Complete, How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King

How to Escape into the Horrors of Stephen King

by Jacob Malewitz

Writer A Writer’s Eye, A Reader’s Eye, A Comic Eye, Chasing Heaven, Story And Script

Stephen King is apt to scare you. The renowned author of doznes of novels of terror never takes a day off when it comes to writing something downright spook. Ready to get scared? Let’s escape into the horrors of Stephen King

Study the writer

There is, for me, nothing more interesting than seeing how human writers are. They drink: Stephen King drank a lot. They write odd things: Stephen King has a vivid imagination. They explore their imaginations: King uses his imagination to truly make that haunted house look scary, that dead body walking around as a symbol of terror. So you can study all these things and maybe know the writer behind the desk a little more.

One good way to escape into Stephen King’s mind and imagination is to read his autobiographic work, “On Writing,” which details not only his life but his opinion on writing.

Scared by the horror

The next step is to pick up the book that made Stephen King famous: Carrie. This nvoel was turend into a film because it showed the scared, erratic mind of a young girl going through puberty. “Carrie” put Stephen King on the map. No one would say anything about horror—most times—without bringing up King anymore.

Pick up His Epics

Stephen King seems to like to push the envelope on how many pages he can make a novel. Take “It,” a classic tale of a killer clown which goes well past 1,000 pages. Or look to what many consider his masterpiece, “The Stand,” his longest single work.

Pick up Epics again

But what about that one tale of the gunslinger? “The Dark Tower” series is, in part, influenced by western classics and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien; it’s a western fantasy, a new realm for Stephen King. There is less horror here, obviously, but and many criticize the writing of this series. I agree. Stephen King is at his best with horror.

Choosing the Best Book

The best book by Stephen King is often different for each reader. However, the Stephen King masterpiece “The Shining” is perhaps his best clear horror novel. It’s not as huge as “The Stand” or as epic as “The Dark Tower,” yet two films were made based on it, and it keeps selling copies across the world. The tale of a alcoholic playwright pointed to the problem King had while writing the book. The portrait of a young boy with a special power—called “the shining”—was a perfect example of King tapping into his youth for stories.

Watching Films

King has had many films based on his work, and he has even written a few scary screenplays himself. The best of his works is “Storm of the Century,” a tale of a small town ravaged by winter, and the devil. There are dozens of other films to watch. One of the best is the recent remake of “Salem’s Lot.”

Tip

Just about any bookstore that calls itself a bookstore will have Stephen King works, maybe in the dozens.

There are many writers comparable to Stephen King in terms of what they do with horror. Two of the best are Robert R. McCammon and Clive Barker.

Warning

Most of these works are intended for adults. If you want children’s horror, go for R.L. Stine.