Stephen King is a Jackass

Stephen King is a well known name. He's written more novels, essays and short stories than many of us could ever dream of. He has also written some of the most famous stories we've seen adapted to screen; Shawshank Redemption, Carrie, The Shining, to name a few. However, his how to, On Writing is the perfect example on how not to write a book about writing.
King says, “The kind of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate-four to six hours a day, every day-will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things and have an aptitude for them.” Honestly, while I personally advocate reading and writing every day, promoting the idea that someone does not have an aptitude for them just because they don't do it four to six hours a day is just discouraging and ignorant. This sort of advice is only the tip of the iceberg. He continues to almost make the reader feel inadequate no matter how much they love writing. That is the biggest problem with King's advice, they're strict rules that primarily allows for burning out.
On Writing also comes across as extremely pompous. At one point he comments on Ray Bradbury's style of writing, calling it “green and wondrous and seen through a lens smeared with nostalgia.” This doesn't seem too terrible, until you put into perspective that almost the entire book is full of sarcastic insults. Everyone can have their opinion, but it starts to feel a little too obnoxious as you continue reading. He lists a few books he considers absolutely horrible, such as Valley of the Dolls, but if you consider the bulk of the books he has put out over the years, he really doesn't seem to measure up to a position to be judging. I don't want to read a how to on writing by Charlaine Harris (the writer of the True Blood books), but is he really any better?
He does, at a few points, give a little bit of useful advice, but in the end that also seems to fall short. It's all common sense; don't watch TV, read good and bad novels, don't overuse words. It's advice we've all heard before from novelists that are in way better positions to be giving it. William Faulkner for instance already told us, “Read, read, read. Read everything-trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out the window.” Not only does Faulkner give us the same opinion, it comes across as empowering and optimistic.
This may all be a matter of opinion, but I want a writer to tell me sometimes it sucks. I think it's more appreciative when Kurt Vonnegut says, “When I write, I feel like an armless legless man with a crayon in his mouth,” because it just makes you feel that moment of 'Ok, I can do this. If Kurt Vonnegut struggles, too, then I'm not hopeless.' I don't want a step by step guide on how to feel discouraged and hate my writing. I guess I also just never want to write like Stephen King.
In the end, King's On Writing comes across more as a paint by numbers sort of how to as opposed to something like Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. His opinions are harsh, lessons too strict, and cuts off all creative flow. I think I'll stick with advice I know I can use: “That's why it's hard to write on mescaline, too, because your mind is going four times as fast as your hands can go, and you get disorganized and you can't keep your mind in phase with your fingers. That's why I have to get increasingly faster typewriters,” said by Hunter S. Thompson.