Life is Fiction: Lessons Learned from SK Novels

[bopropadop]

If you love horror and the macabre affects your perception of the day-to-day, tell us what you think. For instance, do you still find yourself thinking about Norman and the movie, "Psycho" when you're home alone, knowing you need to jump into the shower before bed? Do you still hesitate when reaching to turn the light on in a darkened room, even though you know full well there will be no mysterious hand to gently guide you to the light switch?

How has SK fiction entered your world? This could be a life lesson or something that makes you think twice before turning off the light at night.

[tracie]

well when i was young someone told me that if you left the door of your wardrobe open you were giving an invitation to see your ancesters.i never knew my grandfather he died when i was two and thought of giving it a try but still can't get up the courage no no too scary.as for sk books,insomnia has changed the way i look on life not the little men in the flashy car but the main charactor how he started to see aurora's i do believe in it,like some dogs can sense a epeliptic fit coming on to his owner.i believe that there is a lot of things in this world that we can't see but are there.sk i believe made me see some of them.

[Todash]

I think I have mentioned in one of the threads here before that I'm not really afraid of anything out of the ordinary, that I don't have any "unreasonable" fears. That is not, in fact, entirely true. I'm terrified of the toilets at rest stops and in parks where there is no plumbing, just a sewage pit beneath the toilet. I could lie and say I hate them because they are gross, but the truth is they strike an unreasonable fear into my heart. I would rather (and did, while we were driving through Alaska and Canada) squat in weeds, in full view of the road, than use one of those things.

The book Dreamcatcher and the story "A Very Tight Place" in Just After Sunset did not help.

[Haunted]

I think I have mentioned in one of the threads here before that I'm not really afraid of anything out of the ordinary, that I don't have any "unreasonable" fears. That is not, in fact, entirely true. I'm terrified of the toilets at rest stops and in parks where there is no plumbing, just a sewage pit beneath the toilet. I could lie and say I hate them because they are gross, but the truth is they strike an unreasonable fear into my heart. I would rather (and did, while we were driving through Alaska and Canada) squat in weeds, in full view of the road, than use one of those things.

The book Dreamcatcher and the story "A Very Tight Place" in Just After Sunset did not help.

Your fear of holes in the earth is not an unreasonable one. Anyone with an iota of imagination could go screaming yellow bonkers if they let the spirit loose thinking on them holes (AND WHAT IS DOWN THERE!!!!) AGGGGGH!!!!!
[Double Post]
Oh man Oh man. It is that thing under the bed.:ghostface::evil::devil:

[LOTUS]

Well,yes - I do have a moment of thought when turning off the lights sometimes.Especially after reading SK.:eek2::biggrin2:
I think I actually left the lights on after reading 1408 late at night.:biggrin2:
Some passages in Salem's lot /when vampirized Danny was knocking at Mark's window,asking him to open it - "Open the window.Open the window, Mark. Open the window, Mark. Please! Let me in! It's OK, Mark, I'm your friend. *He* commands it!"/ and Bag of Bones /when Mike found his wife under the bed in his dream,especially what she told him - "Give me that, it's my dust catcher"/ also gave me the creeps.
After reading The Boogeyman,I have this thing - wardrobe door stays closed at night.:biggrin2:

[Jax]

Oh man Oh man. It is that thing under the bed.:ghostface::evil::devil:

For me too it's the thing under the bed. A lot of times I will wake up in the middle of the night and need to use the bathroom. I will jump out of bed out as far as I can, because I always think that somehow in the process of swinging my legs over the side a bony hand is gonna grab my foot. It's ridiculous I know there's nothing under there, but at 2am it doesn't seem ridiculous it just seems like a precaution.:ghostface:

[rjt65]

For me not a fear factor--But SK's relationship comments are very good IMO. Character traits and thoughts hit ome... duma key....Wireman could be a guide thru life!

Do the day and let the day do you!
My otherlife (yah I realise we have a lot of other lives)
So mnay more...

[brownmouse]

Clowns- hate 'em!
And windows at night. I think Salem's Lot did that one in for me. The boy, scratching at the window- AHHHHHHHHHHH:eek2::eek2::eek2:

[Speedygi81]

I guess I've learned to observe the world and the people in it more.

[mstay]

I always check the weeds by the side of the road for dead bodies.:eek2:

I think the main thing I've learned from SK stories is 'be prepared'. You never know what the day will bring.

[Todash]

Your fear of holes in the earth is not an unreasonable one. Anyone with an iota of imagination could go screaming yellow bonkers if they let the spirit loose thinking on them holes (AND WHAT IS DOWN THERE!!!!) AGGGGGH!!!!!
You are NOT helping. :biggrin2: :wink2:

[crazycrashink]

I'm going to sound super cheesy here, but one of the resounding messages/ life lessons I've noticed in SK is that of hope. I mean groups of children (It), older people (Insomnia), and your average go can go against adversity (not just normal everday adversity no, but usually the ancient evil variety) and have the hope and courage to fight the good fight!

[linkinjen2001]

i can't keep the shower curtain closed anymore thanks to the shining, i always think that dead lady is going to behind it. other then that i can't look into mirrors at night, i just always expect to see something scary like a bloody mary or something. the hole thing freaks me out too!:eek2:

[Sweet One]

One lesson learned in Stephen King stories is no matter what tragedy life throws at us, one must pick up one's bootstraps and go on. Dick Halloran said something like that in the final pages of the Shining, when Danny was grieving for his father.

King's out look seems to have brightened somewhat, as the TV movie version of the Shining has Jack Torrence's ghost appearing at Danny's graduation. That was never mentioned in the book, but I think King wrote the screenplay.

[tak113454]

I'm glad other people have said it, because it's the same for me... King's books usually give me, more than anything else, hope.

Reading the Dark Tower series especially (I'm almost done with book IV, so maybe it will change!) really changed me life. I had a hard childhood, and reading about Eddie getting over his own personal tragedies really changed my life. He said something to the extent that getting over your childhood is harder than getting over heroin.
That really stuck with me and made me realize I need to move forward with my life!!

But,,,,, since you mention it, when I was 13 and I saw Psycho I used to get SO nervous when taking a shower! I've gotten over it long ago, but I used to be so scared to close my eyes when I had to rinse the shampoo out of my hair!

[Dani~]

I'm not sure who wrote this but I once read "Evil is an invited guest." and ever since then I have made a point of locking my door when I am in the house. I didn't make a habit of that previously.

[Mahree]

I think that the SK books have the ability to "suspend disbelief" for me. To me, this takes the ability of a great writer. This has allowed me to look at the world with different eyes.

[Haunted]

i can't keep the shower curtain closed anymore thanks to the shining, i always think that dead lady is going to behind it. other then that i can't look into mirrors at night, i just always expect to see something scary like a bloody mary or something. the hole thing freaks me out too!:eek2:

What about Norman Bates?????????

[Todash]

i can't keep the shower curtain closed anymore thanks to the shining, i always think that dead lady is going to behind it. other then that i can't look into mirrors at night, i just always expect to see something scary like a bloody mary or something. the hole thing freaks me out too!:eek2:
Regarding Bloody Mary: Someone really needs to do this. http://www.xkcd.com/555/

[Srbo]

Well, as strange as it sounds, given the storys that Steve writes - the two most importand lessons from his books that I`v come to appreciate the most are -

Do not give up on love and hope...ever.

Yeah, sure, there is always that horror stuff that he writes about, but...like it says in the Skeleton Crew...the most importand question off all off his work is this:

Do you love ?

[wally wonder]

dunno about lessons learned. maybe lessons confirmed, like going up against the alien group mind. tommyknockers, needful things,insomnia. i suppose we've all experienced that to some degree. i've enjoyed reading about characters like john cullum, that guy who loans out petunia, some of the other independent souls we come across in sk's stories. dunno if you could call them 'self-made' men, 'a man for all seasons' but it has been nice to read about characters like that. wireman prolly fits the bill. others. there have been times when i notice something and i'm ready to jump out of my skin, this long white face late at night, over by the back wall of the garage, still don't know what it was, watching me, gave me the woolies. other than that, i try not to show i'm scared.

[Sawney Beane]

Funny enough,what really scares me or touches me of his novels are always the "real" elements or maybe "the moral of the story" if you prefer, (when there is a moral).As for the monsters,ghosts,spirits,and all sort of fantastic creatures,of course they ´re creepy,but I have never lost a minute of sleep because of them.Well,I had,but when I was a kid, Mr.King hadn´t stirred my imagination yet and apparently I didn´t need help either.
Regarding any teachings I might have recieved during the reading of his books,I couldn´t learn a life-lesson that I hadn´t learnt from my parents already.But guess what,that turned up to be scarier.

[arista]

Important lessons learned A) clowns really are evil (It) B)If the animals are running in one direction, you should be too (Dreamcatcher) C)Don't get too close to drainpipes (It)D)People are sometimes too scarey (Misery)
Lessons to live by LOL!!

[Matticus]

That there REALLY are other worlds than these.

[tillyn]

After reading Salem's Lot i sleep with my blankets up around my neck, i guess this wouldn't help with vampires but it makes me feel better.:biggrin2:

[CorbinKale]

Can't look at a sink drain without acknowledging the possibility of blood flying out of it. I know it probably won't, but I do think about it. :)

[pandora]

I think all of these posts are a compliment to the Author !!!
In my case, I'll be driving on a hot day and see the "heat" on the road ( you know the one where it looks like water ) and wonder if SK got the idea of "thinnys" from seeing them. Ya think??

[hemingway2z]

Nightmaes and Dreamescapes: having a nightmare u can fly and come to find out when u awake u can ! aauugh ! etc and etc and etc.or to have some one hand u a bag full of cash and as u walk hime u ge aressted for the robbery five minutes ago. aauugh ! or maybe u find your life is someone else's dream and then who r u any way ? aauugh ! lol !

oh it's just me, they call me skippy !

[saradobie]

Everything's Eventual. The Man in the Black Suit. NEVER go fishing alone by a creek. NEVER. I still have nightmares when I think about the setting of this story, knowing it looks dang close to a place in my home town. Eeesh...

[Roseasharn]

1. We're all looking for something. 2. If we aren't careful, we can be fooled into thinking we've found it when we haven't. 3. Love is the glue that holds existence together. 4. If you're drowing in darkness, breathe hope. 4. Stand and be true. (cheesy, but this resounds with me.)5. Caveat Emptor. :smile2: 6. Evil has a special allure, but it tends not to be very smart. 7. This means you can probably beat it, if you can be either very brave or very stupid. 8. Addiction in it's many forms is dangerous. 9. If it looks like a possible pandora's box, don't open it.
And the most important thing I have learned from reading King books is<drumroll please!>
10. Reading fiction can teach you to think around corners and it gives the opportunity to analyze the world around you using the story as a metaphor. Reading time is not wasted time. It is another tool to help you learn the world you live in and your place in it.

[boogerb53]

I've learned anybody can be a hero and there ARE worlds other than these

[pixiedark]

Because of Stephen King books (especially Christine) I acquired beliefs that cars can drive by themselves and be "possessed" or at least think and act on their own. When I was a child I was convinced that my fathers old car was like Christine. (only not as evil)

Because of Low Men in Yellow Coats and The Dark Tower Series; I have seen the Low Men and the strange looking cars that they drive. I have always noticed "Low Men" but did not know what to call them. When I was child I called them "bad guys" Because of Stephen King I realized just how dangerous they are!

[Noelani]

I love Sk's imagination, but I'm a lot more afraid of real life monsters--psycho killers. So the lessons ... lemme think on that a minute.

On another note, The Mist played on one of my biggest fears ... I'm deathly afraid of Spiders. We had a pet tarantula when I was a kid and one day, some bonehead left the top of the aquarium open and she got out. That night I couldn't sleep, I was so fearful she'd crawl on my face while I was asleep and bite me. We found her the next day, but that was the most terrifying night of my life.

Okay I think I got it ...

The lesson is, don't go out into the Mist and if you do, bring a really big can of bug spray. :eek2:

[Dani~]

I've learned not to wear high heels when you are running from zombies.

[Damaris]

I started reading King when I was fairly young and still incredibly impressionable. But, yeah, it was never the scary stuff that really stuck with me (although I'd be lying if I said I hadn't lain awake some nights thinking about the various bad guys and feeling shivers run up and down my spine). What I remembered most were things like "hope springs eternal" and that bad things happen to good people but what matters is how you react to them. That in the end good will win but it might take quite a bit of personal sacrifice to make it happen. That sometimes the best things in our lives take unusual or unexpected forms and we should never overlook them just because they don't meet our expectations. That honest and for true, I will never have friends like the ones I had as a kid. And that death really is just the beginning.

[smooth operator]

I always hated clowns - now I am also a little afraid of them.
I find myself "wondering" more, especially in the dark - about what might be under the bed, around the corner, in the sewer, etc.
I felt a thrill of insight (I grok, in other words) when I read "The screwing you take is not worth the f****** you get" and SSDD.
I also look along the side of the road for bodies.

[PatInTheHat]

I've learned not to wear high heels when you are running from zombies.
:y:
Got it:wink2:!
(I think the best defense is to drop down, cover your head and play dead...then hope for the best:oo:...:eek2:..or is that bears:eyebrow:?)

[MartinEden]

When I read 'Salem's Lot as a teen, I slept right below a window, and I often had the drapes open to let some light in. After reading that book....I closed them.

Also (and this wasn't that long ago, I'm ashamed to say), I slept in a bedroom which was adjacent to a bath. At night I often kept the bathroom door cracked open a few inches so I could get there more quickly if I needed it, or just out of habit I guess. In that bathroom was a large mirror, and on the wall adjacent to that was a night light I used so that I wouldn't have to switch on the light in the case of a midnight 'go'. Every night in bed I faced that door and could see the dimly lit area around the night light reflected in the mirror. During that I started imagining a person standing in there staring at me through the mirror. After a while, I had to start closing the door. Of course, GERALD'S GAME and the gigantic, monstrous eye from IT didn't help much.