[2Wycked]

I've recently begun a tear through King's catalog. I recently started reading "Firestarter."

I must say, he is one of America's best writers.



I recently finished Cujo, one of his best I've read so far.

"Different Seasons" was a phenomenal collection of 4 novellas. "Skeleton Crew" and "Night Shift" are awesome short story collections. You can't go wrong with "Carrie," "The Dark Half" or "Pet Sematary."

Share your favorite works of his here!

[Alpharius]

The Stand. Can't recommend it enough.

My personal favorite is Wizard and Glass, but since it's book #4 of the Dark Tower it's a little hard to recommend to people.

Most of his books tie in to The Dark Tower in some way, shape, or form. Salem's Lot, The Stand, It, The Eyes of the Dragon, Desperation, The Regulators, Hearts In Atlantis, Everything's Eventual, From A Buick 8, The Shining, and probably others.

Be on the lookout for Bango Skank!

[Laner]

(04-23-2014 08:54 PM)Osiris Wrote:  

The Stand. Can't recommend it enough.

My personal favorite is Wizard and Glass, but since it's book #4 of the Dark Tower it's a little hard to recommend to people.

Most of his books tie in to The Dark Tower in some way, shape, or form. Salem's Lot, The Stand, It, The Eyes of the Dragon, Desperation, The Regulators, Hearts In Atlantis, Everything's Eventual, From A Buick 8, The Shining, and probably others.

Be on the lookout for Bango Skank!

What a story. That was an amazing book, one I still think about all these years later.

[Alpharius]

(04-23-2014 10:08 PM)Laner Wrote:  

What a story. That was an amazing book, one I still think about all these years later.

The Stand? I think about it every-single-fucking-time I get the really sick, and have since I read the book fourteen years ago. Thanks Obam... Stephen King!

[Baldwin81]

Fun fact: Stephen King was in the depths of addiction when writing Cujo and doesn't much remember writing it.

I learned this from On Writing - A Memoir of the Craft

http://www.amazon.com/On-Writing-Anniver...1439156816

Great book. Can't say I've read all his stuff but The Shining and The Green Mile were excellent as well.

The book I linked is fantastic for anyone interested in writing. It's half autobiography and half writing class.

[Laner]

(04-23-2014 11:59 PM)Osiris Wrote:  

(04-23-2014 10:08 PM)Laner Wrote:  

What a story. That was an amazing book, one I still think about all these years later.

The Stand? I think about it every-single-fucking-time I get the really sick, and have since I read the book fourteen years ago. Thanks Obam... Stephen King!

I was talking about Wizard in Glass, but The Stand is a damn good book as well.

[2Wycked]

Finished "Firestarter" tonight.

Great read, but the nature of the story prevented any more gore than was had at the end.

All that being said, it was a bit long in the tooth.

[komatiite]

The Dead Zone! Just an absolute gem. I liked the Stand the most but it was so long, Dead Zone is really quick and enjoyable.

[Cincinnatus]

Pet Sematary is probably my favorite King book, of the ones I've read. The Dead Zone right behind it.

I remember reading Cujo, too, which I liked better than Carrie - although that was an entertaining read also.

[Beyond Borders]

I think "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" is far underrated. "Gerald's Game" too - I almost didn't read that one because I thought it'd be a lot more twisted than it was, but it was damn good.

Oh, and one of my favorites, by far, is "The Talisman," which he wrote with Peter Straub.

Finally, don't miss his short story collections. The short story form is Stephen King's bread and butter.

(04-24-2014 06:29 PM)Baldwin81 Wrote:  

Fun fact: Stephen King was in the depths of addiction when writing Cujo and doesn't much remember writing it.

This actually makes a lot of sense if you think about the bits written from the dog's perspective.

And even the woman's, come to think of it - being trapped in that car, etc, with the dog ready to attack every time she came out, could almost be a metaphor for addiction.

I'm sure it wasn't purposely done but some of the themes in the book may have been dependent on his psychological battles during that time of his life.

[heavy]

Great thread. I always hated reading until I picked up Misery to read when I was 16 to fulfill a requirement in school...hooked. Misery, Needful Things, Pet Sematary, Salems Lot, On Writing, all those short stories...

My favorite, and this is a little-known book...The Long Walk. My bro in law and brother, both fans, found it too disturbing to read. I loved it. He wrote it under Richard Bachman.

I actually find his short stories and novellas great because, obviously, they're quicker. His more recent short stories book, Full Dark No Stars...all 4 of those stories are gold Jerry, solid gold. Shit I'm gonna go buy it on amazon and re-read it.

[Beyond Borders]

^ Yeah, sometimes I think he did his best work as Richard Bachman.

[Quintus Curtius]

My favorites of his:

Desperation

The Dark Half

[LeBeau]

Question for the Stephen King fans.

I remember reading/hearing years ago that Stephen King in his young days did exhaustive analysis of best selling/critically acclaimed fiction and basically wrote himself a giant cheat sheet regarding how to structure a plot, themes, character types, etc.

Anyone have any info on this or links to similar things?

Certainly I don't think book formulas are that simplistic, but I'm curious on the overall breakdown.

[2Wycked]

I think my favorite short story by him was in Night Shift named "The Last Rung On The Ladder."

That link has the story - barely even ten pages. I highly recommend it.

A very moving, incredibly sad story.

Man can scare the living bejeezus out of you and then in the very next story smack you right in the heart.

[heavy]

(04-27-2014 01:47 AM)LeBeau Wrote:  

I remember reading/hearing years ago that Stephen King in his young days did exhaustive analysis of best selling/critically acclaimed fiction and basically wrote himself a giant cheat sheet regarding how to structure a plot, themes, character types, etc.

I don't think so. He was hi on drugs and drunk for much of his early writing. Besides that, if you read his books you know it's not formulaic. He wrote a short story called Autopsy Room Four about a guy in a coma...literally a guy with his thoughts. Great story and ends hilariously. (Really short story, I think you can read it free if you google it)

Point is, he doesn't follow a formula, he's just an unbelievable story teller.

[Cincinnatus]

Some choice quotes by the man himself about his writing methodology:

Quote:

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.

Quote:

f you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write.

Both from On Writing.

[2Wycked]

Picked up "Christine" and "It" today, while netting the Bachman books from my Dad.

"It" has been good so far.

[Screwston]

I had no idea about his past. I think I like his books even more.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/art...d-him.html

[Mentavious]

The Talisman is my all time fav book ever

[Tail Gunner]

(04-27-2014 01:47 AM)LeBeau Wrote:  

Question for the Stephen King fans.

I remember reading/hearing years ago that Stephen King in his young days did exhaustive analysis of best selling/critically acclaimed fiction and basically wrote himself a giant cheat sheet regarding how to structure a plot, themes, character types, etc.

Anyone have any info on this or links to similar things?

Certainly I don't think book formulas are that simplistic, but I'm curious on the overall breakdown.

I would not be surprised at all. I have no information about novels, but I have written a few screenplays for fun. The structure is so highly regimented that you have no chance of gaining interest from anyone in the industry unless you follow it very closely. Only an industry insider such as Quentin Tarantino could write something like "Pulp Fiction" that falls outside of the typical structure of a screenplay.

(04-28-2014 08:19 AM)heavy Wrote:  

I don't think so. He was hi on drugs and drunk for much of his early writing. Besides that, if you read his books you know it's not formulaic. He wrote a short story called Autopsy Room Four about a guy in a coma...literally a guy with his thoughts. Great story and ends hilariously. (Really short story, I think you can read it free if you google it)

Point is, he doesn't follow a formula, he's just an unbelievable story teller.

A short story is nothing like a novel. They are two different creatures. My guess is that a novel needs some serious structure to avoid becoming a rambling nightmare.

[RXB]

Quote:

A short story is nothing like a novel. They are two different creatures. My guess is that a novel needs some serious structure to avoid becoming a rambling nightmare.

Yeah, his books are somewhat unpredictable, in the early ones almost anyone could die, but they still follow a loose formula. In his memoir King talked about the original ending to Misery where the women was supposed to have killed the dude, skinned him, and then used his flesh to bind the book he wrote her.

He had to change it because people didn't like reading a whole book where the main character dies at the end.

[Vaun]

The Mist is one of the all time best short stories.

[Alpharius]

Just finished Dr Sleep, the sequel to The Shining.

Takes place over the mid-90s til 2012 and follows two characters, Danny from the first novel as a grown man, and Abra, a young girl who also has the shining. Not his greatest work, but definitely good. Very unusual for King in that the evil characters don't really get much of a chance to show how bad they can be. The book is much more about how addiction can haunt you, even if being freed from an addiction is liberating. Definitely plays into Kings struggles with alcohol.

WR7/10

[iamdegaussed]

Dark Tower series is what made me want to become a writer. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is one of my favorites. It is okay but it's really really out there toward the end.

I sort of enjoy everything he's written to some extent.