Just out of curiosity, because certainly the soon-to-be released End of Watch isn't even out yet, is there a release schedule for the next book after Watch? Will 2016 be a one-book year? And although a story collection was just released, will we by any chance see a novella collection soon?
Next book question
- Thread starter Rrty
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I would doubt that. The next book to be out in 2016 will be the non-fiction book about his time at the University of Maine sometime in the fall. I don't have an exact release date or details about how to purchase that I can give out at this time. What comes out in 2017 hasn't been settled although he has been working on a couple of projects. I'm not at liberty to say more about that.
...you gotta be careful man, don't want to push him like the goose that layed the golden eggs!.....
Very true. And you know what, now that you bring this up -- maybe he should focus on shorter novels, or maybe even novellas. This accomplishes two things: he gets a bit of a break, and he might be able to write more stuff some years. He has so many ideas in his head that maybe he should consider streamlining his narratives to get more of them out. Lately, I've been thinking that character-driven material, as great as it is, is not as good, on a practical, temporal basis, as plot-driven material that is executed in a purposely concise fashion. The temporal part goes for both the author and the reader, as the reader can get through more works more quickly.
As for the spoiler part, that is good to hear. I think it will be an interesting project (not sure why it's a spoiler, but I will respect its opaque nature).
He write as his muse speaks to him. Long or short- the words flow as needed. As far as character development, that is what makes a SK story a journey instead of a "book to be read". No desire here to get through more works more quickly. The longer the journey, the greater the enjoyment. Stephen King writes, Constant Reader reads.
The King brand is a quality mark, the length is not important.
Length is definitely not important, but works like Thinner and Misery do shine, in my opinion. Of course, I've always thought It was a perfect length to describe that tale's epic horror; it probably could have even been a bit longer.
I loved all the character development when I was younger. It's still awesome, but I find myself fighting with time in terms of reading long works these days. I think it's great that this is not an issue for you, Spidey.
I loved all the character development when I was younger. It's still awesome, but I find myself fighting with time in terms of reading long works these days. I think it's great that this is not an issue for you, Spidey.
I don't think he is all that considered with length. He writes them purely as they come to him. I doubt that today he still has to keep in mind a maximum length for a novel to be published and has to shorten when it's too long - maybe I'm wrong but it feels we get them nowadays purely as he writes them.
Being forced to edit stories down to their essence is not necessarily a bad thing and is usually taught to do. But it doesn't feel he cares a lot about that (anymore). I think that advice is more for newcomers to get their work read as publishers don't seem to have time to read long stories (which is strange and suspicious, but it seems true) and have to be immediately sucked in by the story.
He's very adamant about still wanting to write short stories, but even his short stories sometimes run into a longer form like Gingerbread Girl or N, which are not quite novella.
What is the perfect length for a story? It's hard to tell. I've both read things by him that feel way too long and books that could have been more extended in my opinion.
The only thing you can do and what he does is just write them how they come and at the length they come.
Being forced to edit stories down to their essence is not necessarily a bad thing and is usually taught to do. But it doesn't feel he cares a lot about that (anymore). I think that advice is more for newcomers to get their work read as publishers don't seem to have time to read long stories (which is strange and suspicious, but it seems true) and have to be immediately sucked in by the story.
He's very adamant about still wanting to write short stories, but even his short stories sometimes run into a longer form like Gingerbread Girl or N, which are not quite novella.
What is the perfect length for a story? It's hard to tell. I've both read things by him that feel way too long and books that could have been more extended in my opinion.
The only thing you can do and what he does is just write them how they come and at the length they come.
Also the length of a book seems to have little to do with how fast you read it. For example, a book like Tommyknockers feels like a plodding read, because it is a plodding book, while most agree that, say, Needful Things which actually is a longer book reads very quickly and easily. It all depends on the energy with which it is written. You can get through a long book in no time if it grabs you.
And I think that you don't necessarily need action scenes to get speed in a book, but you need to have things going that are interesting. For example in Tommyknockers a very long time is spent just digging up a space-ship with not much else going on, this becomes tiresome to read - if I had to edit it, I'd cut a lot of that out.
And I think that you don't necessarily need action scenes to get speed in a book, but you need to have things going that are interesting. For example in Tommyknockers a very long time is spent just digging up a space-ship with not much else going on, this becomes tiresome to read - if I had to edit it, I'd cut a lot of that out.
This thing sounds intriguing, I gotta tell yez.
Is he just contributing a story to a book or writing the whole thing?
Several people are contributing essays along with Steve.