Editing Stephen King (section)

== Style, themes and influences ==

=== Style ===
[[File:Stephen King - 2011.jpg|thumb|right|250px|King in 2011]]
In ''[[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft|On Writing]]'', King recalls:<blockquote>When, during the course of an interview for ''The New Yorker'', I told the interviewer (Mark Singer) that I believed stories are found things, like fossils in the ground, he said that he didn't believe me. I replied that that was fine, as long as he believed that ''I'' believe it. And I do. Stories aren't souvenir tee-shirts or GameBoys. Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small, a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'' with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same.<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=[[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]] |year=2000 |pages=163–164}}</ref></blockquote>King often starts with a "what-if" scenario, asking what would happen if an alcoholic writer was stranded with his family in a haunted hotel (''[[The Shining (novel)|The Shining]]''), or if one could see the outcome of future events (''[[The Dead Zone (novel)|The Dead Zone]]''), or if one could travel in time to alter the course of history (''[[11/22/63]]'').<ref name="JennaBlum6">Jenna Blum, 2013, ''The Modern Scholar'' published by Recorded Books, ''The Author at Work: The Art of Writing Fiction'', Disk 1, Track 11, {{ISBN|978-1-4703-8437-1}}</ref> He writes that "The situation comes first. The characters—always flat and unfeatured, to begin with—come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate. I often have an idea of what the outcome may be, but I have never demanded a set of characters that they do things my way. On the contrary, I want them to do things ''their'' way. In some instances, the outcome is what I visualized. In most, however, it's something I never expected."<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft |year=2000 |pages=164–165}}</ref> 

[[Joyce Carol Oates]] called King "both a storyteller and an inventor of startling images and metaphors, which linger long in the memory."<ref name=":Oates"/> An example of King's imagery is seen in ''[[The Body (King novella)|The Body]]'' when the narrator recalls a childhood clubhouse with a tin roof and rusty screen door: "No matter what time of day you looked out that screen door, it looked like sunset... When it rained, being inside the club was like being inside a Jamaican steel drum."<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=Different Seasons |year=1982 |pages=302}}</ref> King writes that "The use of simile and other figurative language is one of the chief delights of fiction—reading it and writing it, as well. [...] By comparing two seemingly unrelated objects—a restaurant bar and a cave, a mirror and a mirage—we are sometimes able to see an old thing in a new and vivid way. Even if the result is mere clarity instead of beauty, I think writer and reader are participating together in a kind of miracle. Maybe that's drawing it a little strong, but yeah—it's what I believe."<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=[[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]] |pages=179–180}}</ref>

=== Themes ===
When asked if fear was his main subject, King said "In every life you get to a point where you have to deal with something that's inexplicable to you, whether it's the doctor saying you have cancer or a prank phone call. So whether you talk about ghosts or vampires or Nazi war criminals living down the block, we're still talking about the same thing, which is an intrusion of the extraordinary into ordinary life and how we deal with it. What that shows about our character and our interactions with others and the society we live in interests me a lot more than monsters and vampires and ghouls and ghosts."<ref name=":ParisReview"/> 

Joyce Carol Oates said that "Stephen King's characteristic subject is small-town American life, often set in fictitious Derry, Maine; tales of family life, marital life, the lives of children banded together by age, circumstance, and urgency, where parents prove oblivious or helpless. The human heart in conflict with itself—in the guise of the malevolent Other. The '[[Gothic fiction|gothic]]' imagination magnifies the vicissitudes of 'real life' in order to bring it into a sharper and clearer focus."<ref name=":Oates"/> King's ''The Body'' is about [[coming of age]], a theme he has returned to several times, for example in ''[[Joyland (King novel)|Joyland]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=January 22, 2013 |title=Joyland by Stephen King -- review |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/22/joyland-stephen-king-review}}</ref>

King often uses authors as characters, such as Ben Mears in ''[['Salem's Lot]]'', Jack Torrance in ''[[The Shining (novel)|The Shining]]'', adult [[Bill Denbrough]] in ''[[It (novel)|It]]'' and Mike Noonan in ''[[Bag of Bones]]''. He has extended this to breaking the [[fourth wall]] by including himself as a character in three novels of [[The Dark Tower (series)|''The Dark Tower'']]. Among other things, this allows King to explore themes of authorship; [[George Stade]] writes that ''[[Misery (novel)|Misery]]'' "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death" while ''[[The Dark Half]]'' "is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Stade |first=George |date=October 29, 1989 |title=His Alter-Ego is a Killer |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/lifetimes/king-darkhalf.html}}</ref>

Introducing King at the [[National Book Awards]], [[Walter Mosley]] said "Stephen King once said that daily life is the frame that makes the picture. His commitment, as I see it, is to celebrate and empower the everyday man and woman as they buy aspirin and cope with cancer. He takes our daily lives and makes them into something heroic. He takes our world, validates our distrust of it and then helps us to see that there's a chance to transcend the muck. He tells us that even if we fail in our struggles, we are still worthy enough to pass on our energies in the survival of humanity."<ref name="NBA"/> In his acceptance speech for the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, King said:<blockquote>"[[Frank Norris]], the author of ''[[McTeague]]'', said something like this: 'What should I care if they, i.e., the critics, single me out for sneers and laughter? I never truckled, I never lied. I told the truth.' And that's always been the bottom line for me. The story and the people in it may be make believe but I need to ask myself over and over if I've told the truth about the way real people would behave in a similar situation... We understand that fiction is a lie to begin with. To ignore the truth inside the lie is to sin against the craft, in general, and one's own work in particular."<ref name="NBA">{{Cite news |date=2003|title=Stephen King Accepts the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters|work=[[National Book Foundation]] |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/tag/stephen-king/}}</ref></blockquote>

===Influences===
In ''On Writing'', King says "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all: read a lot and write a lot."<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft |year=2000 |pages=145}}</ref> He emphasizes the importance of good description, which "begins with clear seeing and ends with clear writing, the kind of writing that employs fresh images and simple vocabulary. I began learning my lessons in this regard by reading [[Raymond Chandler|Chandler]], [[Dashiell Hammett|Hammett]], and [[Ross Macdonald]]; I gained perhaps even more respect for the power of compact, descriptive language from reading [[T. S. Eliot]] (those ragged claws scuttling across the ocean floor; those coffee spoons), and [[William Carlos Williams]] (white chickens, red wheelbarrow, the plums that were in the ice box, so sweet and so cold)."<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=[[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]] |year=2000 |pages=179–180}}</ref>

King has called [[Richard Matheson]] "the author who influenced me most".<ref name="io9">{{cite web | url=http://io9.com/r-i-p-richard-matheson-author-of-i-am-legend-and-many-564036878 | title=R.I.P. Richard Matheson, Author of I Am Legend and Many Other Classics | publisher=[[io9]] | date=June 24, 2013 | access-date=April 30, 2015 | last=Bricken | first=Rob | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512212548/http://io9.com/r-i-p-richard-matheson-author-of-i-am-legend-and-many-564036878 |archive-date=May 12, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other influences include [[Ray Bradbury]],<ref name="nokingquote">{{cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenbysub.aspx?id=4869 |title=Ray Bradbury: A Lion at 90, 91, 92... |publisher=The Writers Guild of America |access-date=June 7, 2012 |author=Stayton, Richard |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130506210719/http://www.wga.org/writtenby/writtenbysub.aspx?id=4869 |archive-date=May 6, 2013 }}</ref> [[Joseph Payne Brennan]],<ref>Spignesi, Stephen J. (August 4, 2010). ''The Essential Stephen King: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels, Short Stories. Movies, and Other Creations of the World's Most Popular Writer''. New Page Books. p. 312. Archived at [[Google Books]]. Retrieved September 22, 2013.</ref> [[James M. Cain]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Fassler |first=Joe |date=July 23, 2013 |title=Why Stephen King Spends 'Months and Even Years' Writing Opening Sentences |work=The Atlantic |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/why-stephen-king-spends-months-and-even-years-writing-opening-sentences/278043/}}</ref> [[Jack Finney]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=[[11/22/63]] |pages=848–849}}</ref> [[Graham Greene]],<ref name=":ParisReview"/> [[Elmore Leonard]],<ref>"Exclusive: Stephen King on J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer"</ref> [[John D. MacDonald]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=King |first=Stephen |date=January 8, 2016 |title=John D and me |work=Herald Tribune |url=http://ticket.heraldtribune.com/2016/01/08/john-d-and-me-stephen-king/ |access-date=May 11, 2023 |archive-date=April 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419060448/http://ticket.heraldtribune.com/2016/01/08/john-d-and-me-stephen-king/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Don Robertson (author)|Don Robertson]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Robertson |first=Don |title=The Ideal, Genuine Man |publisher=Philtrum Press |year=1987 |location=Bangor, ME |pages=viiI |author-link=Don Robertson (author) |no-pp=true}}</ref> and [[Thomas Williams (writer)|Thomas Williams]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Parker |first=James |date=April 12, 2011 |title=Stephen King on the Creative Process, the State of Fiction, and More |work=[[The Atlantic]] |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/04/stephen-king-on-the-creative-process-the-state-of-fiction-and-more/237023/}}</ref> He often pays homage to classic horror stories by retelling them in a modern context. He recalls that while writing ''[['Salem's Lot]]'', "I decided I wanted to try to use the book partially as a form of literary homage (as [[Peter Straub]] had done in ''[[Ghost Story (Straub novel)|Ghost Story]]'', working in the tradition of such 'classical' ghost story writers as [[Henry James]], [[M. R. James]], and [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]). So my novel bears an intentional similarity to [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula]]'', and after a while it began to seem I was playing an interesting—to me, at least—game of literary racquet-ball: ''<nowiki/>'Salem's Lot'' itself was the ball and ''Dracula'' was the wall I kept hitting it against, watching to see how and where it could bounce, so I could hit it again. As a matter of fact, it took some pretty interesting bounces, and I ascribe this mostly to the fact that, while my ball existed in the twentieth century, the wall was very much a product of the nineteenth."<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=Danse Macabre |year=1981 |edition=2011 |pages=26}}</ref> Similarly, King's ''[[Revival (novel)|Revival]]'' is a modern riff on [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Trussoni |first=Danielle |date=November 21, 2014 |title=Stephen King's Revival |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/books/review/stephen-kings-revival.html}}</ref> King dedicated it to "the people who built my house": Shelley, Stoker, [[H. P. Lovecraft]], [[Clark Ashton Smith]], [[Donald Wandrei]], [[Fritz Leiber]], [[August Derleth]], [[Shirley Jackson]], [[Robert Bloch]], Straub and [[Arthur Machen]], "whose short novel ''[[The Great God Pan]]'' has haunted me all my life".<ref>Stephen King. ''Revival''. Dedication. 2014.</ref> 

He provided an appreciation for [[The Golden Argosy (book)|''The Golden Argosy'']], a collection of short stories featuring [[Willa Cather| Cather]], [[Ernest Hemingway| Hemingway]], [[William Faulkner| Faulkner]], [[F. Scott Fitzgerald| Fitzgerald]] and others: "I first found ''The Golden Argosy'' in a Lisbon Falls (Maine) bargain barn called the Jolly White Elephant, where it was on offer for $2.25. At that time I only had four dollars, and spending over half of it on one book, even a hardcover, was a tough decision. I've never regretted it... ''The Golden Argosy'' taught me more about good writing than all the writing classes I've ever taken. It was the best $2.25 I ever spent."<ref name=Zane>{{cite web |last=King |first=Stephen |title=Stephen King's Top Ten List (2007) |url=http://toptenbooks.net/stephen-kings-top-ten-list |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902023534/http://www.toptenbooks.net/authors/Stephen-King |archive-date=September 2, 2012 |access-date=September 4, 2012}}</ref>