Some things I found inspiring, interesting, surprising: I thought it was very surprising how many obstacles he went through growing up. All of those ear problems would have killed me. I'm not very good with pain. What I thought was inspiring is how Stephen, since he missed a lot of school because of health issues, read a lot and started writing his own material. When he copied that one book (I forgot the title) and gave it to his mom to read, I really liked how she told him to write his own stories and that she would give him a quarter every time he finished one. I also found it inspiring how he worked for his brother's Rag paper. They were so young yet so determined to make a paper.
This book can be applied to feature writing because of many things Stephen King talks about. Don't over think. Just start writing. Also, never stop persuing your dream. Keep reprising your stories. Get information. Write things you're familiar with and things you know. Have a good imagination.
My favorite quote so far is: "In my family what you did was smoke your ciggarettes, and dance in the Jell-O and keep yourself to yourself. Yet the part of me that writes the stories, the deep part that knew I was an alcoholic as early as 1975, when I wrote The Shining, wouldn't accept that. Silence isn't what that part is about. It began to scream for help in the only way it knew how, through my fiction and through my monsters." This is found on pages 89-90. It's obviously now just one sentence, but almost a paragraph. But I really like it because he confesses that he was different, and that he had a problem. I like how he's real about it and he doesn't try to sugarcoat his life or experiences.
Interview with Mojo Demon
6 years ago
