Wall Street Journal: 11/22/63 Is A Deeply Researched Novel

Everett Collection (4); Associated Press (Oswald); iStockphoto (frames, wallpaper)
online.wsj.com

Alexandra Altar has a fantastic, and thorough article about Stephen King in the Wall Street Journal.  Altar calls 11/22/63 a "deeply researched, something he's never done before."

King described writing historical fiction  "Like learning to wear a new pair of shoes."  Altar says that King has grown "increasingly private" but in person he appears "relaxed, profane and unguarded, discussing everything from his love of dogs, especially corgis, to his aversion to cell phones, which he called "slave bracelets." Eating a cinnamon bun in his kitchen, he spoke about how his sons Joe and Owen, both writers, tend to show their manuscripts to their mother rather than him."

The New Stephen King:

King reveals in the interview that he hopes this novel will reach a new -- wider -- audience.   Altar quotes King, "This might be a book where we really have a chance to get an audience who's not my ordinary audience.  Instead of people who read horror stories, people who read 'The Help' or 'People of the Book' might like this book, if they can get the message." 

Scribner is seeking to "rebrand" King, Altar says, aiming at history buffs.  Does that mean constant readers are likely to walk away?  No way!  Most of us don't read King just for the scares, we read him because no one else in the world can tell a story the way he does.  His -- voice -- speaks to us in a way no one else really does.  That doesn't mean we only read King, but it does mean that for many of us, only King consistently connects with us.

If anyone is actually concerned King is making too big a break with horror, remember, he is currently writing a sequel to The Shining!

In the research process, Altar reveals that King had dinner with Doris Kearns Goodwin -- the author of one of my favorite books, Team of Rivals.  Team Of Rivals tells the story of Lincoln's cabinet, how they didn't get along, and the presidents ability to benefit from a very diverse group of people.

35 years in the making:

Everyone is always interested in where an idea came from.  So. . . where did 11/22/63 come from? 
Altar says the idea for the novel "first struck him in 1973, when he was on the brink of publishing his first novel, "Carrie," about a bullied teenage girl with psychic powers. At the time, Mr. King felt the historical novel required too much research, and greater literary chops than he possessed. Though Mr. King doesn't keep a writer's notebook—"The good ideas stick," he said—the idea lingered for 35 years."

Altar promises that though this is new ground for King, it still bears many of his trademarks.   She calls it "ultra-violent" and suspenseful with "supernatural overtones."  I think what many of us like about King is not just that he is violent or supernatural -- it's that he's not afraid to let the story take any turn it needs to.  He doesn't kill people just for the sake of killing them -- that would be Richard Laymon!  But he has no fear of letting to story take the path it needs to without his own self imposed limitations.

11/22/63 Connects To IT !

Altar also reveals that the new novel contains some characters from IT.  It would actually be unusual for King not to connect a novel to his other works.

The article is here.  Be sure to watch the video as well as read the article.

13 comments:

  1. Hi, really enjoyed your blog. I'm a fan of KS and found postings here very
    interesting. I also have a blog that calls black wings, and he must therefore SK
    CEMETERY reading, I began to write tales of terror and since then the public-
    this blog.
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    ReplyDelete
  2. Really, really looking forward to this novel...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Asas Negras. . .
    you have to give us a link (not just a title) to your blog.

    Looking forward to seeing what you've done.


    Bryant. . . this does look like it's going to be awesome. I was unaware just how much he was "breaking" his usual genre.


    --David

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  4. After doing a lot of research, King came to the "studied" conclusion that Oswald acted totally alone.

    Wow. I'm a SK fan, LOVED Full Dark No stars, but come on, Steve. He REALLY believes Oswald acted completely alone after doing "tons" of research?
    Riiiight.

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  5. Brian,

    I don't think it's actually all that strange for people these days to agree that Oswald did, in fact, probably act alone. I say that being nowhere close to an expert on the subject, of course.

    Either way, who are you to question King's honesty in terms of what he believes to be the case? If he says he believes it, and that he came to that belief after doing tons of research, I see no reason to doubt him on either point.

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  6. Well Bryant, I've studied the murder for about 25 years.

    I'm a long time SK fan, and I'm going to read the book, but it's incredible to me that he would honestly believe that Oswald acted alone after doing research.

    I also think his conclusion is the safe one considering the "new" audience he wants.

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  7. Brian,

    You're saying that King is lying for the purpose of trying to sell more copies of his novel, am I correct? Don't beat around the bush; have the courage of your convictions and say what you feel to be true.

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  8. Well, I don't know if he's lying or not.

    He's taking the easy road, tho for sure. The key thign to me is, he wants a new upper scale audience with this book. Well...the people that he wants to get do not believe that any conspiracy existed.

    If he were to say that there was more than just Oswald, he would really turn off a lot of the new people he wants to get.

    I'm sure he would deny that, but how you can do serious honest research into the murder and say that Oswald acted completely alone...that's bs. Even the Fed Gov in the late 70's claimed there "probably" was a conspiracy. Blakely said publically that the Mob was involved based on what he knew.

    And Kin comes out and wants "new" (read upper class academic types) readers, so he says what they want to read.

    In my opinion, King isn't lying. He's just excluding going down the tougher road.
    someone with as good street sense as King has should know better.

    I'll put it this way, he's selling out.

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  9. King IS selling out. What's worse, he stole the whole plot from a Quantum Leap episode, so he isn't even original!

    What a hack...

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  10. Nice sarcasm there.

    I remember the old King who didn't give a damn what the critics thought. He just wrote to please himself. That was what was so cool about him. It's too bad that guy doesn't exist anymore.

    It's weird too, because I just finished reading FDNS and loved it. It was go for the jugular type stuff.

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  11. Well, we can at least agree on "Full Dark, No Stars" -- pretty great stuff.

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  12. It's a novel, not the warren commission.
    I'm glad he's not going to follow nutty theories. There will always be someone anxious to tell us the government was involved in 9/11, or that the CIA killed Kennedy (or was it the Cubans?) and that Elvis was recently spotted in bangor trimming trees at the King mansion.

    David

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