Dear Stephen King,
Hello! I am brand new to the forum and arrived here by way of your non-fiction work On Writing. I have aspirations of composing my own contemporary fantasy novel with an ensemble cast of quirky characters. I was drawn to your writing in particular because of how well you develop the ensembles of characters in your works. I figured your book and the exercise listed on page 173 was a good place to start. I just completed my story about 15 minutes ago, and ended with 12 pages and 6,514 words. I think I will review it a few more times and probably find some small errors to fix or areas to 'tweek', but overall I am really happy with it.
I did want to tell you that I fudged a little on the assignment. I know I was supposed to swap the roles of Dick and Jane, but when I started digging the story I uncovered was about Jane. About her trauma and memories, and the links between scent and memory. In this era of #MeToo I felt a story where the woman is the victim of domestic and verbal abuse is just more relevant.
You are right about the digging. There I was sitting at my laptop, scraping back the layers with my mental trowel, and the story just came up. It felt very natural, and it's odd because every time I sit down and try to write a chapter of my novel (mentioned above) I just keep backspacing and rewriting, backspacing and rewriting, till I start to think that the story isn't there, but I know that it is! Have you (or anyone else reading this post) ever had that experience? Where one story comes easier than another? I do not wish to give up on my contemporary fantasy, so feedback would be much appreciated.
And Stephen, though I know the chance is probably pretty remote, I would like to ask if you want to read my Jane and Dick story. I would be thrilled to have your feedback.
Thanks so much! I enjoyed reading your autobiography/writing manual and thank you for taking the time to share your stories and experiences with us.
Sincerely,
Maggie
Hello! I am brand new to the forum and arrived here by way of your non-fiction work On Writing. I have aspirations of composing my own contemporary fantasy novel with an ensemble cast of quirky characters. I was drawn to your writing in particular because of how well you develop the ensembles of characters in your works. I figured your book and the exercise listed on page 173 was a good place to start. I just completed my story about 15 minutes ago, and ended with 12 pages and 6,514 words. I think I will review it a few more times and probably find some small errors to fix or areas to 'tweek', but overall I am really happy with it.
I did want to tell you that I fudged a little on the assignment. I know I was supposed to swap the roles of Dick and Jane, but when I started digging the story I uncovered was about Jane. About her trauma and memories, and the links between scent and memory. In this era of #MeToo I felt a story where the woman is the victim of domestic and verbal abuse is just more relevant.
You are right about the digging. There I was sitting at my laptop, scraping back the layers with my mental trowel, and the story just came up. It felt very natural, and it's odd because every time I sit down and try to write a chapter of my novel (mentioned above) I just keep backspacing and rewriting, backspacing and rewriting, till I start to think that the story isn't there, but I know that it is! Have you (or anyone else reading this post) ever had that experience? Where one story comes easier than another? I do not wish to give up on my contemporary fantasy, so feedback would be much appreciated.
And Stephen, though I know the chance is probably pretty remote, I would like to ask if you want to read my Jane and Dick story. I would be thrilled to have your feedback.
Thanks so much! I enjoyed reading your autobiography/writing manual and thank you for taking the time to share your stories and experiences with us.
Sincerely,
Maggie