Question

Read the excerpt from On Writing by Stephen King and answer the question. “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story,” [Gould] said. “When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” Gould said something else that was interesting on the day I turned in my first two pieces: write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right—as right as you can, anyway—it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it. If you’re very lucky (this is my idea, not John Gould’s, but I believe he would have subscribed to the notion), more will want to do the former than the latter.” Source: King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. New York: Pocket, 2002. 47. Print. What is King’s main purpose in this text? to persuade to instruct to reflect to entertain

Answer 1

To instruct

Steven King's main purpose in this text is to instruct others how to write the first draft of a story (with the door closed and just for you) and then edit with the door open (and with your critics / audience in mind)

Answer 2

The correct answer is B. To instruct

Explanation:

The author's purpose or the purpose of a text refers to the objective or main goal an author has with the text or what he or she expects to be the impact of his or her text in others. In the excerpt presented, written by Stephen King who is one of the most famous American writers, especially in science fiction and horror novels, the explains the process a writer should follow when writing a story, this includes writing the story with the door closed or without sharing it but then share it to others. Additionally, King uses the ideas of Gould another writer to explain the steps and perspective writers should have. This means the content of this text and the author of it aims at explaining other writers the way they should write or the procedures they should follow and therefore the main purpose of this text is to instruct.