How Has Stephen King's work Touched Your Life?

[VultureLvr45]

Carrie came out when I was in jr. high. It made me believe there was one other person who understood how I felt as an unpopular preacher's kid. It gave me hope that I'd survive my childhood. Thankful for him indeed.

[GNTLGNT]

I am thankful for the countless hours he's transported me to HIS worlds...and the path that led me here...

[dsurrett]

I'm thankful that he shared his story in On Writing, and that let me see more of humanness, if that's a word, which led me into being Constant Reader, where I previously hadn't read his works due to some incorrect though sincere religious beliefs about what Christians, ANY Christians, shouldn't read or watch. I'm still a conservative evangelical Bible-believing Christian, but now I'm one whose favorite author is Stephen King.
And he's been an indirect influence since most of my Facebook activity and almost all of the Facebook friends I've added in the past year are King-related on Stephen King Central.

[Stan_Richards_of_Windsor]

Well, just by reading one of his novels, he is touching your life, because I can't count the number of hours I've spent scrolling through his works.

On Writing and IT were perhaps the two books I took to heart though.

[J.T. Adams]

Immeasurable.

He taught me that it's perfectly ok to keep my head right up there where its always been; in the clouds.

[Spideyman]

I am thankful for the countless hours he's transported me to HIS worlds...and the path that led me here...

That says so much GNTLGNT. I feel the same. His works have given me escape when I needed it, comfort during a sad time in my life, and laughter. They led me here too, and that has opened a whole world of friends.

[GNTLGNT]

That says so much GNTLGNT. I feel the same. His works have given me escape when I needed it, comfort during a sad time in my life, and laughter. They led me here too, and that has opened a whole world of friends.

..aye, so it has...and from one who doesn't have but a handful of close friends-it's very welcome.....

[Connie Reader]

His books gave me a place to hide when I felt vulnerable, people to look up to when I felt beaten down, places to visit when I was bored. They gave me a new way to look at this universe we live in and the people in it.

And as GNTLGNT had said, also leading me here to all you foine, foine folks. :)

[AnnaMarie]

As well as an escape when I needed it, and many of the other points raised by others.....his books showed me that things really could be worse. No matter how bad things were (and sometimes they were really bad) they could have been worse.

[murderofcrows]

Carrie came out when I was in jr. high. It made me believe there was one other person who understood how I felt as an unpopular preacher's kid. It gave me hope that I'd survive my childhood. Thankful for him indeed.

Yes, I agree, we should thank him, indeed. Not only has Stephen King provided me with a means of wonderful escape but he has broadened my horizons. The way I write, my vocabulary, increased, at a young age. Cujo, at age 12 was my first book and since I've been a pretty steady and at times, constant reader. Stephen King's is a human acid for the mind, he expands it. I don't like to think of him as "horror" but sci-fi and also a romance novel. He shows you people, makes you care about them, then does bad things to them all the while entangling you in some far out alien experience and you believe. If Mr. King were a drug, they would sell him by the gram.

[Shoesalesman]

I got into Stephen's books when I was twelve (1983), so he's pretty well been a part of my imagination development for the last thirty years. In the same way that Star Wars affected me in my pre-teen years, my imagination as a teen took off thanks to SK. Not that he was solely responsible, just that I happened to be waaay into his stuff when the development occured.

[Lina]

For me the influence that SK had on me was also very big, it is just another world which I can visit now and then, and forget about the reality. I started reading SK books when I was twelve, it makes already eleven years. So, yeah, his influence was meaningful for me, and still remains the same. Besides, it all gave me a lot of opportunities in the life, I even wrote my graduation paper in University, basing it on a SK book =D

[tenngolfer]

I have always appreciated people that have the ability to make me think outside the box, and alter my perspective on the world. Mr. King is definitely one of those authors that can alter perspective, and in a very entertaining way.

Thanks.

[TheInterloper]

Shoe salesman I am currently a teen and I can very much relate to you when you speak of imagination, the dark tower and its ideas of alternate universes.. Priceless friend. I have also been exposed to pre- adolescence murdering a.k.a gage getting ran over....

[Shoesalesman]

Shoe salesman I am currently a teen and I can very much relate to you when you speak of imagination, the dark tower and its ideas of alternate universes.. Priceless friend. I have also been exposed to pre- adolescence murdering a.k.a gage getting ran over....

Learned much about unsafe places/peopleand horrific misfortune through the safety of reading. Happy AND grateful to say... still learning. Cheers! :smile2:

[AchtungBaby]

His books have helped me through the very hard times, as some people have said. I love being taken to his worlds and living life with the people there, at least for a while...

[ZMeister]

Let me count the ways...

Sheer entertainment aside, I'd have to say his works were the first I'd read that showed the complexity of people: we're not all black and white. Dark Half made the first impression on me on that matter.

What some have called 'diarrhea of the word processor,' to me has been the rich inner dialogue of his characters-how people think. He has an insight on human nature that I haven't seen in any other writer. He has a deep understanding of the feminine nature that I'd personally attribute to his long marriage

His works, especially the Dark Tower series, have confirmed what I've suspected for a long time: the fragile nature of what constitutes reality. To be honest, nothing he's ever written has scared me until I was about halfway through Wizard and Glass. Then for no particular reason I could put my finger on I got this feeling of ominous dread that made no sense in context with what I was reading. I got this irrational idea in my head that if I finished reading the whole series that the world, our world, would move on. Or it would for me even if it didn't for anyone else around me who hadn't read it. At that point, I determined that I wouldn't finish the series, just in case. I think what disturbed me the most was that it's the last thing I would have ever expected would disturb or scare me considering all the other things I'd read that didn't scare me a bit. Why that?

By the time I got to the sixth it started getting a tad 'real,' and I started thinking, "Okaaay...this is getting a wee bit close to home and my discomfort [those who've read it probably know which part I'm referring to.

By the time I was finished with the series I realized the world had moved on before I was even born. WWII. That's when the world moved on and 'reruns have become our history."

And the rest is history. xD

[FlakeNoir]

Let me count the ways...

Sheer entertainment aside, I'd have to say his works were the first I'd read that showed the complexity of people: we're not all black and white. Dark Half made the first impression on me on that matter.

What some have called 'diarrhea of the word processor,' to me has been the rich inner dialogue of his characters-how people think. He has an insight on human nature that I haven't seen in any other writer. He has a deep understanding of the feminine nature that I'd personally attribute to his long marriage

His works, especially the Dark Tower series, have confirmed what I've suspected for a long time: the fragile nature of what constitutes reality. To be honest, nothing he's ever written has scared me until I was about halfway through Wizard and Glass. Then for no particular reason I could put my finger on I got this feeling of ominous dread that made no sense in context with what I was reading. I got this irrational idea in my head that if I finished reading the whole series that the world, our world, would move on. Or it would for me even if it didn't for anyone else around me who hadn't read it. At that point, I determined that I wouldn't finish the series, just in case. I think what disturbed me the most was that it's the last thing I would have ever expected would disturb or scare me considering all the other things I'd read that didn't scare me a bit. Why that?

By the time I got to the sixth it started getting a tad 'real,' and I started thinking, "Okaaay...this is getting a wee bit close to home and my discomfort [those who've read it probably know which part I'm referring to.

By the time I was finished with the series I realized the world had moved on before I was even born. WWII. That's when the world moved on and 'reruns have become our history."

And the rest is history. xD

Zee, something in your post really hit me, right in the centre. I read the DT series all the way through three times before allowing myself to finish it with the (then) seventh book. I had that same kind of feeling. (And know now, that I was just trying to stave off the loss of a very special soul. I (falsely) thought that if I didn't go on... then my friend could.)

No other book series has ever carried me so far and through so much, I'm not sure that another Author could pull that off?
Thank you for your post. :smile2:

[Spideyman]

Zee, Flake I think you have found the essence of the Dark Tower journey. Read it as published. Cussed on that mono for years. Have taken the journey many many times. It is life changing, altering in many ways. There is just something special about the way Sai King present those characters to us. It has touched me in each part of my life- from mid 30's until today. It has carried me through "the good, the bad and the ugly" of life. I say thankee for this journey.

[Todash]

Carrie came out when I was in jr. high. It made me believe there was one other person who understood how I felt as an unpopular preacher's kid. It gave me hope that I'd survive my childhood. Thankful for him indeed.
I think he'd like that very much.

I didn't start reading him till I was an adult, with the exception of part of The Shining, and though normally I'm wordier than the man himself, I am at a loss to explain myself here. All I know is that his best stuff fits Emily Dickinson's definition of poetry: “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry."

And of course, all you fine people here. :)

[wakeupnow666]

I got into King the year I was transitioning from 4th grade (elementary school) to 5th grade (junior high). My father worked for a paper company who's office was based out of Amherst, MA but the mill was based in Bango, ME. It was called Lincoln, Pulp & Paper at the time. Later Eastern. That summer, my father took us on a trip to Maine, to a company cabin on Moosehead Lake. I'd never been to Maine before (except perhaps to stop by into Maine for candy and shopping, after dropping/picking my sister up at a summer camp in NH). We probably only stayed on Moosehead for a week, but it looms much larger in my memory and imagination. For the first few days, I had it in my head to get a 'paddle boat', one of these contraptions that really aren't meant for lakes or any body of water, except really for entertainment. Since I couldn't convince my parents to get one, we ended up getting a motor boat. We made our way out, and found an island. Abandoned. It made such a large impression, and my mom commented that it resembled "The Overlook from the Shining". Not knowing what it was, I wanted to learn everything about it. My mom informed me that it was written by a man named Stephen King, who lived in Bangor, in this very state, Maine. This was the hook that got me for life.

Sure enough, before arriving home, we took a stop at my grandmother's place in Boston. We stopped at Mobile Book store (the famous one!), and stocked up on King books. I remember getting The Shining, and a few others. When we arrived at my grandma's home, Carrie was on tv (she had all the cable channels!). I had a habit of watching all the horror stuff when I visited her on previous visits (Tales from the Crypt, the Puppetmaster series, etc), but this one felt different. King seemed different. It lit a spark that never went out.

I even remember the night before 5th grade, the movie version of 'Pet Cemetary' was on TV. I was supposed to be going to bed by 8 PM, but I managed to sneak in most of the movie.
I even recall trying to read 'IT' in 5th grade, and bringing it to school for breaks (though I never quite finished it that year. That was probably a year or two later when I did).

The biggest moment of my King reading life was when I stumbled on The Dark Tower series. At the time, I had discovered (as a lurker, for the most part) alt.books.stephen-king on the usegroups. I remember Bev Vincent very well from that time, as he was a regular. And probably the nicest, most useful member there.

I was 13 when I picked up the Dark Tower. According to the newsgroups, it would be difficult. Stick with it, people said. This would have been 1995, I believe. Sure enough, I found The Gunslinger to be unlike anything else King had put out, and I was intrigued.. though I did find it slow moving, and difficult. I trusted King, though, and kept on. By the last part, with the vision of the universe, etc I was completely hooked. I was totally in love with what the DT was proposing. I quickly moved onto DT2 and then DT3, and was... suckered into the maaajor tease that was the end of DT3 (though I must say, I loooved the ending and setup, just the same). That's right, I had started the DT series before 4 had been released. Damnit! The wait could at times be infuriating/frustrating, but worth it.

At the Mobile Book Store in Boston, my grandmother bought me the DT box set, which includes the first three (Grant) editions. Over time, I also had to have the audio book editions (I've yet to get the Wind + Keyhole, though I'm looking to it). I also, for a time, had the version of 1-3 on tape that was read by Stephen King himself. I wish I had those, those I'm most nostalgic for.

Around this time, I also developed a obsession of sorts with David Letterman (no, not a scary one, a healthy one). I oscillated between wanting to be a horror writer, and being the successor to the Late Night throne, Letterman was my idol. Being from Western Mass, NYC is not that far away really. Growing up, my family never really went to NYC-- mostly due to my mother basically being scared of big cities (she grew up in Boston). Being only 13 or so at the time, I couldn't get into tapings of David Letterman, as their policy was 16 and older only at the time. My dad wanted to introduce me to culture and the city, and to take our chances (I presume he felt that just because it said 16, doesn't mean they enforce it well). In addition, I had entered puberty at a younger age than most of my peers, and so I looked older. Sure enough, I was able to enter the Letterman studios, and see my first (of many) tapes of Letterman. But this isn't a Letterman forum, so back to King, my going off point will make sense in a moment. Since I had the Dark Tower books on tape, and the trip was about 3 hours each way (a looong way for me in my mind back then!) we popped in The Dark Tower series on our many trips to NYC (sometimes with my Carnegie Deli doggy bag on my lap).

I have such a fond memory/ies of these trips. My father is such a good man. While I don't know if he actually cared for these stories, he listened patiently as he drove me to and from NYC. Some of the trips weren't to NYC, one time in particular he brought me to Bangor, so I could see where the companies mills are from (and yes, an opportunity to drive by the house that King built). I willl say sheepishly that I was overly sensitive about doing this- as much as I would have liked to see King's house (and I did), I was all too aware of the fact that King had had stalkers in his life, as well as more than likely far too many people gawking into his house. I didn't want to be one of many, here, intruding on his life. When we were in Bangor, we checked out a game going on in the 'Field of Screams' (it was a very nice field!), and yes, we did drive by King's house, briefly slowing down in front. I emphasized to my dad how I'd be mortified if King saw me doing this, as much as I was curious, I wanted to respect his privacy. I justified to myself, that since we were in my dad's company town, and the mill wasn't that far away, I might be a slight 'exception', as we didn't drive alllll this way to Bangor JUST to see the house. Still, I felt conflicted.

So this day, my dad has not finished The Dark Tower with me. We had long since moved on to the CD's, and we made it (as far as I can tell/remember) to somewhere in book 5. To this day (from as far back as 1995), my dad will say "did-a-chuck, dad-a-chuck", and we will both know exactly what he means. usually I will finish his "did-a-chuck" with a "dad-a-chuck", with me sort of emphasizing the "dad" and looking at him funny. Sometimes, when I ask him if he wants to go on a long trip somewhere, or is about to go on a long business trip (he still does these), I ask him if he wants company. Then I sort of twistedly ask "so where are we in The Dark Tower?" as if it's some sick game I've been playing with him, for about 20 years now (wow!) I would love to reach The Tower with my father- and as they say, "I shall always remember the face of my Father"...

That's what Stephen King and his work means to me.

[ZMeister]

Zee, Flake I think you have found the essence of the Dark Tower journey. Read it as published. Cussed on that mono for years. Have taken the journey many many times. It is life changing, altering in many ways. There is just something special about the way Sai King present those characters to us. It has touched me in each part of my life- from mid 30's until today. It has carried me through "the good, the bad and the ugly" of life. I say thankee for this journey.

Sometimes I feel like a 'walk-in' with amnesia. Because life is too effing strange here for this to be my native home. Mayhap I'm one of them reptilians you hear conspiracy nutters talking about. :laugh:

[gardengirl]

I have a very vivid memory of standing in TG&Y my sophmore year, reading the back of the paperbook 'Salem's Lot and feeling the hackles on the back of my neck rise before deciding that I just had to read this book. I turned 50 this year, and I was thinking recently that Stephen King probably had a bigger impact on me than my parents did. He helped me to understand that not everything was black & white or good & evil.