Salem's Lot publishing process

**dsurrett** · August 17th, 2011

In On Writing, Sai King gave a lot of details on the publishing road for Carrie, but not as much for Salem's Lot, which of course came right after Carrie. Has anyone ever heard the process he went through for Salem's Lot? I know he wrote at least the first draft while he was still teaching school. Did he have any of the same struggles as with Carrie, or was he able to give the second or third draft to his editor, and let the publication run its course from there?

Long days and pleasant nights.

**GNTLGNT** · August 17th, 2011

anyone ever heard the process he went through for Salem's Lot?

Lots and lots of A+, or O-?

**omm poppa mow mow** · August 17th, 2011

Was thinking the other day about biographies. Way back when, I read all of Hemingway, all of Faulkner...what do I know....figured they were the people to read and nothing wrong with that. Then...it's not we had access to each other as we do now and the shelves in the library house bindings and lettering and it is all hit and miss, right?

Sort of...fun too.

But I begin reading biographies, Carlos Baker's on Hemingway...a few others...biographies on Faulkner....nothing that I recall, names...though I did like that Faulkner asked Hollywood if he could "go home" and work on the screenplays or whatever the hail it was he was writing. By home, he meant Mississippi, and that's where he went.

Billy is turning in his grave....they register it on the seismic...cause if he thought Hollywood was for the birds (all those great movies from the...what? 40s? 50s?) then they must be able to hear ding! ding! ding! wherever he's buried.

That Twain autobiography has been coming out. Anyone read that?

Too, there's that bit about the previous Twain biographies, authorized or not, whatever the case may be, what they did, they did wrong, as they took a part of what Twain had been working on, and fidgeted it. They did something that by all accounts he would not have wanted fidgeted with...like they used their editorial powers, they went to the Virgin for advice, and so on.

So....yeah...probably not in our lifetime. Not in mine anyway. I wonder when the Carlos Baker biography of Papa came out? After he was gone and so it goes. We can dream and wish...

Visit the Mendota lighthouse outhouse, a 4-holer, sitting cheek-to-cheek and reminiscing.

**Ragan** · August 18th, 2011

In the introduction to the illustrated edition of Salem's Lot, he talks a bit about the origin of the book, writing it, and sending it to his editor, Bill Thompson. According to this, the book was started in 1972, originally named "Second Coming", and he was 300 pages into writing it when Carrie was published. When he finished it, he sent the now-named 'Salem's Lot and future Bachman book Roadwork to his editor, to see which one he wanted to work on. They decided to move along with Salem's Lot, despite Thompson's warning that King would be typecast as a horror writer.

**JohnDalglish** · August 18th, 2011

Originally Posted by Ragan

They decided to move along with Salem's Lot, despite Thompson's warning that King would be typecast as a horror writer.

Hi,

How prophetic was that?

'salem's Lot is the only novel I can think of which the title starts with an apostrophe and then a lower case letter, THAT must have been much discussed at the publlshers, I'd stake my watch and warrant.

Long days and pleasant nights

**dsurrett** · August 18th, 2011

Thanks Ragan. Spideyman recommended "The life and Fiction of the Master of Macabre Stephen King The art of Darkness" by Douglas E. Winter for more info on the background of King's early books, and I found a used copy on Amazon for next to nothing. I haven't read Roadwork but am on my third (or is it fourth) time through Salem's Lot, so I'm glad Bill Thompson advised him to go with it.

**allanwood** · March 13th, 2012

Originally Posted by Ragan

In the introduction to the illustrated edition of Salem's Lot, he talks a bit about the origin of the book, writing it, and sending it to his editor, Bill Thompson. According to this, the book was started in 1972, originally named "Second Coming", and he was 300 pages into writing it when Carrie was published. When he finished it, he sent the now-named 'Salem's Lot and future Bachman book Roadwork to his editor, to see which one he wanted to work on. They decided to move along with Salem's Lot, despite Thompson's warning that King would be typecast as a horror writer.

In one interview, he mentioned it was Blaze and not Roadwork. I think he mentions Roadwork in the afterword to Different Seasons.

So I guess there is some confusion.

**Moderator** · March 13th, 2012

He wrote the original version of Blaze (not the one that was later published) in 1973 and Roadwork in 1974. In Douglas Winter's book, The Art of Darkness, it's mentioned that he did not submit Roadwork at that time because it proved too painful because it was written "to make some sense of my mother's painful death the year before." According to that source, he submitted 'Salem's Lot and the first draft of The Shine (retitled The Shining).

**kingricefan** · March 13th, 2012

Originally Posted by JohnDalglish

Hi,

How prophetic was that?

'salem's Lot is the only novel I can think of which the title starts with an apostrophe and then a lower case letter, THAT must have been much discussed at the publlshers, I'd stake my watch and warrant.

Long days and pleasant nights

As was the discussion to not put King's name or title of the book on the original paperback edition as was done with the original Carrie paperback. I bet there was a l-o-n-g discussion about that!