Question on unpublished works

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Rrty

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Jun 4, 2007
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I was looking at a list of unpublished works by King and was wondering something about them. How many of these are substantial in length? As an example, reading the Wikipedia entry on this subject makes me think The House on Value Street is the length of a novel, but I always thought it wasn't.

What about the others? Welcome to Clearwater, Hatchet Head, Comb Dump, On the Island, The Leprechaun -- are all of these pieces novels? And did King ever try that idea about rain turning people into cannibals?
 

Moderator

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I was looking at a list of unpublished works by King and was wondering something about them. How many of these are substantial in length? As an example, reading the Wikipedia entry on this subject makes me think The House on Value Street is the length of a novel, but I always thought it wasn't.

What about the others? Welcome to Clearwater, Hatchet Head, Comb Dump, On the Island, The Leprechaun -- are all of these pieces novels? And did King ever try that idea about rain turning people into cannibals?

I'd have to look through our files to find them but am not working in the office today and don't know if I'll have time to research this before I go on vacation next Tuesday. Some of them aren't ringing any bells at all as having ever seen them during my time here.
 

Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
4,588
I'm still deciding whether to buy this book or not. I have a question about it, if anyone knows.

I read the sample, and this may have been just because it was the early pages, but does the book ever go into specific information about the unpublished works besides just mentioning their existence? I get the impression it doesn't and that there is a lot of filler material. Don't get me wrong, the filler material seems interesting and valuable, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Also, it seems as if some guesswork is made here and there (although I guess the latest edition has King commenting on some of the works). For example, something I read seemed to indicate that there is a hint King wrote a certain screenplay but no hard evidence.

Lastly, a specific question: I read something connected to the book that seemed to mention King wrote a screenplay for The Tommyknockers. Is this true? As I read the sample and scanned the table of contents, it didn't seem to mention that.

It would be great if King one day published a long essay listing all his unpublished works and discussed them briefly, at least giving information on page count and why they were attempted. I should say too I am more interested in things that were either unknown, unused, or not published at all. As an example, I am not interested in a discussion of Cat's Eye because even though that is unpublished, the movie was made. I am, however, interested in whether or not there is a screenplay for The Stand that was never used. I lost track of whether or not the one that he wrote for the mini-series was completely different from the one (if I am recalling this correctly) he wrote when it originally was going to be a theatrical movie. That's the type of stuff I am interested in (and speaking of The Stand, how many words did he cut from the novel that never made it into the uncut edition; it's amazing how much he was written).
 

FlakeNoir

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Apr 11, 2006
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I'm still deciding whether to buy this book or not. I have a question about it, if anyone knows.

I read the sample, and this may have been just because it was the early pages, but does the book ever go into specific information about the unpublished works besides just mentioning their existence? I get the impression it doesn't and that there is a lot of filler material. Don't get me wrong, the filler material seems interesting and valuable, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Also, it seems as if some guesswork is made here and there (although I guess the latest edition has King commenting on some of the works). For example, something I read seemed to indicate that there is a hint King wrote a certain screenplay but no hard evidence.

Lastly, a specific question: I read something connected to the book that seemed to mention King wrote a screenplay for The Tommyknockers. Is this true? As I read the sample and scanned the table of contents, it didn't seem to mention that.

It would be great if King one day published a long essay listing all his unpublished works and discussed them briefly, at least giving information on page count and why they were attempted. I should say too I am more interested in things that were either unknown, unused, or not published at all. As an example, I am not interested in a discussion of Cat's Eye because even though that is unpublished, the movie was made. I am, however, interested in whether or not there is a screenplay for The Stand that was never used. I lost track of whether or not the one that he wrote for the mini-series was completely different from the one (if I am recalling this correctly) he wrote when it originally was going to be a theatrical movie. That's the type of stuff I am interested in (and speaking of The Stand, how many words did he cut from the novel that never made it into the uncut edition; it's amazing how much he was written).
One for Moderator or maybe Bev Vincent as Marsha is still on vacation.
 

Bev Vincent

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
4,351
11,651
Texas
www.bevvincent.com
I'm still deciding whether to buy this book or not. I have a question about it, if anyone knows.

I read the sample, and this may have been just because it was the early pages, but does the book ever go into specific information about the unpublished works besides just mentioning their existence? I get the impression it doesn't and that there is a lot of filler material. Don't get me wrong, the filler material seems interesting and valuable, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Also, it seems as if some guesswork is made here and there (although I guess the latest edition has King commenting on some of the works). For example, something I read seemed to indicate that there is a hint King wrote a certain screenplay but no hard evidence.

The book goes into extensive details about the plots of these works. Rocky Wood spent a few weeks in King's archives reading all this material. Entries on unpublished short stories run to three or more pages, for example.

Lastly, a specific question: I read something connected to the book that seemed to mention King wrote a screenplay for The Tommyknockers. Is this true? As I read the sample and scanned the table of contents, it didn't seem to mention that.

If King wrote a screenplay for The Tommyknockers, it isn't listed in Rocky's book.
 

Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
4,588
The book goes into extensive details about the plots of these works. Rocky Wood spent a few weeks in King's archives reading all this material. Entries on unpublished short stories run to three or more pages, for example.



If King wrote a screenplay for The Tommyknockers, it isn't listed in Rocky's book.

Thanks Bev for the above information. I decided to take a chance on the book.

It says something about King offers more information on The Tommyknockers, and there was something else (maybe at the author's site) that indicated it may have been about a screenplay, but I don't really know. Be cool if that were true. But perhaps it is about that short story about Paulson (if I remember the name right). Either way, I hope to hear some new stuff about that book, as I always found it to be an interesting plot.
 
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