Stephen King's mind reminds me of an old locomotive: it takes a while to get going, and as it builds up steam, it is noisy, kind of messy, and you wonder if he is ever going to be able to take you to where you want to go. However, once the gears get moving, and the pressure builds to an almost unbearable level of tension, his thoughts and words create an imaginative force that is nigh unstoppable. Once he really cuts lose though – watch out - running at full bore, his mind barrels through barriers as he lays down the tracks for an engine that roars through fields of creativity, tunnels of terrifying darkness, and vistas full of visions both beautiful and grotesque, often both at the same time. Each station passed by The Great Engine King is another idea, character, and scenario that lingers in the minds of his readers far after they have vanished in the distance like haunting shadows.
I thought of this last night when I had the opportunity to hear Stephen King at Benaroya Hall here in Seattle. He gave a reading from his newest book, Lisey's Story, a brief talk about his last book, Cell (with an awesome story of the seed that grew into the idea for the novel), and then proceeded deep into the hilarious heart of tangent-land as he talked his way around, through, over, and under questions written by the audience. When King first started to read the passages he had chosen from Lisey's Story, I was struck by how timid he seemed. He actually stumbled on some words, in direct contrast to the smooth delivery of his opening monologue, and it seemed to take a while for him to reach a comfortable reading stride. However, with each passing word, sentence, and paragraph, he became more alive, animated, and exuberant, and about mid-way through he totally nailed it. As he read, the characters' words and actions oozed from his mind and mouth, and I sat there stunned, listening to one of my literary heroes pour over one of his own creations.
Stephen King's train of verbal thought is a lot like his his written one: all over the place. When King writes, he loves to get into the heads of his characters, and, often times, gets completely lost in the inner workings of his characters' thoughts and emotions. King really is a master of character development, and, hearing him talk, it is easy to see why. The man lives for story, and for myth, and for detail, and he is totally passionate about all of these things. He spoke briefly about what he considers to be one of the major difficulties for writers of fiction: the marriage of fantasy and reality. He related how he pulls ideas from reality, from his very own life, and how he must filter these ideas through his, somewhat, disturbed (in a good way) and overactive imagination. By focusing on real situations, he is able to write around these scenarios, and discover his stories like puzzles based upon what his characters would do in similar predicaments.
King was also quite funny, and effortlessly commanded the attention of everyone in the audience. He first mentioned how crazy we all were for missing Lost to see him, but then figured we had all probably set our TIVOs to record the show. He constantly mixed in little jokes (like when he commented on his own writing by asking, “who writes this shit?”) while his mind was pulled this way and that as he relayed anecdote after anecdote of interesting minutia. At one point, King mentioned one of my favorite authors, Alfred Bester, and how Bester once said, “The book is the boss.” Mr. King also subscribes to this theory and explained that once the idea has been unleashed, he must follow it wherever it may go, “That's what I do,” he explained with a Zen-like simplicity.
Indeed, this is what King does. He follows his thoughts, and writes them down, however outlandish, mundane, realistic, or fantastic the ideas might be. He sets up the situations for his characters, situations based upon reality, and then twists them and contorts them to compose fascinating tales built upon the very strength of his imagination. I have often said that even though King is not the “best writer,” his prose can fluctuate from poor to amazing, his ideas and narratives are top notch – second to none, a true measuring stick of creative fiction. And, while listening to him speak, I was allowed a glimpse into his writing process, and, in some weird way, it all made sense, I felt like I kind of understood the man a little. Stephen King writes because he has to – it is what he was born to do, he can't help it. His mind was made in such a way, that he inadvertently channels the power of myth, he dips into the pool of story, and he must commit the words to paper. He must use the power of myth to create, it is what he does, and he does it damn well.
