Questions about a technique SK uses.

[Gerald]

Readers of SK are very familiar with this. He breaks up a sentence and puts something a character thinks in between. I'll give an example, not specifically from a book, but I'll make one up.

Charlie looked at the wall and saw the shadow

(not the shadows, mustn't think about what's in the shadows)

of a car passing by.

To me out of all the techniques he uses, this is the most effective one to evoke tension/dread/fear. It gives the sense of what fear or worries do, that they're gnawing at you. You try to push them away, but even in doing that you're essentially emphasizing them. In a way when they have a grip on you, you can't escape them.

What I'm wondering was, was he the first to use this technique? I've never seen it used by other writers. I don't think any of the well-known horror/suspense-writers like Matheson, Straub, Koontz, Barker, Herbert use it. Nor have I seen it in the classics, like Poe, Lovecraft, M.R. James etc.

And are techniques like this copyrighted by authors? In other words is anyone free to use them?
I think no one else uses it, because it seems so obvious it's from King. Or has anyone seen it used by others?

 

[Doc Creed]

Readers of SK are very familiar with this. He breaks up a sentence and puts something a character thinks in between. I'll give an example, not specifically from a book, but I'll make one up.

Charlie looked at the wall and saw the shadow

(not the shadows, mustn't think about what's in the shadows)

of a car passing by.

To me out of all the techniques he uses, this is the most effective one to evoke tension/dread/fear. It gives the sense of what fear or worries do, that they're gnawing at you. You try to push them away, but even in doing that you're essentially emphasizing them. In a way when they have a grip on you, you can't escape them.

What I'm wondering was, was he the first to use this technique? I've never seen it used by other writers. I don't think any of the well-known horror/suspense-writers like Matheson, Straub, Koontz, Barker, Herbert use it. Nor have I seen it in the classics, like Poe, Lovecraft, M.R. James etc.

And are techniques like this copyrighted by authors? In other words is anyone free to use them?
I think no one else uses it, because it seems so obvious it's from King. Or has anyone seen it used by others?

It is an effective technique. I believe Faulkner used it and James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, too. It's called stream-of-consciousness. It allows the reader to feel the raw, abstract nerve center of a character's thoughts, in my opinion. It isn't always the inner thoughts of a character but, almost, the soul and personality of the book itself. King has made great use of it over time.
I remember in Pet Sematary, things like (hey, ho, let's go!) in between sentences or inner dialogue.

 

[Doc Creed]

Stephen King does something slightly different, though. He mostly uses the parenthetical phrases like static voices coming across a two-way radio. I think he's created something all his own.

 

[GNTLGNT]

...agreed Doc....an aptly described....

 

[Zone D Dad]

When I was a much younger reader, I think the first time I remember even seeing italics to convey an inner thought was in a SK work. He uses it so effectively. I'm not ashamed to say I've borrowed that for use in my own writing.

 

[skimom2]

And are techniques like this copyrighted by authors? In other words is anyone free to use them?
I think no one else uses it, because it seems so obvious it's from King. Or has anyone seen it used by others?

"Style" isn't something subject to intellectual property laws, but a writer who too closely apes something that is an identifiable tic of another well known writer looks very foolish.

 

[Tery]

When I was a much younger reader, I think the first time I remember even seeing italics to convey an inner thought was in a SK work. He uses it so effectively. I'm not ashamed to say I've borrowed that for use in my own writing.

Same here. But not so much that it's obvious.

 

[skimom2]

Same here. But not so much that it's obvious.

Mr. King has done it, too. The "The town knew darkness" part of 'Salem's Lot is painfully Faulknerian ( I say "painfully" because I loathe Faulkner's writing lol)

 

[Connor B]

Mr. King has done it, too. The "The town knew darkness" part of 'Salem's Lot is painfully Faulknerian ( I say "painfully" because I loathe Faulkner's writing lol)

I have a couple of Faulkner's novels, but like so many things in my collection of books, I haven't gotten around to them yet. I tried reading The Sound and the Fury, but to simply comprehend it requires a ton of patience and a very keen mind. In regards to King's use of italics, I think it's pretty cool. It's a very effective means of showing the thought processes of his characters, especially during stressful or terrifying events. I believe that such stylistic touches should be used to ENHANCE the reader's experience rather than interfering with it.

 

[skimom2]

I have a couple of Faulkner's novels, but like so many things in my collection of books, I haven't gotten around to them yet. I tried reading The Sound and the Fury, but to simply comprehend it requires a ton of patience and a very keen mind. In regards to King's use of italics, I think it's pretty cool. It's a very effective means of showing the thought processes of his characters, especially during stressful or terrifying events. I believe that such stylistic touches should be used to ENHANCE the reader's experience rather than interfering with it.

I've read quite a bit of Faulkner. He's not especially difficult, and I acknowledge his artistry, but I have no patience for him.

You are correct about stylistic quirks. It's a trick to have a literary identifier that does not become a distraction.

 

[AchtungBaby]

It is an effective technique. I believe Faulkner used it and James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, too. It's called stream-of-consciousness. It allows the reader to feel the raw, abstract nerve center of a character's thoughts, in my opinion. It isn't always the inner thoughts of a character but, almost, the soul and personality of the book itself. King has made great use of it over time.
I remember in Pet Sematary, things like (hey, ho, let's go!) in between sentences or inner dialogue.

Agree on Pet Sematary. The technique was also used brilliantly to convey Jack's inner thoughts in The Shining.

King doesn't seem to write SOC much anymore. At least in that way.

 

[Doc Creed]

Agree on Pet Sematary. The technique was also used brilliantly to convey Jack's inner thoughts in The Shining.

King doesn't seem to write SOC much anymore. At least in that way.

Yes, The Shining is another great example. UNMASK! All of those allusions to Poe. My favorite one that kept resurfacing was 'she creeps', referring to what Watson told Jack about the boiler.

 

[Gerald]

I'd heard of the term 'stream of consciousness', but didn't know it was used to describe this technique.

The term was introduced in 1890, but not in a literary sense, but by psychologist William James. In 1918 it was first used by critic May Sinclair to describe a literary technique.

It's a way of mimicking the human thought process rather than following a conventional plot. It doesn't seem so much a genre as a narrative mode. Interruption of sentences, fragmentation, leaving out interpunction are ways to do it. James Joyce, Faulkner, Hemingway,Virginia Woolf are some famous writers who used it.

So I guess it's not strictly a King's thing, but he's probably best known for doing it in horror/suspense, so it only appears he started it. But basically everyone can use it. I wonder why not more horrorwriters do it, because it's so effective. What most writers do to create suspense is simply not finishing a sentence:

It couldn't be that...
What if the murderer had come back and...

But to interrupt the sentence, put in a tense thought and then finish the main sentence is far more effective.

I suppose in general an author's style is not something that he can copyright? What if you wrote an original story but totally did it in a known style of another writer, could the writer sue you for using his style?

 

[Steffen]

Gerald and Doc Creed thanks for your explanations, they were both very good. When I first got into SK as a teenager, this was one of his techniques that I was fascinated with. Before him, I had never come across another writer that was able to capture that occurrence of "intruding thoughts" whenever you're thinking about a particular subject. I've seen it used by Peter Straub as well.

 

[Doc Creed]

Gerald and Doc Creed thanks for your explanations, they were both very good. When I first got into SK as a teenager, this was one of his techniques that I was fascinated with. Before him, I had never come across another writer that was able to capture that occurrence of "intruding thoughts" whenever you're thinking about a particular subject. I've seen it used by Peter Straub as well.

There may be a better and more applicable definition but I don't know of one. As I said, the interruptions aren't necessarily from a character's thoughts and, therefore, not necessarily from their consciousness, but I don't know what else to call it. It is a case where the intrusions (as you aptly called them) can be coming from the character or the author/omniscient narrator.

 

[Gerald]

There may be a better and more applicable definition but I don't know of one. As I said, the interruptions aren't necessarily from a character's thoughts and, therefore, not necessarily from their consciousness, but I don't know what else to call it. It is a case where the intrusions (as you aptly called them) can be coming from the character or the author/omniscient narrator.

Intrusions seems a good word for them. I usually tend to take them as coming from the character, as they usually happen when you're in the perspective of a character. The author or narrator's voice is mostly at the beginning of a book or chapter, or an interlude (like in Salem's Lot the descriptions of what's happening overall in town), but as the story actually gets going it shifts nearly completely to a character or characters, and that's where the 'intrusions' pop up.