People have asked me more than once if I want to interview Stephen King. I always answer no. Because his writing alone answers most of my questions. It seems everything important has already been asked. The last thing I would want to ask King would be "so what scares you?"
On the "what scares you" question -- I think Stephen King scares himself. We've all done it, I assume. Let our mind work and work over a subject (rats) until we're totally psyched out. He just does it while sitting at a keyboard and takes us along for the ride.
As I read Joyland, there are things I wish someone would ask him. Most of them are about relationships, and his insights on people. For a kid who was raised by his mother, this guy has a lot of insights about dads. I know he is a dad! King also has the ability to transport a male reader back to young adulthood. Memories, feelings we thought we'd forgotten until he comes and stirs them up.
I work with people all the time. Often when King says something about people, I find myself agreeing with that insight. For instance, at one point he notes that people who find themselves late in life are a little insecure. That's so true! Yet, I'm not sure I ever put it together quite the way King does in Joyland.
My wife and mother each told me once that they find it interesting how skilled King is at describing how a woman feels. How's he do that?! Or how does he so brilliantly discuss what a young man feels and thinks about? He doesn't just give us sketchy glimpses back, in Joyland he recreates the experience of being a young man.
Joyland is about memories. But somehow I don't think Joyland is built solely on King's personal memories of being young. He doesn't always develop characters based on his own experiences (or he wouldn't describe being a woman!)
To my mind, the reason why Stephen King has had the enormously successful career he has had boils down to three things:
ReplyDelete(1) His imagination must be SO fertile that it is almost literally impossible to turn off. That's what allows him to come up with so many ideas.
(2) He has an astonishing work ethic. That's what allows him to actually get so many of his ideas down on paper.
(3) He is incredibly empathetic. That's what allows him to invest those ideas with so many vivid, interesting characters.
And the characters are ultimately what builds the bond between King and his readers. "Joyland" is just the most recent example of how very good King is at turning that trick.
I've been reading a lot of writing manuals recently, and one thing that most of them (the rare insightful ones) share in common is the idea that in order to be a good writer, you have to have an almost instinctive ability for observation of other people and life in general.
ReplyDeleteIt's something King talks about in On Writing, and from what I've read, it's seems even as far back as the twenties other authors were saying the same.
One question I'd like to ask King, what's the first thing or series of things you can remember?
ChrisC