Goodreads Interview With Stephen King

Freelance writer Catherine Elsworth posted an interview with Stephen King at Goodreads. It's a great interview because it includes a lot of questions from readers, not just Elsworth.

Elsworth reveals that Revival is dedicated to "some of the people who built my house," including Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and H.P. Lovecraft.

Of course, King spends some time in the interview smashing stupid sayings.  Remember his rant about how dumb an authors notebook is?  Well this time his gripe is with the advice, "Write what you know."  It's bad advice, King declares!  He then says it's good advice if you use it as a "foundation."

Also on the subject of writing, Elsworth cites a line from the book, "Writing is a wonderful and terrible thing. It opens deep wells of memory that were previously capped." She asks King if this is true from him and his fiction. "Writing is like being in a dream state or under self-directed hypnosis. It induces a state of recall that—while not perfect—is pretty spooky."

King does reveal he's working on a project with son Owen, but he doesn't say what.

Asked what  his scariest monster is, King declares it a tie between Pennywise and Flagg.  (Really?)

And then, discussing the Stand and ebola, King said:

There's one Stand story that still needs to be told, although it's not a long one. I happen to know that when [Stand characters] Stu Redman and Frannie Goldsmith headed back to New England (with their baby), Frannie fell into a dry well. That's all I know. I'd have to write the story to find out what happens. 

When asked what books inspired him, King gives a list which includes, surprisingly to me the Dean Koontz novel Watcher.  Also Lord of the Flies, all things Lovecraft and several others.  File this under shameless self promotion -- Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters discusses King and the novel Lord of the Flies as well as giving some space to Lovecraft's influence on King.