A Brief Guide to Stephen King

by Paul Simpson

  King provided a hundred-page book, to which Mellencamp added the songs – unlike musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, the songs were composed to add flavour to the story. ‘Steve and I made a decision early on that we weren’t going to use the songs to move the story forward,’ Mellencamp explained. King would say that a song was needed at a particular part of the story, and Mellencamp would write something appropriate for the characters. Working with Grammy-winning music producer and composer T-Bone Burnett, and director Susan V. Booth, they created a show that premiered in Atlanta in 2012.

  ‘What a long, strange trip it’s been,’ King said at an Atlanta press conference in December 2011, admitting that he became involved with the musical ‘to try something that was a little bit risky and outside my comfort zone’. Booth’s involvement led to considerable changes to the show, which had been due to be staged in 2009 but was cancelled when the creators felt it wasn’t working. ‘I ask an obnoxious amount of questions,’ Booth explained. ‘I want to know, starting at the very beginning, “What made you decide you wanted to tell this story with this language? What do you want to accomplish, what do you want us to feel? How do you want us to be moved, changed, altered by what you’ve written, by the song you’ve composed?” Steve, in particular, loves to engage in the dialogue of “tell me why”. And you earn a place in that conversation with him by close and careful reading.’

  Ghost Brothers ran for a month, from 11 April–13 May 2012, and a twenty-city North American tour was planned for autumn 2013. The album, featuring an all-star cast of both actors and singers, was released in June 2013 in various formats: the stand-alone CD features most of the songs, with brief snippets of dialogue to introduce them. King fans are recommended to get the ‘hardback’ edition, which contains the full book and libretto – without them, many of the songs lack context.

  6. NON-FICTION

  19

  CLOSE TO THE HEART

  Although Stephen King is best known for his fiction, his three major pieces of published non-fiction – not counting his various essays for Entertainment Weekly, which were never less than thought-provoking, and could be controversial – are all key pieces in their fields. (For considerable detail on his other work including his baseball-related material, check out Rocky Wood’s book, Stephen King: The Non-Fiction.)

  Danse Macabre (Everest House, April 1981; revised and corrected edition Berkeley Books, December 1983)

  Stephen King’s guide to the world of horror, particularly over the period 1950–1980, with some intriguing biographical side steps. Beginning with the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik and the effect it had on the world, he discusses what horror means to different people. The use of the ‘hook’, and the various archetypes of horror fiction are examined first, with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde taken as the source texts for many of the vampire, ‘thing without a name’, and werewolf stories which followed.

  Following what he calls ‘An Annoying Autobiographical Pause’ – which makes an interesting counterpoint to the equivalent sections in On Writing – he returns to his dissection of the state of horror as of 1980. Some classics of radio horror are relived, before two chapters are devoted to different elements of horror movies. The chapter on text and subtext details with some of the underlying themes, while the piece about the horror film as ‘junk food’ recalls really dreadful movies.

  The chapter on television makes for fascinating reading given King’s later history with his various TV projects, and his dissection of contemporary horror writing also provides some clues about King’s own future writing patterns and themes.

  Bill Thompson originally came up with the idea of Danse Macabre, after King complained about being asked the same questions time and again during interviews. Thompson had left Doubleday, and was now working for small publisher, Everest House, for whom the book was a tremendous success. It didn’t really work in the way that either King or Thompson expected, since some of King’s comments inevitably provoked more questions than they answered. It was based in part on the course King delivered at the University of Maine in 1979, ‘Themes In Supernatural Literature’, but inevitably digressed.

  When Danse Macabre was reprinted by Gallery Books in 2010, a new essay, ‘What’s Scary’, was added which took a look at more recent horror stories, and in the Reddit online chat to promote Under the Dome in June 2013, King noted that ‘updating DM might be a good idea’. The list of the top hundred horror stories that King provided in the back of the book continues to generate discussion. Current British editions of Danse Macabre continue to use the 1983 corrected edition (after King asked Dennis Etchison to fact check the book carefully) rather than the 2010 version.

  On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

  (Scribner, October 2000)

  This is Stephen King’s guide to writing, which, like its predecessor, features a considerable amount of insight not only into King’s background but also his writing process. Unlike Danse Macabre, this book is not simply about writing horror: in the years between the two books, King’s range had widened, and On Writing was designed to show writers in any genre the power of the use of language.

  Starting with a section entitled ‘C.V.’ King provides an idiosyncratic look at his writing career up to the intervention that prompted him to get clean from his various addictions. The next part, subtitled ‘What Writing Is’, looks at the ‘Toolbox’ of the writer, with a clear and concise examination of elements of writing, such as grammar and vocabulary.

  The second half of the book is ‘On Writing’, and was written after King’s accident in June 1999, which he describes in excruciating detail in the final section, ‘On Living: A Postscript’. ‘On Writing’ combines a guide to the craft with examples from King’s own career, revealing some of the changes that he made to his stories along the way, and his own opinion of them, which isn’t always by any means complimentary.

  The book concludes with an excerpt from the first draft of ‘1408’, and then King’s revisions to it, with numbered notes explaining the changes. A list of key books to read follows, with editions published after 2010 providing a second, updated version.

  King began work on On Writing in 1997, but put it aside after about four months, since he wasn’t enjoying writing it and felt that what he was trying to say was drifting away from him. He also became caught up in writing Bag of Bones, preferring to do something rather than talk about it.

  He decided to complete it in the summer of 1999, and was partway through when he had the accident. The final section – as he explains in the text – was written during his recuperation, and in fact the act of writing it formed part of that recovery. Looking back a year later, he denied that it was some form of psychoanalysis: ‘I think if you have mental problems what you need are good pills,’ he told the Guardian in September 2000. ‘But I do think that if you have things that bother you, things that are unresolved, the more that you talk about them, write about them, the less serious they become’.

  Regarded as one of the classic works of the genre, and listed by Entertainment Weekly as one of the key books published between 1983 and 2008, On Writing sparked a contest in the UK, with the winning entry printed in the original paperback editions.

  Guns (Amazon.com, January 2013)

  In the wake of the massacre of twenty schoolchildren and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, Stephen King wrote a twenty-five page essay, which was published as a Kindle Single a month later, and released as an audiobook a fortnight after that. The Single quickly became Amazon’s fifth best-selling non-fiction work.

  Starting with a description of the twenty-two-stage ritual that the American public goes through when such horrifying incidents happen – attacking the voyeuristic tendencies that are encouraged by twenty-four-hour news services – he then discusses the part that the Richard Bachman novel Rage played in some earlier massacres, and his reasons for withdra
wing the book from publication (and clarifying that, contrary to some reports, he did not apologize for the book). The piece then continues with an attack on those who believe they need excessive firepower to defend themselves, which he hoped would provoke debate. Semi-automatic weapons are there for two reasons, King argues: to let their owners ‘get all horny at the rapid fire’; ‘their only other use – is to kill people.’

  The debate which followed Guns’ publication was fierce. Countering Guns, Ron Capshaw argued in The National Review that King’s own stories showed the need for automatic weapons: ‘Despite King’s liberal politics, his books show the dangers to civil liberties and safety that can occur when law-abiding citizens are rendered weaponless.’ Others maintained that the piece should have been made available for free, rather than the 99 cents charged by Amazon. King made a substantial donation to a gun-control charity in Maine.

  AFTERWORD

  ‘There are other worlds than these,’ Jake Chambers tells Roland the gunslinger at the end of the first volume of the ‘Dark Tower’ saga. For forty years, Stephen King has opened the doors to these other worlds, and inspired countless others to unleash their imaginations. And while he continues to do so, millions around the world will queue up to experience the results.

  ‘Go now. Our journey is done.

  And may we meet again, in the clearing,

  at the end of the path.’

  APPENDIX: THE WORKS OF STEPHEN KING IN ORDER OF PUBLIC RELEASE

  Carrie (April 1974)

  ’Salem’s Lot (October 1975)

  The Shining (January 1977)

  Rage (September, 1977) (originally credited to Richard Bachman)

  The Stand (September 1978; revised version May 1990)

  Night Shift (February 1978)

  The Long Walk (July 1979) (originally credited to Richard Bachman)

  The Dead Zone (August 1979)

  Firestarter (September 1980)

  Roadwork (March 1981) (originally credited to Richard Bachman)

  Cujo (September 1981)

  The Running Man (May 1982) (originally credited to Richard Bachman)

  The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (June 1982; revised version 2003)

  Different Seasons (August 1982)

  Creepshow (November 1982)

  Christine (April 1983)

  Pet Sematary (November 1983)

  Cycle of the Werewolf (November 1983; revised version April 1985)

  The Talisman (November 1984) (Written with Peter Straub)

  Thinner (November 1984) (originally credited to Richard Bachman)

  Cat’s Eye (April 1985)

  Skeleton Crew (June 1985)

  The Bachman Books (October 1985) (reprints of the four Bachman books to date)

  IT (September 1986)

  The Eyes of the Dragon (February 1987)

  The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (May 1987)

  Misery (June 1987)

  The Tommyknockers (November 1987)

  The Dark Half (October 1989)

  Four Past Midnight (September 1990)

  Needful Things (October 1991)

  Stephen King’s Golden Years (July 1991)

  The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (August 1991)

  Sleepwalkers (April 1992)

  Gerald’s Game (May 1992)

  Dolores Claiborne (November 1992)

  Nightmares & Dreamscapes (September 1993)

  Insomnia (September 1994)

  Rose Madder (June 1995)

  The Green Mile (March–August 1996; revised omnibus May 1997)

  Desperation (September 1996)

  The Regulators (September 1996) (credited to Richard Bachman)

  The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (November 1997)

  Michael Jackson’s Ghosts (1997) (Credited with Michael Jackson, Stan Winston & Mick Garris)

  The X-Files: ‘Chinga’ (February 1998) (Co-written with Chris Carter)

  Bag of Bones (September 1998)

  Storm of the Century (February 1999)

  Hearts in Atlantis (September 1999)

  The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (April 1999)

  The Plant (July 2000)

  Dreamcatcher (March 2001)

  Black House (September 2001) (Written with Peter Straub)

  Rose Red (January 2002)

  Everything’s Eventual (March 2002)

  From a Buick 8 (September 2002)

  The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (November 2003)

  The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (June 2004)

  The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (September 2004)

  Kingdom Hospital (Spring 2004) (Co-written with Richard Dooling)

  The Colorado Kid (October 2005)

  Cell (January 2006)

  Lisey’s Story (October 2006)

  Blaze (June 2007) (Credited to Richard Bachman)

  Duma Key (January 2008)

  Just After Sunset (November 2008)

  Stephen King Goes to the Movies (January 2009) (Reprints)

  Ur (February 2009)

  Under the Dome (November 2009)

  Blockade Billy (May 2010)

  Full Dark, No Stars (November 2010)

  Black Ribbons (2010) (Written with Shooter Jennings)

  American Vampire (2010) (Written with Scott Snyder)

  Mile 81 (September 2011)

  11/22/63 (November 2011)

  Throttle (April 2012) (Written with Joe Hill)

  The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (February 2012)

  Ghost Brothers of Darkland County (April 2012) (Written with John Mellencamp and T-Bone Burnett)

  A Face in the Crowd (August 2012) (Written with Stewart O’Nan)

  In the Tall Grass (October 2012) (Written with Joe Hill)

  Joyland (June 2013)

  The Dark Man (July 2013)

  Doctor Sleep (September 2013)

  Mister Mercedes (2014)

  Revival (2014/15)

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Sometimes the research for a book can be hard work, but when it’s effectively been spread over more than thirty years it’s not quite as bad as it might be. Thanks to my then-next door neighbour David Mason, whose inability to travel to Switzerland in 1982 meant that I found myself reading The Stand!

  Special thanks also go to:

  Duncan Proudfoot and Becca Allen at Constable & Robinson for commissioning the book, the completion of a trilogy on classic fantasy writing: C.S. Lewis, L. Frank Baum’s Oz, and now King.

  Brian J. Robb for his usual sterling work going through the manuscript and pulling me up on certain idiocies (notably involving a Transformers-like change for Mr King!), as well as assistance with locating hard-to-find items on the Internet.

  My copy editor Gabriella Nemeth, who has worked with me on all five of my recent volumes, and in each case has helped ensure that I wrote the book I thought I had written!

  Kate Doyle at AudioGO, Andy Mangels, Kerry Hood, Sophie Calder, Patricia Hyde, Allyn Gibson, Adina Mihae-la Roman, Monica Derwent and Iain Coupar for reading and research materials.

  Lee Harris, Amanda Rutter, Emlyn Rees, Emma Capron, Clare Hey and Jeannine Dillon for keeping the workflow going.

  Carol Matthews and Nick Hancock for musical assistance to allow me to fulfil requirements, and ASCAT church choir and All the Right Notes singers for the musical outlets.

  Frances Novis and the Year 6 children at St Wilfrid’s School for putting up with a slightly stressed musical director for Peace Child.

  The staff at the Hassocks branch of the West Sussex Public Library who were once again so helpful, particularly when it became clear that items had vanished from stock. Support your public library: it may not be there next time you need it otherwise.

  And as always, most importantly, my partner Barbara (who is convinced of the impossible – that I’ve been reading too many Stephen King books) and my daughter Sophie, who both let me escape to my own Dark Tower to get this complete; and the junior Cujos, aka Rani and Rodo, who stood guard on
the door (okay, just lay there) as I worked.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Beahm, George: Stephen King: America’s Best-Loved Boogeyman (Andrews McNeel, 1998)

  Jones, Stephen: Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide (Titan Books, 2001)

  King, Stephen: Danse Macabre (Berkeley Press, 1993)

  King, Stephen: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (Scribner, 2001)

  Magistrale, Tony: Hollywood’s Stephen King (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)

  Rogak, Lisa: Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King (JR Books, 2009)

  Vincent, Bev: The Dark Tower Companion (New American Library, April 2013)

  Wiater, Stanley, Christopher Golden and Hank Wagner: The Complete Stephen King Universe (revised edition, St Martin’s Griffin, 2006)

  Wood, Rocky: Stephen King: Uncollected, Unpublished (Revised and Expanded Edition) (Overlook Connection, 2013)

  Promotional interviews and other material reprinted at Lilja’s Library, and Charnel House websites, as well as StephenKing.com

  Entertainment Weekly, 20 May 2011 ‘Stephen King sounds off on new “Carrie” remake – EXCLUSIVE’

  The Highway Patrolman, July 1987: ‘An Interview with Stephen King’

  Stanley Hotel, Colorado website:http://www.stanleyhotel.com/about/haunted-history

  Entertainment Weekly, 23 April 2007: ‘On Predicting Violence’

  Los Angeles Times, 14 January 1990: ‘A High School Gunman’s Days of Rage’

  Screen Daily, 4 October 2000: ‘WAMC set to animate Stephen King’s Dragon’

  New York Times, 31 May 1987: ‘Summer Reading: Sheldon Gets the Ax’

  Interview with Stephen King by Lynn Flewelling. August 1990, reprinted at SFF.Net

  Paris Review, No. 178, Fall 2006: ‘Stephen King, The Art of Fiction No. 189’

  Playbill, 9 November 2012: Misery Gets Company: William Goldman, Author of “The Season”, Pens Stage Thriller’

  Writer’s Digest magazine, 1991: ‘Digging up stories with Stephen King’ (available at http://wallacestroby.com/writersonwriting _king.html)