I think it’s fair to say that Stephen King is engaging, but not efficient.
Most of what intrigued me about the book was getting a feeling for what it’s like to be outside the academic/SWPL/liberal elite culture I’m used to. King’s fiction was a bit of a surprise to me because there was no contempt for people who use ordinary brand name products. [1] In On Writing, there’s a bit about him resisting the idea of theme in fiction—he had gotten the impression it was something arbitrarily added on, and then he realized that it was actually a way of emphasizing patterns which appeared spontaneously in early drafts.
[1] I use brand name products, but I have a background sense that the more obscure they are, the better.
I think it’s fair to say that Stephen King is engaging, but not efficient.
Most of what intrigued me about the book was getting a feeling for what it’s like to be outside the academic/SWPL/liberal elite culture I’m used to. King’s fiction was a bit of a surprise to me because there was no contempt for people who use ordinary brand name products. [1] In On Writing, there’s a bit about him resisting the idea of theme in fiction—he had gotten the impression it was something arbitrarily added on, and then he realized that it was actually a way of emphasizing patterns which appeared spontaneously in early drafts.
[1] I use brand name products, but I have a background sense that the more obscure they are, the better.