Editing Stephen King (section)

===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>