I thought Steven King's "On Writing" was the best biographical/personal in depth description on the writing and thinking process. King cuts to the chase in the fist three forwards. The three forwards represent the whole book and its teachings; he progressively gets rid of the "bullshit" and, "omits needless words." Reading this book made me appreciate all the reading I've done on my own (and the reading I was forced to do in school). Books like 'Catcher in the Rye', 'Lord of the Flies', 'The Outsiders', '1984', the play 'No Exit', 'To Kill a Mocking Bird', and the short story Greasy Lake all shaped my interests and attitudes towards writing.
The book is structured into five parts; C.V, What Writing Is, Toolbox, On Writing, On Living: A Postscript, a chapter on the editing process, and a chapter of recommended books.
C.V. was a biographical section that lets you understand the life of a struggling writer full of conflicts.
King of Greece & family (LOC)
The Catcher in the Rye
Screenshot from Last Time I Saw Paris demonstratin...I believe he used this strategy to let the reader sympathize and understand that he is a real person and not a money hungry celebrity. "There is no Idea Dump, ...no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere." He continues to say, "'When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story'...'When you rewrite, you're main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.'" These may seem like simple or even obvious comments on writing, but their true. When thinking of story ideas, you have to let them come from your own experiences in life. A simple daily observation can turn out to be a story idea. King says when you first write a story it should be personally for you. Than when you rewrite, take out...