdriver's barrel through the loops and turning them when the screen was secure uncle orin gave me the screwdriver and told me to put it back on the toolbox and latch her up I did but I was puzzled I asked him why he lugged Fazza's toolbox all the way around the house if all he needed was that one screwdriver he could have carried a screwdriver in the back pocket of his khakis yeah but Stevie that's what he says it says here he said bending to grasp the handles I didn't know what else I might find to do once I got out here did I it's best to have your tools with you if you don't you're apt to find something you didn't expect and get discouraged and we'll be right back with that with more of what what he continues saying about the toolbox here on the daily was still staying here on anchor through the daily was still staying here on anchor using the book by Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft we'll be right back and now part four of the daily was still staying here on anchor and we're back to the daily was still staying here on anchor now part four so he gives this story and now we want to know what he says next so he says I want to suggest that to write to your best abilities it behooves you to construct your own toolbox there we go and then build up enough muscle so you can carry it with you then instead of looking at a hard job and getting discouraged you will perhaps seize the correct tool and get immediately immediately sorry to work so now it says fastest toolbox at three levels I think that yours should have at least four you could have five or six I suppose but there comes a point where a toolbox becomes too large to be portable and thus loses its cheap virtue you'll also want all those little drawers for your screws and nuts and bolts but where you put those drawers and what you put in them well that's your little red wagon isn't it you'll find you have most of the tools you need already but I advise you to look at each one again as you load it into your box try to see each one new remind yourself of its function and if some are rusty as they might be if you haven't done this seriously in a while clean them off so he continues come on tools go on top the commonest of all the bread of writing is vocabulary in this case you can happily you can happily pack what you have without you have without the slightest bit of guilt and inferiority as the and he says this in his book this is part of a story according to the line that he reads here as the horse said to the bashful sailor it ain't how much you've got honey it's how you use it and I'm just quoting from his book or from the from what he's reading on the book some writers have enormous vocabularies these are folks who know if there really is such a thing as an in in salibris sorry bithram ram or a cozening racquet racquet tour people who haven't missed the multiple choice answer in wilfred bunks it pays to increase your word power in oh 30 years or so for example and he reads this he says this is taken from hv lovecraft at the mountain of madness the leathery under unditerative and almost indestructible quality was an inheritance attribute of the things form of organization and pertain to some paleogen cycle of invertebrate evolution early beyond our powers of a speculation and we'll be right back and now it's time for part five of the daily with sillstein here on anchor part five of the daily with sillstein here on anchor using the book by steven king on writing a memoir of the craft all right before uh the part four left off on with red hp lovecraft at the mountains of madness uh steven king is discussing about the toolbox and how you should set up vocabulary now i'm going to read you another excerpt excerpt by t cora gessin cora cora gessin oil building prospects in some of the cups there was no evidence whatever that anything had been planted in others wilted brown stocks gave testimony to some inscrutable depredation and get a third this is a good one you'll like it he says someone snatched the old woman's blindfold from her and she and the juggler were clouded away and when the company turned into sleep and the low fire was roaring in the blast like a thing alive these four yet crouched at the edge of the firelight among their strange shadows and uh chattels and watch how the raid ragged flames bled down the wind as if sucked by some mailstorm out there in the void some vortex in that waste a posit to which man's transit and his reckoning alike lay abrogate and this is by the book by kormak mccarthy and blood meridian and we'll continue on another excerpt or he says other writers use smaller simpler vocabulary examples of this hardly seem necessary but i'll offer a couple of my favorites just the same their first one is Ernest Hemingway and is taken from big to hearted river big to hearted river he came to the river the river was there then theater sturgeon some of your blood they caught the kid doing something nasty under the bleachers and then Douglas fair brain or fair bear and shoot this is what happened and i apologize for the feedback i am doing a live show and i have children in the background my apologies boys could you keep it down i'm doing a podcast my apologies on that so some of the the owner men were kind because they hated what they had to do and some of them were angry because they hated to be cruel and some of them were cold because they had long ago found that one could not be an owner unless one were cold and this is taken from john steinbeck's the grapes of rap the steinbeck senses is especially interesting it's 50 words long of those 50 words 39 half but one syllable that leaves 11 but even that number is deceptive steinbeck uses because three times owner twice and hate it twice and we'll be right back and now time for part six of the daily with sillstein here on anchor the daily with sillstein here on anchor using the book by steven king on writing a memoir of the craft part six all right and we left off with john steinbeck he says of those 50 words 39 half but one syllable that leaves 11 but even that number is deceptive steinbeck uses because three times owner twice and hated twice there is no word longer than two syllables in the entire sentence the structure is complex the vocabulary is not far removed from the old dick and jane primers you remember those books for me it was jack uh ted and jan and it was all repetition seed pug run pug uh seed jan run seed ted run after pug and you know the primer books that you get in school uh the great sub-rap is of course a fine novel i believe that blood married blood meridian is another although there are great wax of it that i don't fully understand what of that i can't decide for the words too many other popular songs i love either he says but there's also stuff you'll never find in the dictionary but it's still vocabulary check out the following uh what i what i want from here come high me on on on to my willy yo honor and then yeah and then the big word f-word too many and it's taken from tom wolf bonfire of the vanities if you read that book you know you're watching the movie and read that book you'll know exactly what we're talking about and the the last is phonetically rendered street vocabulary pre-u writers have wolf's ability to translate stuff such stuff to the page elmore lennard is another writer who can do it some street rap gets into the dictionary eventually but not until it's safely dead and i don't think you'll ever find yeah in websters on a bridge put your vocabulary on the top shelf of your toolbox and don't make any conscious effort to improve it you'll be doing that as you read of course but that comes later one of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones this is like and he gives this example like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes the pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of pre-meditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed and that's what he says here make yourself a solemn promise right now that you'll never use emo emo lumen when you mean tip and you'll never say john stop long enough to put more to perform an act of excretion when you when you mean john stop long enough to take a or take a dump or take a vs word as what they use here and we'll be right back and now it's time for part seven of the daily with sillstein here on anchor using the book by steven king on writing a memoir of the craft discussing the chapter on toolbox okay and now we're back and now it says uh because you want to say um it says don't stop long enough to to perform an act of excretion when you mean john stop either to take a dump but it says you're long enough to take an nbs word if you believe take a s word would be considered offensive or inappropriate by your audience real free to say john stop long enough to move his bowels or perhaps don't stop long enough to push i'm not trying to get you to talk dirty only plain and direct remember that the basic rule of vocabulary is use the first word that comes to your mind if it is appropriate and colorful if it is appropriate and colorful if you hesitate cogitate you will come up with another word of course you will there's always another word he says but it will probably won't be as good as your first one or as a close as closest to what you really mean and this is exactly what i have had the issue with and in another show i will discuss that about you know using the colorful words when you're writing a story not that there's anything against it it makes more of the story especially with your character i had this happen with my character of garrison james which was on closure and then the diary of the broken father and i'll discuss more about that and the colorful words that i had issues writing when i first started the book and i'll discuss that more in another show but if you really want to say those words because it makes your character that's what you should do and um he continues this business of meaning and this is just my own addition and what i just added to what he had said on this section so this business of meaning is a very big deal if you doubt it think of all the times you've heard someone say i just can't describe it or that isn't what i mean think of all the times you said those things yourself usually in a tone of mild or serious frustration the word is only a representation of the meaning even at its best writing almost always falls short of full meaning giving that given that why in god's name would you want to make things worse by choosing a word which is only cousin to the one you really wanted to use and do you feel free to take appropriateness into account as george carland once observed in some in some company it's perfectly all right to prick your finger but very bad form to finger your prick at least that's the analogy he gives on here and with that um i'm also going to say is i'm going to add say what you mean i mean what you say i think that that's basically in a nutshell what this means and for today this is the last section of the daily with sillstein that uh steven on steven king on writing a memoir of the craft and we'll be back next time and i'll just i'll be back with the wrap up to let you know thank you so much we'll be right back all right and now it's time for the wrap up of the daily with sillstein here on anchor i want to thank you all for tuning in to be this show of steven king on writing a memoir of the craft and we discussing the toolbox we're not at all done on the next section we're going to discuss grammar because the toolbox first part he discussed vocabulary then we're going to go into grammar and try to finish up this section of what he's discussing from the toolbox i really hope you're enjoying the daily with sillstein on anchor in our discussion on steven king on writing a memoir of the craft i am sylvia stein and i really appreciate you joining us on the show and i hope you continue to tune in and listen to us we're now on spotify we're on uh on on iTunes we're on google play we're on many different uh different podcasts and i hope you'll tune in to check those out and i hope you will also check us out uh check out the interviews with uh so far the latest two have been james matthew byers an amazing and talented writer and also the amazing and talented diane tilly a.k.a. alexis craig and all these other wonderful interviews that i've had with juliana rugero i've had um i have jessica nisjolek or nisholek and i apologize if i butchered your last name jessica and also uh alexander ray jeff brown um in earlier on i i've had him before and all these other wonderful interviews that i've had uh lori fontaness and all these other wonderful uh writers chantela haddison benson um i've also had um many many others audra audra uh aidra sorry aidra uh lin um and i hope you'll check her out as well um and all these other anyone else i forgot leona carter and all the the great lakes book bash authors and uh just check out our show and i ramble on so my apologies have a great and happy happy Tuesday join us again on Thursday for the next segment of the steaming king on writing here on the daily a memoir of the craft with sylstein have a great one this has been the daily with sylstein on anchor thank you for joining us