YOUTUBE: King Talking To Students

Here is a great video from Stephen King's visit  to students at  Sessex Regional High School.

"I came because of all those letters," King said to stunned students.  Listening to King talk to students is quite different.  He  hits new territory.  For instance  . . He admits to forging a report card.  He discusses writing with  the door "open" and "closed."

At about the 9:40 mark  the video shifts to a larger assembly.

This is morbid and great. . .
People like me are always going to die.  There's  always going to be room at the bottom because people at the top are going to croak.  I used to comfort  myself when I was starting out and when these old guys . . . one of them Herman Wouk,  another was James Michener. . . they were perennial best sellers  and my stories were rejected -- when I was in High School I had a nail in my wall and when I got these rejections slips from magazines I would stick it on the nail.  Before I sold a story, the nail tore  out of the wall because it had sixty or 70 of those things on it.  I was lucky it was that few.   
I used to tell myself Michener and Wouk  and  all those  people  are eventually going to die and they will have to consider me because I have the advantage  of  youth.  I've got to tell you one thing. . . Herman Wouk is still alive.  I wrote a story called that.  I got a letter from him, fiery handwriting, "I like your story."
He said he is called a horror writer, but what he really wants is an emotional reaction.   He's good with scaring people, or getting them to cry. . . so long as he gets a response.

He told the larger assembly that he doesn't remember a lot about writing particular books -- it is like moving through a dream.

My favorite  line:  "This is a little bit like  being crazy, except they pay you for it."



2 comments:

  1. Richard Pryor says, "You ain't dead yet!"

    ChrisC

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lucky kids! Thanks for posting the vid.

    ReplyDelete