How Does Stephen King keep his characters straight?

[stacy270]

Forgive me as I am sure this has been covered before.Maybe one of you guys that has been here a long time can answer this for me........
I am very curious to know if S.K. keeps some sort of character database on a computer,written in a notebook,ect. which keeps track of characters,where they live,what they do,spouses,ect.It seems impossible that he would be able to keep track of all those stats in his head.I wonder about this every time a character from one book pops up in another.Thanks for any insight.

 

[Moderator]

Forgive me as I am sure this has been covered before.Maybe one of you guys that has been here a long time can answer this for me........
I am very curious to know if S.K. keeps some sort of character database on a computer,written in a notebook,ect. which keeps track of characters,where they live,what they do,spouses,ect.It seems impossible that he would be able to keep track of all those stats in his head.I wonder about this every time a character from one book pops up in another.Thanks for any insight.

No, he doesn't have a database he goes to. We do have quite a few of the character lists for the titles in the Library section of the site but I don't think he utilizes it. There have been times when he's asked me and/or others to go through an older book to get details about a character if he's forgotten, e.g. before he wrote Dr. Sleep he wanted to know how old Danny was at the time of his stay at The Overlook.

 

[GNTLGNT]

Forgive me as I am sure this has been covered before.Maybe one of you guys that has been here a long time can answer this for me........
I am very curious to know if S.K. keeps some sort of character database on a computer,written in a notebook,ect. which keeps track of characters,where they live,what they do,spouses,ect.It seems impossible that he would be able to keep track of all those stats in his head.I wonder about this every time a character from one book pops up in another.Thanks for any insight.

...he keeps em all on a cocktail napkin....seriously though, I know he has used Robin Furth's The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance to aid in some of his work, as far as the rest, I can't recall....

 

[Moderator]

...he keeps em all on a cocktail napkin....seriously though, I know he has used Robin Furth's The Dark Tower: A Complete Concordance to aid in some of his work, as far as the rest, I can't recall....

And this, as well as asking Robin herself.

 

[DiO'Bolic]

No, he doesn't have a database he goes to. We do have quite a few of the character lists for the titles in the Library section of the site but I don't think he utilizes it. There have been times when he's asked me and/or others to go through an older book to get details about a character if he's forgotten, e.g. before he wrote Dr. Sleep he wanted to know how old Danny was at the time of his stay at The Overlook.

Darn. I should have never believed the rumor that King developed a character card system based on Bob Dylan's “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”

 

[AchtungBaby]

Seems like I watched or read an interview where he was asked this question, and he said he doesn't really keep notes-- the characters he's creating should be memorable enough to keep straight in his head, and if they're not then they shouldn't be written about(?)

Definitely paraphrasing there, but yeah.

 

[stacy270]

No, he doesn't have a database he goes to. We do have quite a few of the character lists for the titles in the Library section of the site but I don't think he utilizes it. There have been times when he's asked me and/or others to go through an older book to get details about a character if he's forgotten, e.g. before he wrote Dr. Sleep he wanted to know how old Danny was at the time of his stay at The Overlook.

Huh.Thanks for replying.That is an interesting little fact

 

[stacy270]

Seems like I watched or read an interview where he was asked this question, and he said he doesn't really keep notes-- the characters he's creating should be memorable enough to keep straight in his head, and if they're not then they shouldn't be written about(?)

Definitely paraphrasing there, but yeah.

Jeez,there are sooooooooo many!

 

[prufrock21]

For a writer characters are like the people you know and love. While the writing is progressing, the character/s are continuously
interacting with the writer so he would tend to know who they are and how they fit in the story. Some writers keep a notebook where they list characters and their traits. Mr. King probably doesn't need to do this.

 

[morgan]

Forgive me as I am sure this has been covered before.Maybe one of you guys that has been here a long time can answer this for me........
I am very curious to know if S.K. keeps some sort of character database on a computer,written in a notebook,ect. which keeps track of characters,where they live,what they do,spouses,ect.It seems impossible that he would be able to keep track of all those stats in his head.I wonder about this every time a character from one book pops up in another.Thanks for any insight.

I remember wondering about this when I read Under the Dome for the first time!

 

[AchtungBaby]

I remember wondering about this when I read Under the Dome for the first time!

I know what you mean! I wondered about it when reading Gerald's Game.

 

[Moderator]

I remember reading in an interview some years back that he mentioned having his assistant at the time make a list for him of all the characters in The Stand so he could keep them straight while he was writing. With that one, though, there were so many minor characters it would be easy to forget some of them.

 

[Blake]

What do they mean by 'straight'?

 

[mjs9153]

 

[not_nadine]

Flagg!