How Uncle Huey Got Religion

I just released my first novel, How Uncle Huey Got Religion.

OH!  This isn't very Stephen Kingish.  Gripe if you want.  Really love griping.  Yes!  You should!  Someone should post, "What's this have to do with Stephen King?"  It makes my day when we get to complain.

Someone contacted me in early August to ask where I had gone.  Was Talk Stephen King still on my radar?  Yep.  Where I went -- I was finishing my  novel and then doing the intense back and forth with the editor.

Some personal notes about Huey:

I've been writing How Uncle Huey Got Religion since I was in college.  I think I've written the book at least 3-4 times, start to finish.  And it changed a lot.  When I started writing this time, I knew it had the flow I wanted.  And, I certainly knew where I was driving the thing.

I'm actually a pretty fast writer.  I have a box full of novels I've written.  So why Huey?  It seems this was the story I felt I needed to tell, even when it was more difficult for me.  Huey was a tough nut because it's historical fiction.  Writing about life in North Carolina, 1938 was more challenging than writing up a horror story set in. . . hell.

By the way, yes I did write a story about a guy racing through hell, diving down bottomless pits and avoiding pits of fire.  But, my wife convinced me to stick with Huey.  I think she was concerned that I would arrive on judgment day and God would hold up my book on hell and go, "Not funny."  I told her I would write under another name.  She just gave me this look -- stick with Huey.  I'm glad I did.

I'm much more drawn to dark stories.  The story about the house that burns down -- and then is back the next day, but burned and blackened.  The story about the ordinary guy who wakes up strapped in the electric chair.  . . . my loved ones think I'm messed up.  I think some of us are helped by exploring the darkness, following through on an idea.

So Huey was not an easy thing for me to write.  I stuck with it, and decided to go ahead and put down money to have it edited.  And that was an issue.  I was not thrilled with the number of mistakes I found in previous self published books.  I was paying an editor real money, and the work came back nice and clean.  But friends would point out big mistakes.  I felt like I was caught going to school in my undies.

A good friend of mine, a man who helped me go through college, read one of my books.  He would send me corrections by email.  When he learned I was writing Huey, he let me know he was ready to help.  Turns out, editing was his job.  (I didn't know that.)  Here's what I learned: The editing process is very intense.  I thought writing was hard and editing fun.  That's true.  But editing is also tough stuff.  You have to argue and discuss and think through all kinds of things.

I wrote Mr. Editor one day, "Does the novel work?"
"Does it work?" tough Mr. Editor asked.
"You know, the engine that drives this thing.  The story itself.  Does it work?"
"I don't know.  I'm looking at spelling right now."
Sigh.
A week later.  "Hey, I read the whole thing over.  To answer your question, yes, it works."
Sweat swept from my brow.

How people talk:
I had a lot of fun writing dialogue -- mostly.  I would watch movies from the thirties, just to get an idea of words they used.  I youtubed 1930s North Carolina, to hear people from that era.  Also to note how they dressed.

What was difficult: racism.  Race plays an important role in the book as Huey's church defies some cultural norms of the day.

Stephen King advises a writer to play it straight, even if its costly.  yeah, your mom is gonna read it, but we have to stay true to the characters, King argues.  I think he's right, or his audience.  He can have cussing and racism and people accept that.  But i wasn't comfortable with that.  My own hangup?  Maybe.  Probably.  It meant I cleaned up some of what the KKK group in the book said.  I knew how they would really say it, but I wrote around that.

I asked a friend of mine from the region to give me every bad name for blacks he knew.  I only knew one, the N word.  Oh man!  He came back with a list and gave it to me in person.  I did use some of them, just to convey racism -- but by no means all.  As I stuffed his list into my pocket, my friend said, "Do me a favor, don't get hit by a car with all those words stuffed in your pocket.  They'll think you're some kind of right wing racist."  I pointed out it was his handwriting.

Stephen King rules I did not follow: I did not follow King's "door closed" and "door open" rule while writing.  I brought my wife along on the process.  In fact, a lot of people went with me on the journey, because there was so much to verify and learn.

Rule I did follow: I printed the whole thing up, tried to read as fast as I could, and cut about 30k words out of the story.

I am sure you are now aching to read by novel.  You've been waiting for that link.  Go ahead, buy lots, I've got four girls to send to college.  (and buy my Stpehen King book while you're at it.)

amazon.com
14.95 paperback
3.99 Kindle
0.00 Kindle Unlimited.

Can A Writer Write Too Much?

What do readers want?  More books. What does Stephen King give us?  More books.  But not nearly fast enough, some of you would scream.

Here's a great essay by King Can A Novelist be Too Productive? that appeared as a NY Times opinion.

King not only looks at the volume of material some authors produce, but the gaps.  (I expected him to mention Harper Lee.)

A couple short notes:

Interesting, King discusses the relevance of  John D. MacDonald, a writer who praised King in his introduction to Night Shift. I'll never forget this idea: MacDonald suggested that King is a good writer because he's written piles of junk. (My summary.) But staying faithful to the craft made King a strong writer.

King mentions that he wrote Running Man in a week. And that he once published four novels in a year. Not a bad pace!


I love this:

As a young man, my head was like a crowded movie theater where someone has just yelled “Fire!” and everyone scrambles for the exits at once. I had a thousand ideas but only 10 fingers and one typewriter. There were days — I’m not kidding about this, or exaggerating — when I thought all the clamoring voices in my mind would drive me insane.

Seasons:

What's nice about a writer like King -- a writer who produces a lot -- is that I can look back at seasons in my life and remember what King book I was reading. I am particularly fond of Needful Things, Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne and The Wastelands because they came out around my senior year of High School and freshman year of college. This was the first time I found myself waiting for King to write another novel.

Before that, earlier in High School, I was just blown away by all the stuff he'd already written. It, The Stand and all those early novels just had to be read. But once I made it to my senior year, I'd read most of the "old" stuff. There were a few false starts -- Tommyknockers and Salems' Lot. I don't know why I couldn't do Salems' back then, but it was tough.

Finders Keepers Journal 2: There's A Lot Of Blood Here

I was out walking tonight, innocently reading a well written mystery novel when -- the mystery novel turned into a horror novel.  Oh yeah. . . this is Stephen King at the wheel.  Sweet!

A few random notes on Finders Keepers thus far.  (I'm in the final pages.  1 hour 30 minutes left on ipod.)

1. There are no "nice" bad guys here.  Often Stephen King makes you feel kind of warm toward those monsters in his books..  You might not like them, and yet when their scenes came you quietly rooted for them.  That's not the case here.  There's nothing to like in ole Morris; the sooner King dispenses with him the better.

2. King is a master not only of horror, but suspense.  Yes, I know that's Hitchcock's playground, but King fits in just fine.

3. The story is built on an interesting premise.  What if. . .
What if a famous author was murdered and along with a small fortune in cash, his hand written first drafts of some unpublished novels were taken.  Then, after hiding the loot, the criminals were either killed or landed themselves in prison.  And then, what if. . . a boy found the loot.  What insues from there is edge of your seat stuff.

4. I like Hodges.  Not sure why, since he seems your run of the mill gumshoe.  But I like the guy.  He really is cut of the most simple "mystery novel detective" cloth.  Maybe that's why I like him; I don't have to take a lot of time to get to know Hodges, because I already know him from American lore.

5. As is so normal in a King story, characters make decisions that are absolutely nuts.  You want to yell at them.  They ought to get knocked off just for being so stupid.  I'm not saying who, because some of you whine about spoilers -- but let's just say there's a certain teen who isn't good at decision making.  What's more, teeny boy resists the most natural "outs" for the difficult situations he gets himself into.  He consistently makes his own path more difficult.  Just like a teen, right?  Not really.  Teens tend to take the path of least resistance.  This character is actually pretty self assured.

6. King has not forgotten how to identify with the working family.  The stolen cash is given to the family in increments of about $500.  For them -- this is life changing.  For King, its a drop in the bucket.  (Not that he showed me his checkbook recently.)  But it can be easy for a person with means to forget when just an extra hundred or more can do for a family.  My wife started working this year and it was almost instantly life changing; and we're not even talking about a lot of money.  I'm glad King didn't bump the number up to something like a thousand or more.

Like Mr. Mercedes, Finders is told in the present tense.  I like it a lot -- but I didn't know it was legal.  Sure, the kid in creative writing did it; but he was weird.  Stephen King does it justice.

Finally, I want to note something that should be an entire blog post: Finders Keepers is about books.  Books King made up and books we all know.  The murdered author, John Rothstein, reminds me of J.D. Salinger, who wrote the acclaimed Catcher int he Rye. (I'm not sure why I had to read that in High School.)  

Finders Keepers Journal 1: Oh Yeah!

Finders Keepers is the sequel – kind of – to Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes.  But, in typical King fashion, the novel doesn’t quite feel like a sequel.  Because the story doesn’t pick up where Mercedes left off, it backs up and moves through scenes we’ve already been to in the first novel, but this time with different characters.  Thus we the reader relive the horror once again, but from a new angle.

Finders Keepers is certainly it’s own book; but it is wound tight with Mr. Mercedes references and story twists.

I’ve been away from reading Stephen King for a while, and the arrival of Finders Keepers caught me by surprise.  “Oh, is that this week?”  And then a little fear.  I couldn’t even remember everything Mr. Mercedes was about; details had slipped away.  Was I ready to return?  What if the magic had left?  But the warmth hasn’t gone anywhere.  Those “OH YES!” moments of reading a Stephen King novel come quick in Finders Keepers.  That’s partly because it is a second novel, so King is giving us easter eggs right from the get go.

You know about Stephen King “Oh yes!” moments, right?
That’s when Carrie burns up her school, and your heart goes, YES!
When a writer pulls off something, maybe something you didn't see coming, and you're amazed at how they did it.  When Roland steps into the world of The Stand.  Or, when the corpse comes to life in Revival.  Or when the grieving father carries his dead child up to the pet cemetery, and you know this novel has some traction.  Inside, you're going, "Oh yeah!"

I love it when two books come together and you feel distant sparks.  Like when Gerald’s Game and Dolores Claiborne touch.  Of course, Mercedes and Finders are supposed touch.  But the way King does it is mesmerizing.  He doesn’t just bop on with the story, picking up where Mercedes left off.  He starts a new story, running alongside and intersecting the time line of the first novel before eventually starting on a fresh track.  This is brilliant!  And powerful when done by a master like King.

Characters:

As with any King book, the characters take center stage in the story telling.  What I like is how very complex King makes characters.  These people feel real.  Someone injured by the evil Mr. Mercedes isn’t just a poor pitiful victim in a Stephen King novel; they are a real person.  King shows us the emotional pain a physical injury can bring to a marriage.  I like it that King allows characters, children, to make up expressions for their parents behavior.  Adults don’t just argue, it’s the arkie barkies.

By the way, any time someone digs up a buried treasure chest in a Stephen King book, your heart should start pounding.  Because -- I mean, it's Stephen King!  Who knows what's in that chest.  Could be pirates gold or money.  But it could be rotted body parts or a clown nose.

Writing:

A quick note here about the style of the book.  First, unlike Mercedes, I have not detected that the novel is told is strict present tense.

Second, there are points where the narration allows dialogue to flow like a play.  You know:
Dad:
Mom:
Dad:
(A side from the one observing.)
This is interesting because I haven’t ever seen King use this approach in a novel.  Certainly he’s written plenty of scripts, but novels usually have the normal back and forth flow of quotes mingled with narration.  In fact, I was unaware that it was “okay” for a novel to use this style until I read The Keep, by Jennifer Egan.  I was so startled by how easy she made the dialogue using this format that I incorporated into my own writing.

Just under the surface of Finders Keepers is the ever evolving discussion about The Writer.  King gave us a first glimpse into the writer in Misery.  In Finders Keepers, a writers notebooks become part of the driving force of the novel.

Of course, King has insisted he doesn’t use an idea notebook.  In fact, he’s said that a writers notebook is a great way to preserve bad ideas.  The good ones, King says, stick with you.  (This is like preachers who insist they don’t use notes. The truth is, they don’t always stay on topic and tend to talk too long.)

That aside, there are certainly piles of Stephen King notebooks we would all love to see.  Much if not all of Dream catcher was written by hand and filled a pile of notebooks.  Wouldn’t you like to have that in your collection?  Finders Keepers is partly about a guy who steals a writers notebooks.

Stories With GREAT and not so great Endings

Does a stories ending matter?  Sometimes.  But if you're a Stephen King fan, you've learned that the landing can sometimes be a bumpy ride.

Hey, sometimes, like in the case of The Mist,  he doesn't end the story.   He just leaves it for the reader to choose their own adventure.  Remember choose your own adventure books?  I want a Stephen King choose your own adventure story.

This is pretty random.  My six favorite story endings.  And some of my least favorite.

Some stories with great endings:
1. Pet Sematary.  Would there be another way to end that novel?  What happened to Rachel after she killed Louis?
2. The Dead Zone.  This book kept me turning pages to the end.  I hate saying that because. . . it's so over used.
3. The Green Mile.  Yeah, it's sad and all, but  I like it.  So there.
4. The Shining.  King once said that his original idea was to kill them all.  A total blood bath.  I'm glad he didn't go with that.
5. Joyland.  Yes, I do think it worked.  In fact, I think Joyland is one of King's strongest books.  There's some magic in that little novel that can't quite be described.  Maybe it's King's ability to time warp the reader back into the 1970's.  He so  beautifully describes young love, and old love revived.
6. Mr. Mercedes.  But now that I read the novel, I don't have any desire to go back too it.  Because once you understand the end, it doesn't seem like a road that needs to be traveled again and again.

And a few that weren't so great. . . 
I find that often the larger books are the ones I feel fail to really end with a bang.  They build and build and build and then King brings them in for a nice, gentle landing.  I think this is the case in both IT and The Stand.  I liked both endings.  In the case of The Stand, the final battle against evil takes place, and then the story continues with the long journey home.  The plot tension is the question: Will Stu survive?  Will humanity survive?  Will Fran's baby the the flu?

I have begun to come to terms with the ending to The Dark Tower series.   Maybe I even like it.  Bev Vincent just about convinced me in an interview he did with me and in his wonderful Dark Tower companion book.

Needful things did not end well in my opinion.  The whole video tape of Pangborn's wife's death was strange. King did such a good job moving multiple storylines together, and then at the very end it just didn't play out quite right.

Duma Key was a great ride, but it took so long to get to the end that I wasn't sure I was still fully engaged in the story.

Under  The Dome has got to be the novel which has, in my opinion, the worst ending -- yet is one of the best stories.  the entire cause/purpose of the Dome made little sense in the novel.  If the TV show is doing anything, it is redeeming the Dome itself.  Giving the giant structure purpose.

Some of the classic books leave me wanting more.  Carrie was a great book!  I wish there had been more to it at the end.

Your turn. . .

Judges: THE WILD WEST OF THE BIBLE

Hey, I got an early release on my book, Judges, The Wild West Of The Bible.  What's that have to do with Stephen King?  Probably nothing, except that there's a lot of gross stuff and horror in Judges, and Stephen King seems to like that kind of stuff.  But hey, it's MY BOOK -- so  be happy for me and buy lots of copies; I've got four girls to raise here.

Judges is one of the most difficult books of the Bible to deal with.  There is war, serious evil and all kinds of weirdness going on.  We're talking civil war, gang rape, murder; one guy stabs a fat king and loses his knife inside the king's belly.  More than once I've had someone say to me, "I was reading my Bible, and I came to some pretty weird stuff."  I always know, they have found the book of Judges.

$12.99 paperback
$9.99 kindle  (The kindle version is FREE if you buy the paperback.)
210 pages.

amazon.com/Judges

Howdy! It’s time to saddle up for a ride through some of the most rough and tumble portions of scripture; the book of Judges.

Judges is a critical bridge in the Biblical narrative, taking us from the early pioneers as they ride into the land to the wars with natives. Throughout Judges, God raised up a series of bold sheriffs who would deliver an old west style of justice.

Judges, The Wild West Of The Bible, is an energetic guided tour to one of the most exciting books of the Bible. Come ride with me as we meet some real heroes in history, and some of the cruelest villains ever to walk the face of planet earth.

Judges is both fun, and difficult. This is one book it's good to have someone saddled up beside you to show you the lay of the land. The horses are ready, your gear is packed, I got you a canteen and some jerky. Let's get riding, partner. And bring a six-shooter, there's some badlands ahead.

This guided tour, written an energetic flare, will address some issues Believers wrestle with today, such as:

1. Can I trust and love a God who ordered the Hebrews to kill all the people in the land?

2. Did Jephthah sacrifice his own daughter? Is God good with that? Would God ask the same of us?

3. Can God heal the pain of a broken family?

4. Is there a way back to God after I've messed up big time?

5. If I believe, why do I doubt?

Judges contains the best single chapter of the Bible devoted to raising Godly children.

Alright, Saddle up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Check out my other books:

 Goliath's Head, The Real Story Of David and Goliath,

amazon.com/Goliaths-Head

Three thousand years ago a boy stood face to face with a giant and changed the world. It's time to find out what this story is really about. 

The account of David and Goliath is rich with details easily overlooked. Have you ever wondered why the Bible says that a man named Elhanan killed Goliath? What happened to Goliath’s sword? Yes, the giants sword does reappear in the Bible. 

• Why did Jesse send cheese with young David to a battle? 

• Why did David cut off Goliath’s head? 

• And what did David do with the giant’s head?

 In Goliath's Head, David Squyres directs us not only to the rich meanings in this account, but to its powerful application to our daily lives. Do you work for a jerk? So did David. Do you have a difficult family? So did David. Does anyone mock and ridicule your faith? David knew those hardships, too. Yet, despite frustrations, derision and insults, David not only defeated the enemy in front of him, he changed the world.

Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters,

amazon.com/Stephen-King-Face-Among-Masters

With dozens of bestsellers and internationally praised novels, Stephen King has become a household name and well-known author worldwide. His novels such as Carrie and The Dark Tower series have captured audiences, catapulting the author to stardom. His “constant reader” base continues to grow and hang on the author’s every published word. However, King isn’t alone in the elite group of writers—authors from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Charles Dickens have also penned novels that captured the world. Upon closer look, King’s stories and characters share striking resemblances to those of the great authors of the past. But, like the works of Poe, Lovecraft, and Dickens, can King’s novels stand the test of time?

Filled with examples from King’s bestsellers, Stephen King: A Face among the Masters examines the author’s inspirations and what makes his books so captivating. Why is Carrie still so relevant, decades after its publication? What makes 11/22/63’s Jake Epping so memorable? How does King master creating such complex worlds in The Stand and The Dark Tower? These are the worlds only a master writer can create.

 Check  out Bryant's review of Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters, at thetruthinsidethelie.blogspot.com 

Huffington Post Blog Accuses Stephen King Of Not Being Able To Write

Michael Conniff posted a blog post at Huffington Post titled, "Why Stephen King Can't Write." (huffingtonpost.com)

Conniff declares that he likes everything Stephen King stands for, and cites a list that really has nothing to do with things King actually "stands" for.  Like -- He has a library next to his house.  Well, if that's the case, put me on the list, I also stand for having libraries next to your house!  I stand with you both!

Wait, you might be wondering who it is that Huff Post has decided is worthy of the platform of smashing Stephen King.  Michael Conniff is a well known author.  In fact, he's sold 11 books.  Not 11 million.  Not 11,000.  11.  ELEVEN.

So exactly how does the esteemed author think Stephen King has failed the writing world?  (Never mind that Stephen King actually wrote the book On Writing!)
 
Of course, after pointing out that Stephen King has sold a few more books than he has, Conniff resorts to telling ust hat sales don't matter, only the words on the paper matter.  And that might be true, but in the world of writing, readers  are the judge of those words.  And it appears the American public judges King worthy of continued sales.  And, 11 people have bought Mr. Conniff's books.  11.

Conniff builds his case on King's latest novel, Mr. Mercedes.  This is frustrating because King used a different style for Mercedes than his usual third person past tense.  Everything is told in present tense in Mercedes, a style King has never used for an entire novel.  So to judge the whole of his work, his ability to write, on this one novel seems like nothing more than a sulky uneducated jealous writer wanting to get some punches in on the big guy.  (Thanks Huffington Post for giving Conniff the platform to do this.)

Conniff accuses King of, "bad writing." After giving us an example paragraph, he then calls King out on "strike two" and asks, "what in the name of all that's scary is a "rank of doors"? Is it some kind of hierarchy or grading system or a band from the Sixties?  I have no idea, and if you're honest, neither do you. It's a stinkeroo."

Here's King's sentence: "When Augie reached the top of the wide, steep drive leading to the big auditorium, he saw a cluster of at least two dozen people already waiting outside the rank of doors, some standing, most sitting."

Made sense to me.  Need it broken down?  Is something unclear?  Wold Conniff think it owuld be better stated, "he saw a cluster of at least two dozen people already waiting outside a bunch-o doors."
Wait, Conniff then gives King a big "strike three."  Which is easy when you make up the game, and you're the Umpire.  The bottom line of his third complaint is that Conniff doesn't like complicated sentences.  He would probably prefer my the books piles up in my children's rooms.  In fact, Conniff declares that King's sentence is "completely incoherent."  And it is -- for him.

Conniff rants, "Wide? Steep? Big? Doors mysteriously ranked? Mazelike non-maze? They prickle me not."  Genius.

Then he makes the charge that because King is focused on  the story, he doesn't care about the words he uses.  He's just barfing up words to push the story forward.  Which is, of course, the opposite of what he argues in On Writing.  A whole portion of On Writing deals with the tools of the craft -- words.

Wait, Conniff isn't done.  He then suggests that it's the movies that save Stephen King's stories.  (REALLY!)  Conniff writes:

it takes movies like "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile" to bring his ideas to life. 

Finally, Conniff confesses, "I've never loved his writing."  Of course, he's cited how many books he actually read? Mr. Mercedes and On Writing.  That's it.  I don't know if he's read more, because he doesn't say, and without using WORDS, I have no way of knowing what Conniff has read.

Finally, the Huff Post blogger decides to smack all of us who like King -- because, of course, we're buying Stephen King books and not Michael Conniff books.  (Well, 11 of you might have switched teams here.  11.)    Connif says, "In a way, you can't blame Stephen King for his shortcomings as a writer. Like his audience, he just wants to find out what happens next."  In other words, King so intense into his story, he doesn't care how he gets there.

So Conniff never addresses Kings ability to build characters, advance plot, create suspense and draw the reader right into the mind of some pretty terrible people.  He doesn't look at King's real gift, characters.  Why?  Because simply put, Conniff can't handle the way Stephen King writes and sentence.  His arrogance and pride blinds him to the fact that he's tossing stones at an American Master.  

Obviously, Mr. Conniff needs to read my book, "Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters."  Then he will be better equipped to understand why Stephen King's work is important.

King takes on Amazon

Stephen King, along with hundreds of authors like Nora Roberts and Donna Tartt signed an online letter criticizing Amazon.com.  Amazon has been restricting access tow orks  publishedby Hachette Books Group over  e-book prices.

Hillel Italie at The Telegraph explains, "Amazon has slowed delivery on books by Preston and other Hachette authors, limited discounts and removed pre-order tags for upcoming releases."

Italie's article focuses on author Douglas Preston, author of "The Codex."

In a telephone interview Thursday, Preston said he was receiving so many emails of support that he felt like "a data entry clerk." Known for such thrillers as "Blasphemy" and "The Codex," Preston said he admired Amazon and appreciated how many of his books have sold through the online retailer. But he objected to Amazon's "scorched earth tactics." 

"A lot of pain is being inflicted on innocent third parties," he said, referring to authors whose books have been affected. 

Preston's next book, "The Lost Island," is a collaboration with Lincoln Child that comes out in August. Only the audio edition can be pre-ordered.

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/07/03/3180930/king-caro-among-those-backing.html#storylink=cpy

My Book About Stephen King

My copies of Stephen King, A Face Among The Masters, came today.  Mostly copies to send for review -- and one for Annie. I dedicated the book to her, and the first copy came on what seemed like the worst day of her life.  (It wasn't trust me) But to see her name in print brought a huge smile to her face on a gloomy day.

You can buy it here: amazon.com/Stephen-King-Face-Among-Masters

90 pages

Kindle Edition  $7.50     

Paperback  $8.90 (if you buy the paperback, the Kindle is just $1.00)

The purpose of the book is not so much to tell you brand new things about Stephen King.  Did you know Stephen King wrote his own father into the pages of The Stand?  Yes, I discuss that -- but that kind of information isn't the thrust of  what I wanted to deal with.

Of the many emails I get, very few (none) are asking me questions about King himself.  Usually I get more literary questions.  Of interest to me was to compare King's work and life to the work of other great writers, artist and directors of the past.  Alfred Hitchcock's movies will be studied for years to come; will future generations regard King the same way?

So actually, the book is as much about OTHER artist as it is Stephen King.  It looks at those who inspired him and looks at direct connections between his work and theirs.

Why I wrote under a pen name:
Because I also write other things and did not want to confuse my authors page at Amazon.

I chose to self publish because it was actually the easiest avenue to offer exactly the content I wanted.

There are some things I discovered in the journey:

1. There are no public domain pictures of Stephen King.  

After sending my manuscript to my editor, Kristin, I wrote to a woman who does cover art.  "No  way!" She said at once.  "I can't do anything that has a picture of Stephen King."

I realized I would need someone who didn't just design covers, but who actually had the ability to draw.  That lead me to France (yeah, France) and a young woman named Misha.  She had a lot of ideas, but became a little panicked when she realized that there are indeed NO public domain pictures of Stephen King.  None.  Zip.  

Often cover art is done using stock photos, manipulated in such a way as to make them look original or unique.  So a lot of book covers are really collages.

You can get public domain pictures of Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Dickens, H.P. Lovecraft and even Mr. Poe.  But not Stephen King.  The artist shared that she felt she could draw freehand a picture of King that would be unique to the cover.  

"Are you sure this doesn't break copyright or something," I asked.
"Well, no way," she wrote back.  "I drew it with my own hand.  It's not a photograph, it's a drawing.  More important, it's my drawing."

I felt better.  Nah, actually, I felt really excited!

2. The name Stephen King cannot be used as a search word on Amazon.  

Really? . . . REALLY!  Amazon dinged the book upon review, indicating that  they do not allow authors names or references to other books to be used as keywords.

Wait a minute.  What if the book is actually about Stephen King?

This lead to an exchange of emails.  "What about books that are biographies?" I asked.  Ah, that seemed to raise an eyebrow.  The next day I got an email indicating my search words were A-Okay.  I wrote back, just to be sure exactly which search words were okay.  I got an email from Amazon indicating that they reviewed the book and decided that the name "Stephen King" was indeed an appropriate search term for the subject matter.  I felt like I'd won some kind of small victory.

3. Editing is important.

I didn't learn this -- I knew it; but I think it's worth sharing.  Everything we write needs editing.  Blogs need an editor -- but no one wants to pay someone to edit a blog!  I think it's funny when someone says, "I have an aunt who's  an English major, and she's editing my book."

I had my wife read through the book as I wrote, and then a second time once it was complete.  She caught a lot of things -- but it still had to go off to Kristen House.  I think it's important to find someone who is a professional at editing and who you don't know.  After all, people you know are a little more forgiving.  What's more, people who know you also know how you speak.  That means that when reading, they sometimes fill in words or sentences the way their mind remembers you speaking, not the way the words actually appear on the page.  That's also why you can't edit your own work; you don't see what's on the paper, you see what you remember writing.

A copy edit goes through the entire book, looking for not only spelling errors, but content and clarity of the manuscript.  It also identifies awkward sentences and works to restructure them.

The scary part is fact checking.  As a current post by Bryant Burnette will point out, even fans get facts wrong.  The process of fact checking was constant.  Also, when I sent the small book over to the editor, I had a list of words that were supposed to be spelled wrong.  "Mother Abigail is spelled ABAGAIL," one note read.  And, "Please do not correct Sematary in Pet Sematary."  

Six Reasons It's Not So Good To Be A Constant Reader

image credit: blog.abdopublishing

I love reading Stephen King books.  There are many great things about being a constant reader.  But I've posted plenty of articles outlining those benefits.  But we should admit, there are a few drawbacks to being a Stephen King fan.  Here are a few:

1. Non-King readers think I'm reading really (REALLY) bad stuff.  

Hey, I don't endorse it all -- but for the most part, people who don't read King have bought into the idea that all he writes are scary novels full of bad words.  So I say to my friends, "You know, King also wrote the Green Mile."  This usually results in puzzled looks.  For real?  Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, even the screenplay for Little House On The Prairie.  Throw that last one in just for fun.  if they didn't know he wrote the first three, and they find out you're right, they start to wonder if maybe he did indeed write Little House.

2. He's super famous.  

Is that a problem? Not really, except that it means he's in no way accessable to the average fan.  Look, if you want to talk to most authors,  you can write them a note, drop them an email and have a normal correspondence.  I talk to authors all the time!  This includes novelist, theologians, historians and more.  But once a writer reaches a certain level of popularity, they are no longer able to correspond with readers one on one.

There was a day -- many days ago  -- when you could mail Stephen King your copy of one of his books.  He would sign it and mail it back to you.  Those days are -- GONE!

3. There's brain damage.  

This is awkward to confess to, but Stephen King messes with my head.  Scenes from books are etched in my brain and flash before me at inopportune times.  Our church once did a Christmas play that had a scene in a child's bedroom.  The mother came into the room to pray with the child and discuss why daddy was deployed to Iraq.  But, the bedroom scene on the church stage had been set up right under the big sanctuary cross.  All I could think was -- CARRIE WHITE!  Stop it brain!  And thank you, Mr. King.

Most of the brain damage has to do with people.  Not a problem if a sweet, Godly, old lady reminds me of Mother Abagail.  But I've also met Mrs. White, Mrs. Carmody, and Reverend Coggins.  You can't say to people, "You remind me so much of this person from a Stephen King novel!"

4. I don't read first editions.

Are you crazy?  You can't read those things!  Not the Cemetery Dance first edition, anyway.  So then I have to buy two copies of new novels!  I once complained to my wife when she read my first edition of The Dark Tower.  "Come on, David," she shot  back, "I don't are if it's a first edition.  I've read six novels, I'm not waiting until this comes out in paperback to read it."  Sure enough, she didn't, and she smudged a page.  A SMUDGE!  She didn't see the problem.

Most often I fix this problem by buying the audio book and the hardcover.  That way I can listen to the book first, put the unread hardcover on my shelf, and patiently wait for the paperback.

5. I feel the need to correct people on obscure facts.

"I like Stephen King, too," someone will say.  "Especially the one with the haunted hotel, where  the guy chases his wife with an ax."

Do you leave that alone?  Dare I explain that my friend is discussing the Kubrick movie, not the King story.  Because  to most people, it doesn't matter.  But it does to me!

"Didn't he write the one about the house. . . what's it called?  Amityville. . ."
nooooo!!!  And this is a problem.  When friends say things that are wrong, how quickly should a King fan correct them?  How big a nerd do you really want others to know you are?  If you correct them too quickly, they  might say, "Hey, you know a little too much about Stephen King. Maybe you're getting a bit too obsessed."  Yeah, knock it off, redrum.

6. I have a love hate relationship with a lot of movies and television.

I can't wait for a movie version (or television) of a book I like to come out.  But I also know, I KNOW, that the likelihood of it being really very good is, well, not very good.  So do I stay away from the screen versions of King's work?  No way!  I've got to see them.  Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised, like with Secret Window.  Often, it's a little painful.  (I offer you nothing here, because you all know the movie's I'm talkng about!)

What's worse, since King is mostly known for his media, non-King reading friends think they know King by his movies.  I went to watch Sleepwalkers with my dad.  Ulgh.  We left the theater with me trying to explain that didn't represent the Stephen King universe.  But now when he sees Stephen King on my shelves, he thinks Sleepwalkers.

BONUS: 7. He makes it look easy.

Of course I can write like Stephen King. It can't be hard, right?  Well, it  must be tougher than it looks, because I can't do it.  And there  are lots of people who try to write like King, an haven't mastered it.  He has a natural story-telling voice that speaks directly to the reader that cannot be matched.

Okay, your turn.  What's the down side of being a Constant Reader?

Steven Petite Calls THE STAND A 20th Century Classic

In his Huffington Post article, "Taking The Stand For Stephen King," Steven Petite makes the argument that Stephen King is more than a popular genre writer -- but a truly "great" writer.

Petite notes that King is often underrated, though he has received numerous awards that should break him out of the horror mold.

Petite steps out to make a bold statement; one book alone is strong enough to be considered a 20th century "classic."  And he isn't talking about The Shining.  The Stand, Petite argues, is a truly great novel.  "In 1991," he writes, "The Stand should have been considered for the Pulitzer and the National Book Award."

The Stand is without a doubt one of the greatest stories ever told. He may be considered the greatest genre writer alive, and his books are likely to be read for hundreds of years, most likely surpassing some of the nominees for both awards in 1991.

Is appreciate a voice out there ready to call not only King a great writer, but his work "classic" literature.  For too long we've assumed popular equaled trash.  The truth is, most great books were popular when released.   Naturally, some writers, like Poe, were not really praised until later; but it's not like Charles Dickens was only discovered after he died!

Sometimes a writers own peer group, reading public and critics begin to recognize that something special is going on here.  That's what Petite hones in on.  He writes, 

"My reading habits primarily are of the "literary" nature, but Stephen King's knowledge of literature, his grasp of storytelling, and the art that he creates are worth taking a stand for, because without Stephen King, the book industry would be vastly different today."

Is The Stand that strong?  I think Petite has hit the nail on the head; it is indeed.   Has King done better than The Stand?  That's up for debate, isn't it?  IT, The Green Mile, 11/22/63 and The Shining should all rate up there as truly great novels.  But the Stand is special to us.

What makes The Stand so much fun?  It’s a modern telling of the end of the world.  The apocalypse comes right down to us.  It’s our New York and our Los Angeles. It all comes to an end thanks to a government created plague the West Coast calls Captain Trips.  A long, sprawling novel, The Stand has lots of little cubbyholes–pockets of story that are a world of their own within the larger story.  (Stephen King A Face Among The Masters)

More than just being fun, King dives into other authors worlds and plays with their toys.  With The Stand, King even dabbled in the world of Poe.  -- but I'm saving that for the book.

Read Steve Petite's full article at: huffingtonpost.com

Check out Steve Petite's book, The Concept Of Home at amazon.com/Conceptofhome
Today is Steve's birthday,  which means he has dropped the kindle edition to 99 cents.  You can't really beat that.

A coming of age tale starring Porter Wallace: A failed writer who needs to find a purpose for his existence. After giving up on writing, he embarks on a journey to rediscover life, love, and the true meaning of home. He burns bridges along the way, learns from mentors and uncovers secrets as his quest to become a writer again turns out to be secondary to his home.

--HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN!

Joyland Vacation

Joyland Journal#7

Vacations are great because you can do a lot of reading.  I'm listening through Joyland a second time, but have to slip away a lot when the kids aren't in the car because -- they don't get to read gobs of Stephen King.  Don't argue with my parenting on this one!  A great drive is really about the book, and Joyland is a fantastic summer read.

Some observations I might have missed the first time through:

1. King is really good at bring back the flavor of first love.  First love is different.  It's special.  First love involves all those firsts.  First time holding hands romantically; first kiss; first argument; first make up; first time heart broken.  Devin is certainly in the throws of young (first?) love and the pain involved in the realization that it's not to be.  He's going to get dumped.  What's amazing is how brilliantly King captures this period of life.  King does more than just describe Dev's feelings, it's the way the breakup transpires.  First the distance, then the growing coldness, un-returned calls matched with the growing unease that something has changed.  Of course, Wizard and Glass had plenty of young love, but that was in another world.  There is something special about the summer of 1973.  It's close -- very close -- to our world.

2. Was there a mistake?  Here's something I didn't catch the first time through -- the Heimlich maneuver.  In 1973, it hadn't been published yet.  However, Devin saves a girl at Joyland using the Heimlich.  He then explains that of course --as we all would know when we ran to google to check -- the maneuver's publication was yet forthcoming.  But, Devin chalks it up to good training and the obvious thing to do.  I wonder (I'm just wondering here) if King originally used the term directly and it was spotted in editing as a problem.  King does a nice job digging his away of that small problem.

3. There are references in Joyland to Hitchcock (the carousel), Lovecraft, and Dickens.  It seems Mr. Jones is well read; and his choice in movies is just fine, too.

4. That Joyland is on the brink of financial disaster is more than hinted at throughout the novel.  It's a tight operation, and small theme parks don't stand a chance against the Disney giants.  (Include in there Six Flags and Universal.)  However, that isn't quite true.  The small theme park has actually held its own over time.  Of course, they have to be well run and grow with the times.  A good theme park, even the small ones, are able to expand and offer new rides and attractions each season.  Parks like Knotts Berry Farm, a local Anaheim amusement park right down the street from Disneyland is a wonderful smaller park.  Why didn't Joyland make it?  It probably had  more to do with it's own lack of innovation and less to do with Disney than the management would want to admit.  Though the park has heart, it is also apparent that it does not have a lot of new rides.

5. King doesn't drop too much on the reader at once.  A fault of young writers is to introduce everything early on, wanting to foreshadow and build everything.  But King tends to focus on different aspects of the story, like a painter working on a specific part of the canvas.  He mentions the boy on the beach early in the novel, but says little more about them until the books midpoint.  The early novel is focused on young love, what the theme park is like and who the various characters are who work the park.  Even more surprising, King gives little more than a few hints at the "mystery" that's afoot.  He tells the story of the murdered woman, which the reader knows upfront will be a major plot piece, but he doesn't play with those details too early.  That's left for the late part of the novel.

How James Patterson Writes So Many Books

Stephen King is very prolific.  King usually offers at least one new novel a year, and often he's treated constant readers to two new novels a year.  So 2013 gave us Joyland and Doctor Sleep.  This year will see the release of Mr. Mercedes and Revival.  (I'm still waiting for someone at the big publishing house to tell us that Revival cover was just a joke.)

My wife commented recently that King sure writes books quickly.  But compare that pace to James Paterson, who has published 130 novels.

Wait.  What?  -- 130 novels?! How is that possible?

Drake Baer lets us in on Patterson's secret at businessinsider.com, noting first Pattersons pattern is one of short, fast paced chapters with lots of action.  But how does he write so much?  Baer notes,

he treats his Alex Cross, Women's Murder Club, and other series the way a television writer might approach a new season of "The West Wing" — he's worked with more than 20 co-authors.

From Baer's interview, this is an interesting note on writing:

 For me it's all rewriting. It's layering. The writing keeps hopefully getting better. The dialogue gets sharper. My style is very colloquial. It's the way we tell stories. It would be a disaster if everybody wrote the way I do. I don't put in a ton of detail.

Of course, King doesn't write this way at all.  His books are not fast paced at all, but build slowly, revolving around deep characters and a layered backdrop that make the story strike a deep chord in the reader.  Thus, I think, King readers have more of a personal connection with King's work.  Patterson pleases us the way a television episode does; it entertains us for the time.  But a good King novel draws us back time and again, because we want to reengage with those characters and relive those situations.

Grisham and King

I love John Grisham books.  Or, I should say, I loved them.  I fell out of love years ago when I decided there was a formula going on.  Good young lawyer hooks up with evil law firm; young lawyer is tempted to go bad, but ultimately takes on the system and brings down the house.

There are more than a few Grisham books I think are awesome.  The Pelican Brief, The Testament, The Client, The Firm, The Street Lawyer -- and more.

Truth is, it's hard to read two writers who write a LOT of books. Stephen Colbert asked Grisham if the two had a rivalry going to see who could write the most words per day.

All that to say that I started reading a John Grisham book the other day.  Back to familiar ground.

King and Grisham have very different writing styles.  King is very character driven, while Grisham is all action.  "I'm very plot driven," Grisham once said.  "I don't waste time with other things."  That's the truth!  Of course, I'm listening to an abridgment, so that speeds up the plot all the more.

Grisham tends to talk over scenes instead of dropping the reader into them.  King likes to build a story like a movie, scene my scene.  Grisham narrates over the scenes, sometimes giving big sweeping explanations.  King typically dispenses information one bit at a time as through the characters.  That means that the reader does not usually know more than the characters themselves.  We might pick up new information when King switches characters.  Grisham speaks more directly to the reader.  He freely gives the reader information that the characters in the novel don't have.

By the way, both ways are totally valid forms of story telling.  King at times employs this method.  For instance, in Eyes of the Dragon, King spends a lot of time talking right to the reader  about the story, giving the reader gobs of information the characters don't have.

Grisham discussed his writing style, noting that he does a lot of outlining and planning.  That's something King says he doesn't do  -- outline. Grisham also said he writes every day, about six pages a day.  Actually, that's the same pace King once said he keeps.  Explains why they are  both so productive.

In the book I'm reading, Grisham absolutely stunned me.  It's called, The Confession, about a pastor who gets a visit from a criminal.  The criminal confesses he murdered a woman; a crime a young black man is about to be executed for.  "I know where this is going," I thought.  I won't ruin the novel for you, but I was blown away.  There were twists and turns I sure didn't see coming.

So tell me what your favorite Grisham books are.  As for me, I'd choose: The Pelican Brief, The Testament and The Confession.

The endless allure of Stephen King

Check out The Globe and Mail's interview with author Ransom Riggs.  He discusses in particular the inspiration Stephen King has been to his own writing.

Riggssays, "My love of Stephen King led to a love of movies – starting with Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining – that made me want to make films, and I picked up a video camera and forgot about writing fiction for a while."

I really identify with this:

During my Stephen King phase, I wrote short stories and novellas about serial killers, ghosts, monsters, all in a wry, seen-it-all voice that was my 13-year-old self’s best impression of King. 

As a teen I loved writing fiction.  My biggest influence was Ken Follett, Conan Doyle and later Stephen King. A love of Sherlock Holmes lead me to write a series of stories about an adventurer named Roy Swiss.  Follett inspired me to write a long novel called, "Tears and Laughter."  It was about a walled city that thinks they are the only people on earth.  I really enjoyed writing it.

Writing was a needed escape from the horrors of Junior High and High School.  Not fun places.  But, they were so real, it wasn't hard to create characters.

When I first read  The Stand, I was overwhelmed with a feeling  that I too wanted to write  story about the end of the world.  When I was fifteen and wrote about 300 pages of a novel called Silent Perimeter.  Get this -- it was about a large city (Los Angeles renamed) that is surrounded by a massive fog that cannot be penetrated.  My thought was  that it would be a confined version of The Stand, using ideas King had presented in The Mist.  I didn't realize at the time just how much I was taking from King.  Of course, now it seems very much like Under The Dome, but that wasn't around back then.

Who has inspired your art?

Stars and Stripes Interview With Stephen King

I really enjoyed Stars and Stripes interview with Stephen King at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.  This was King's first  European tour.  He noted that Europeans all speak English, though he -- like most Americans -- is not really fluent in a European language.

Asked who he would most NOT like to meet among his many characters, King cited Annie Wilkes.  Because she  would be his #1 fan

Some of these questions we've seen  before (where do you get your ideas?), but the answers are kinda fresh this time around.  I wonder if he spent a day coming up with new lines for old questions!  When he was asked what scares him, he said, "Big audiences."

I work daily with the USMC and  Navy,and so I found his comments about the military delightful.  "Fantastic dedication," King declared.  As with most discussions with King lately,things turned quickly to substance abuse.  King said he's talked to a lot of people involved  with getting the military personnel clean and sober.

King calls writing his "playground."  It's a place he enjoys going.  He then, in a little bit more serious tone, admits that there is a  "craft" aspect of it.  I'm glad he says that, because when he just says he's having fun, some people tend not to take him serious as a writer.  It's as if they think an artiest can't be serious about their work and still have fun.  By the way -- thinking of the "playground" comment -- I think King would spook all the other kids on the playground out!

About the writing process itself, King acknowledges that he never "completely" knows when he begins a journey where a story is going to end up.  "with a novel, in particular, it’s a little bit like launching an intercontinental missile from the United States and hoping to hit one house in the Soviet Union. You can’t guide it that exactly, but I do the best that I can. And, you know, in the end, the story tells you where to go. It’s not like having a GPS. It’s more like exploring a neighborhood where you sort of know where some of the houses are but not everything, and to me that’s the fun of it."

About Doctor Sleep, King said:

it was very challenging, and for a long time I had a piece of an idea of what I wanted to do with the story, but not a complete idea. And I kind of fought the impulse to write that book because “The Shining” scared so many people, but they were younger then and I thought well, it’s one of those things where a lot of people remember it as the scariest book they ever read and no way could I live up to that, but at the same time, that was the challenge. 

But when I wrote “The Shining,” the main character, Jack Torrance was this alcoholic who was in what they call ‘white-knuckle sobriety.’ He doesn’t go to like AA meetings or anything like that. He’s just doing it on his own and that’s a lousy way to try to get sober. It’s dangerous and especially for a guy like Jack Torrance with a bad temper, it’s just asking for trouble. And Danny was the child of the classic dysfunctional family, alcoholic parent with tendencies towards abuse because he breaks the kid’s arm. 

I thought to myself, ‘I wonder what happened to that kid? What happened to him when he grew up?’ And not only that, people would ask me sometimes. They didn’t do that about any of the other characters in the books. Nobody ever came up to me and said, ‘Well, what eventually happened to Paul Sheldon in Misery?’ But Danny, people would ask about it and I was curious myself, and I wanted to kind of show redemption in action, because Jack kind of gives in to the Overlook Hotel and to his tendencies. And I wanted to see what would happen if I had Danny be an alcoholic who actually got recovered from that.

Does King have a favorite among his novels?  Well, get ready for this. . . he says "Lisey's Story" is his favorite.  He acknowledges that the book was not a "runaway bestseller" in the likes of Under the Dome or Doctor sleep, but "it's a book that means a lot to  me."  That's really interesting to me, since I've had trouble really getting into Lisey's Story.  I may have to try this again.  However, when asked which story he is most "passionate" about, King called out Under  The Dome.  That seems logical, since the story itself stayed with him for  such a long time.

This discussion about how King has changed as a writer over time is quite insightful:

It’s a little bit like looking at pictures of yourself as a child and then looking at yourself as an adult and you can see that there’s a quantum change in the way you look but it’s so gradual and you’re so much inside of it, you don’t really see it happen on a day by day basis. I think that I’m a better prose stylist now than I was when I was younger but probably not quite as fiery. I just think as you get older, a little bit of the urgency gets lost along the way and what you’re left with more and more isn’t the passion that you had as a young writer and more the craft. I still like it. Sometimes that still breaks out, I’ll feel that passion.

So who does Stephen King read?  Everyone.  More specifically,  Sue Grafton, John Sandford, Lee Child, Jonathan Franzen, Meg Wolitzer (he recommends her book, "The Interestings.")  HEY, no Dean Koontz?  Oh well.

Check  out the full interview: www.stripes.com

Doctor Sleep Journal #5: They Ate The Shining

photo credit: www.goniart.com

I got to go running alone last night, which meant a sweet return to Doctor Sleep.

When Danny finally meets up with Abra, some serious Shining goes down.  These two are able to talk to each other simply by thinking the conversation back and forth.  What's more, sometimes Abra can pick up on more than just what Dan sends her way.

In discussing a boy who was killed by the True Knot, note this snippet of conversation:

Recovering alcoholics strove for “complete honesty in all our affairs,” but rarely achieved it; he and Abra could not avoid it.
(food)
She stared at him, aghast. “They ate his shining?”
(I think so)
(they’re VAMPIRES?)
Then, aloud: “Like in Twilight?”
“Not like them,” Dan said.

 Several things to note:

1. Danny can't hide things from Abra the way he does with his AA sponsor.

2. I like the line, "they ate his shining."  The True Knot are some of King's most evil villains.  They're child killers.  They don't see anything wrong in what they do -- everyone has to eat, right?  We eat lamb and chicken and turkey; and the True Knot has reduced the rest of humanity to food.

3. The Twilight reference is kind of fun for a lot of reasons.  First, we all know King hates Twilight!  So he sets out to make it clear that his vampires are NOT like that.  Now she could have said, "Like in Salem's Lot?"  But she wouldn't have reason to really know about Salem's Lot.  Besides, Vampires in Salem's Lot really are naughty, naughty, naughty.

4. The writing here is worth note.  I would have been unsure  how to write this portion.  How do you communicate unspoken dialogue between two people?  I think I would have assumed you have to italicize.  But King uses a bolder approach, blocking the thoughts in in parentheses.

All interesting, but I'm still stuck on the thought . . . THEY ATE HIS SHINING!

Doctor Sleep Journal #4: I Talked To Stephen King Today

Annie, trying to be scared of a book she never read

The Girl With The Book:

This involves what some might consider whining.  Be assured, it is not whining, it is sulking.

Why is she holding a copy of Doctor Sleep in Walmart?  Let's just say I have to visit Walmart to see a real print edition of this book right now.  I guess part of buying a super-duper copy of Doctor Sleep is the joyful experience of waiting for it.  So, my joy and anticipation increases each day. Waiting.  waiting.  waiting.

What Stephen King Said To Me

One of the  things I  really love about King's writing is that he is not locked into a single, robotic form or style.  He is very free in his narration.  The reader can tell when he feels  light hearted, or when he just wants to scare us somethin' fierce.

In chapter 5 King speaks directly to the reader.  I'm listening to the novel, so it's like he's there -- in my headphones, talking right to me.  Here are a couple of examples (I'm choosing quotes I've heard King publically read)

--How many times have you found yourself behind a lumbering RV, eating exhaust and waiting impatiently for your chance to pass? Creeping along at forty when you could be doing a perfectly legal sixty-five or even seventy? 

--Or maybe you’ve encountered them in the turnpike rest areas, when you stop to stretch your legs and maybe drop a few quarters into one of the vending machines.

King goes on like this for quite a few pages, talking to us about those RV's that seem like such a normal part of America.  It's a shared common experience.

Is this style normal?  I don't think so.  Usually writers feel compelled to be a little more -- serious.  But King has no problem removing the wall between himself and the reader and speaking directly to us.  The narrative tone is conversational, easy going and even kind of gentle.  But don't be fooled!  King is laying a trap for the reader.  He is speaking gently right to us, drawing us in so that he can do crazy stuff to our brains and scare us so bad we scream like little girls.

I like the conversational narration a lot.  It makes it clear that this is not happening in a fantasy world; this isn't mid-world or OZ; This is happening in our world.  Does that matter?  YES!  King is not really telling a story set in in our world.  He is telling a story about vampires and decaying women who come out of your bathtub.  To help you with this -- that doesn't happen in our world! But by speaking to me, suddenly my world feels like it is indeed that world.  I have been drawn in to King's story, and my entire world with it.  Suddenly my world is one where nasty dead bodies could rise up out of the bathtub.  My children are in danger of the True Knot.

Shared experiences are important to this book.  King not only uses things we are familiar with -- RV's -- but events we all experienced together.  Things like the events surrounding 9/11 are given subthemes in the novel, causing the reader to quickly identify.  By the way, it says something for our national healing as 9/11 is now beginning to appear in literature as a fictional theme without people feeling traumatized.  (Yes, I do remember the towers had a role in the Dark Tower)

So what did Stephen King say to me?  (and you, if you'll read it)  He said that RV's might seem like a normal part of American life.  We all experience some of the same frustrations when we get stuck behind them, but we really don't pay them any mind.  However, we  should not be so quick to just think of them as part of the landscape of America.  It is the perfect place for evil to camouflage itself.

Scraps: Stuff That Caught My Eye:
1. Jerusalem's Lot
2. Hello Tony.
3. I like this quote

America is a living body, the highways are its arteries, and the True Knot slips along them like a silent virus.

The True Knot -- Evil or Not?

King is so good at putting us in the mind and body of his characters that he can actually get the reader to identify with some pretty naughty people.  Crazy as it sounds, as the True Knot took "steam" from a young boy, they so perfectly explained their morale that I understood it. They are so incredibly evil!  And they know  they are evil.  But, as they see it, they have to eat.  We don't think much of eating a cow. Well, they just happen to eat. . . steam.

What's Haunting Stephen King

10,000 Magazines, #9,996
USA Weekend, October 29-31

USA Weekend is a small paper.  The article, headlined "What's haunting Stephen King?" by Brian Truitt is titled "What's On Stephen King's dark side?" inside.  The short write-up is actually a series of quotes from King.  The artilce came out just as King was publishing Full Dark, No Staars.

Truitt says, "It's Halloween, a time when ghosts, goblins and assorted ghouls are everywhere.  So when better to check in with the master of horror himself, Stephen ing, whose next book, four novellas called Full Dark, No Stars based  around themes of retribution, arrives November 9."

Truitt reminds us that king prefers "blodthristy" vampires, saying that vampires "are takers" not lovers.  He also discusses King's favorite TV shows (not Mad Men, but more like Lost or Sons of Anarchy.)  King doesn't "stress" about getting pegged.  He emphasizes that he simply writes what he wants without concern for what category others might drop it into.

King says,

I'd like to try everything that I possibly can, and  when you do something different, sometimes it buzzes you all over again.  You know what, it's nice to push your limits a little bit. 

He has certainly been pushing readers limits for some time!

When asked if King keeps a notebook, he tells  people that he does not, because the good ideas stay.  "I think a writers notebook is the best way there is to immortalize really bad ideas," King says.  Now, let me ask. . . do you think that's true?  I disagree.  I think sometimes good lines come to you and should be written down.  Scenes need  to be held onto.

USA Today article on Owen King

Image Credit: the always awesome. .  FIRE WIRE

Here's a neat article about Owen King's new novel.  Seems O.King's novel focuses on a famous son -- causing some to ask if the novel is really about King's own father son relationship.  Not at all, Owen assures, it's just story-tellin'.

The USA Today article notes that Owen King comes from a family of writers.  In fact, Stephen King reminds everyone about both sons writing, "You should remember that they get it from both sides.”


The article has this quote from King, which came via e-mail:

“I’m sort of bowled over by both boys publishing novels a month apart, with good advance reviews for both.” He has his own novel coming in September, “Doctor Sleep,” a sequel to 1997’s “The Shining.” He calls it his “return to the real creepy scary stuff.”

The full articleat  courierpostonline.com