On Writing is a great book and I recommend it even if you have no interest in writing.
As far as King's writing goes some of my favorite work of his are his short stories The Body (basis of the film Stand By Me) and The Breathing Method. You can find them in a few anthologies. The latter is actually my favorite for the odd way it's split into an inner and an outer stories and his vivid description of the 'club' and what it means to the character. I'm still puzzling over the possible metaphorical meaning of the story encapsulation there in relation to the symbolism of both. Or maybe there is none. Shrug. But it's an awesome piece.
Those two were published originally in Different Seasons, which had three of its four novellas adapted into movies. (Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil)
It's funny, because I'd say his reputation and recognition is primarily as a novelist... but I think he's absolutely a better short story writer than a novelist! Don't get me wrong... I love almost everything King has ever written (well, fiction anyway... I can do without his ridiculous politics), including both novels and short stories. But every time I sit down and start reading one of his short story anthologies, I'm reminded of just how amazing his is in that form. I just read Bazaar of Bad Dreams earlier this year, and, once again, I was blown away.
Skeleton Crew is one of my favorites, mainly because my family used to shop at the grocery store from "The Mist" when we went to Bridgton in the summer. It's still open, but it's not really recognizable anymore. When I was a child, it was pretty much exactly the way he described it, all buzzing fluorescents, wilted produce, and green linoleum.
I got really mad at Stephen King for writing himself into the Dark Tower books, but I kind of get it. I see the last two books especially as Steve plowing through a story he'd basically given up on as un-finishable, because he also couldn't not finish them. Putting himself in as a character is his apology to us as readers for there being no possible satisfactory conclusion to the series.
It's an incident that takes place early in his career. He's pretty proud of his newfound success as a writer. While talking over his finances with his accountant, it turns out that after taxes, expenses, and his agent's cut that he made about as much as he would as a plumber.
That's standard issue in the book and movie contract experience, especially for new entrants.
The tech industry is really remarkable for not being abusive to founders and developers. If you think VC terms can be bad, look at what musicians and writers get dealt. Even onerous VC liquidation preferences and ratchet terms or down round dilution is nothing compared to what gets done to your favorite band.
I think it's because techies, while not necessarily MBAs, tend to read the fine print and not be quite as ignorant of business as your average artist. It's also because it's a new growing industry, while art/music/writing is a stagnant old one.
Also techies can self-fund for small ventures. Unlike musicians, a typical 'techie' can pull in near 100k per year and save it to fund their side-projects while working, or taking a long sabbatical with a few friends to work on a startup.
Musicians get paid a lot less even when they aren't trying to make it 'big'.
I imagine there's plenty of artists that read the fine print, couldn't stomach the terms, and were consequently never heard of. Others decided they didn't mind the terms and the odds, some of those made it.
Software founders are just more likely to be from a social class where saying no to bad terms means you can still possibly succeed, and so the market doesn't bear bids of particularly bad terms.
Good point. The high salaries techies can land on short notice are almost as good as having FU money. You don't have to stick your head in that snarling contract's mouth.
You also have entities out there like YCombinator and even NVCA that publish standard deal terms that are relatively founder-friendly. Founders negotiating deals even outside the orbit of these entities can reference these terms and say "these are the standard and they were used for 'insert well-known startup here' by 'top-flying VC here'" and push back on any onerous terms by just calling them weird and non-standard. That goes a long way toward curtailing the kind of obscure shenanigans you see in music contracts.
Edit: I'm referring to SAFEs, the YC Series AA docs, and the NVCA templates.
I'm not sure what plumber salary has historically been, but according to [1] and [2] they make average to somewhat above average, and according to [3] a master plumber can make upwards of $100k. All-in-all not bad, particularly given that it doesn't require $200k in student loans. :p
Wait, it was his wife who 'changed his life' (by rescuing some pages from a bin). But if they said 'wife' it would be too boring I suppose, so they went with 'misfit high school girl'.
All too often a person's entry into success is described as a single moment where they finally catch a break, but I think it's more accurate to consider their life leading up to that moment. Perhaps Stephen King's success could also be attributed to a particularly effective English teacher in school, or supportive parents, or a particularly inspiring book he read when he was young.
If we fail to account for the cumulative effects of the persistent pursuit of a goal, we start to get the impression of success as a single "lucky break".
King's On Writing is a wonderful book, but the part I most remember is his answer to the question, "Who is talented?" He said: "If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented." His blue-collar approach to the job of writing is a great perspective.
For me, a European amateur sociologist who's never actually been to the USA, Stephen King was a great introduction to the American working class, especially as portrayed in the 1980s.
As someone who can capture a period of time, and the people in that period of time, I feel King is unmatched. I think decades (centuries?) from now, people will value King for that quality.
Skip this and read "On Writing". The author of this submission borderline plagiarized this story from King. Yes, I know that they credit the book, but by the end, they basically just replace "I" with "he". It's copying what King wrote, badly. It would take just as much space to just quote King's story.
This bothers me because it's such a poignant story, well-told, and it's King's story to tell, not this author.
Seconding this; this story is a watered-down version of the real story. If you don't want to dedicate the time to reading On Writing, King also references this story nicely in the introduction to most recent versions of Carrie.
Geez. "Plagiarize" is a pretty strong word for this. The guy related one small part of a book, and anyone interested will likely check out the book for themselves anyway. The article is practically a rave review of the book. Give the guy a break.
It is a strong word, and I use it deliberately. These sentences were clearly copied from King. If your reader would be better served by a direct quote, then you are not "relating" a part of a book.
I'm not a big fan of Stephen King as a writer, but everytime I come across an interview, I think I would like to meet the man one day.
Also, at one point in my life I thought I wanted to become a writer, and from that perspective I am just completely in awe of the guy's sheer volume of output. Writing one novel can be ___ing hard, but he keeps churning them out one after the other, almost like clockwork. And it's not like he's repeating himself, or going through the motions, as far as I can tell. I also envy his ability to create realistic, likeable characters that have depth. To the degree that writing is a craft (an aspect I certainly underestimated when I made my attempt at writing a novel), I consider King a genius.
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[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 93.2 ms ] threadAs far as King's writing goes some of my favorite work of his are his short stories The Body (basis of the film Stand By Me) and The Breathing Method. You can find them in a few anthologies. The latter is actually my favorite for the odd way it's split into an inner and an outer stories and his vivid description of the 'club' and what it means to the character. I'm still puzzling over the possible metaphorical meaning of the story encapsulation there in relation to the symbolism of both. Or maybe there is none. Shrug. But it's an awesome piece.
Those two were published originally in Different Seasons, which had three of its four novellas adapted into movies. (Stand by Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil)
His "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" anthology is a solid introduction.
I got really mad at Stephen King for writing himself into the Dark Tower books, but I kind of get it. I see the last two books especially as Steve plowing through a story he'd basically given up on as un-finishable, because he also couldn't not finish them. Putting himself in as a character is his apology to us as readers for there being no possible satisfactory conclusion to the series.
edit: remove redundant redundancy
It's an incident that takes place early in his career. He's pretty proud of his newfound success as a writer. While talking over his finances with his accountant, it turns out that after taxes, expenses, and his agent's cut that he made about as much as he would as a plumber.
The tech industry is really remarkable for not being abusive to founders and developers. If you think VC terms can be bad, look at what musicians and writers get dealt. Even onerous VC liquidation preferences and ratchet terms or down round dilution is nothing compared to what gets done to your favorite band.
I think it's because techies, while not necessarily MBAs, tend to read the fine print and not be quite as ignorant of business as your average artist. It's also because it's a new growing industry, while art/music/writing is a stagnant old one.
Musicians get paid a lot less even when they aren't trying to make it 'big'.
Software founders are just more likely to be from a social class where saying no to bad terms means you can still possibly succeed, and so the market doesn't bear bids of particularly bad terms.
You also have entities out there like YCombinator and even NVCA that publish standard deal terms that are relatively founder-friendly. Founders negotiating deals even outside the orbit of these entities can reference these terms and say "these are the standard and they were used for 'insert well-known startup here' by 'top-flying VC here'" and push back on any onerous terms by just calling them weird and non-standard. That goes a long way toward curtailing the kind of obscure shenanigans you see in music contracts.
Edit: I'm referring to SAFEs, the YC Series AA docs, and the NVCA templates.
1. http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Journeyman_Plumber/H...
2. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472152.htm
3. http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1851673,0...
Plumbers don't do too bad. And he's doing what he loves to do. I'd say that's a win.
Or really anything other than this title.
Just above half way down. NSFW.
If we fail to account for the cumulative effects of the persistent pursuit of a goal, we start to get the impression of success as a single "lucky break".
"I have the heart of a young boy. In a jar on my desk."
This bothers me because it's such a poignant story, well-told, and it's King's story to tell, not this author.
Also, at one point in my life I thought I wanted to become a writer, and from that perspective I am just completely in awe of the guy's sheer volume of output. Writing one novel can be ___ing hard, but he keeps churning them out one after the other, almost like clockwork. And it's not like he's repeating himself, or going through the motions, as far as I can tell. I also envy his ability to create realistic, likeable characters that have depth. To the degree that writing is a craft (an aspect I certainly underestimated when I made my attempt at writing a novel), I consider King a genius.