The tools

[Dan is Dead]

can anyone list all the "tools" that SK lists in this book?

would be awesome!

[Dan is Dead]

anyone? c'mon

[wally wonder]

well...vocabulary...your own...advises against dressing it up to sound cute...plain and direct works best
next...come grammar...no moaning....get strunk and white, the elements of style...apparently, unless you're sure you can break the rules and get away with it, dont.....mentions warriner's english grammar and composition
.............................***other stuff*************--------------------------
then, you got a level to do w/elements of style, form
there must be others....others?.....mentions a magnifying glass....

....i liked this one: 'you cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.' reading...writing...
....bells and whistles...(the stuff sk does, incremental repetition, changes of verb tense, interior dialogue....
....the all important coffee break.....

[randallFlaggfan1]

Sounds like you know On Writing pretty well, Bluey..

[Athena Cooke]

I have my margins marked for all the tools, so this was easy to compile for you.
Everything below this sentence is copyright Stephen King, it is his original writing and I am using it for the purpose of reference.
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On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition, Stephen King
Page 117.
"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."
Page 118-119.
"You'll also want grammar on the top shelf of your toolbox, and don't annoy me with your moans of exasperation or your cries that you don't understand grammar, you never did understand grammar, you flunked that whole semester in Sophomore English, writing is fun but grammar sucks the big one. Relax. Chill. [...] you are capable of remembering the difference between a gerund (verb form used as a noun) and a participle (verb form used as an adjective.)"
Page 129.
"Lift out the top layer of your toolbox - your vocabulary and all the grammar stuff. On the layer beneath go those elements of style upon which I've already touched. Strunk and White offer the best tools (and the best rules) you could hope for, describing them simply and clearly. "
Page 136.
"You go on to the third level, of course, and begin to write real fiction. Why shouldn't you? Why should you fear? Carpenters don't build monsters, after all; they build houses, stores, and banks. They build some of wood a plank at a time and some of brick a brick at a time. You will build a paragraph at a time, constructing these of your vocabulary and your knowledge of grammar and basic style. As long as you say level-on-the-level and shave even every door, you can build whatever you like - whole mansions, if you have the energy." {In other words, your brain and your hands.}
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On Writing is relatively inexpensive, it's $16 for the 10th Anniversary Edition and you can purchase it used for much less than that. It's a great reference to have on hand whenever you feel discouraged or confused.
Good Luck.

[Trickmind]

I was/am a writing craft book junkie. I read dozens of craft books before ever writing anything as an adult. I just like reading about writing. (I now have a good number of short stories published and one novella.) This book is fabulous. It must be in the top 3 of the hundreds of books on writing that I have read for really getting down to the nitty gritty and being actually useful. The other two are probably Noah Lukeman's First Five Pages and Donald Maas Writing the Breakout Novel.
So far I have only completed one novel. I got a detailed personal rejection from one publisher (someone who allowed unagented submissions) Like King in his early days I am torn between wanting to work on novels and the quicker cash I can make for my family by selling short stories.