As an avid reader of fiction (and an author who one day hopes to make the list) I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE checking out the New York Times Best Seller list. So, here it is… The independently ranked top 10 Fiction selections for October 2019!
If you’ve read any of the TOP 10 selections and recommend them, please comment below and let me know. If you see something you like and plan to pick up a copy, you can do so by clicking on the cover, the title, or the [BUY IT HERE] button.
Children with special talents are abducted and sequestered in an institution where the sinister staff seeks to extract their gifts through harsh methods.
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Twenty-seven
years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers
Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them
back.
MY 2 CENTS:
I
have to say, seeing as Stephen King is my favorite author, this film is
probably my most anticipated films of the year. I loved the book, thought the
mini-series back in 1990 did an amazing job bringing the book to life, and
really enjoyed the 2017 version of IT Chapter One. With the whole cast from the
2017 version coming back for Chapter Two plus the addition of Jessica Chastain,
James McAvoy, Bill Hader, and so many other awesome actors I can’t deny I was
very excited going into the theatre.
There
is a lot to love about this film… there are also a few things I didn’t really
care for. Now, I’ve heard complaints about the movie’s length, at 2 hours and
49 minutes it is a very long movie, but you have to consider the length of the
book… Like most Stephen King novels, it’s not short!
Writing/Story: ★★★★★
As I said before, this movie is based on the novel
IT by Stephen King. When IT was originally adapted to live action, it was a
mini-series on television. I remember eating it up. I had just finished reading
the book and couldn’t wait to see it. With it being a mini-series, they were
able to really get a lot of the details from the book into the show… something
you can’t really do when it’s a movie on the big screen, you just don’t have
the time to fit it all in.
Splitting the movie into two parts, Chapter One and
Chapter Two, did allow for more detail, but I felt as an audience member that
chopping it up so much really made certain aspects of the films uneven. Plus, when
you really look at what the movie is about, an evil clown comes to town every
27 years and kills kids… it’s a little surprising how long the movie is. Both
movies pretty much have the same plot – Pennywise is back, killing kids, and the
members of the Loser Club have to fight and kill him.
I think one of the reasons I really liked the
original mini-series and even why I liked the 2017 movie a little more than
this one is because you really get to feel what they are going through from a
kids perspective. Think about it, evil creepy clown running around town in the sews
killing kids… as a kid, that is some seriously scary stuff. However, with these
characters, they approach Pennywise in much the same way they did as children,
they have all the same fears they did 27 years before. However, that isn’t
really realistic, as we get older, we change, people evolve, what we are afraid
of changes and we approach our fears in a different way.
Cinematography ★★★
I think there are some really great shots in in this
movie. However, I also think that the way it was filmed gave away a little too
much too quickly. Sure, as the audience, we already know who Pennywise is and
what he looks like, but I just think with a scary movie there is something to
say for keeping the monster hidden that amps up the suspense. It seemed that
Pennywise got a lot of screen time in this film, which took the scare level
down significantly for me.
Computer-Generated
Imagery (CGI): ★★
Fun
fact about the young actors who played the Losers Club members in IT Chapter
One: They grew tremendously in the 2 years following filming that they actually
had to be digitally ‘de-aged’ in some scenes because they looked significantly
older than before. For me, every time I noticed it – which was often throughout
the film – it pulled me out of the moment. I get that there really wasn’t another
way to do it, since the flashback scenes with the kids had to look like they
were from the same time period as the 2017 film, but for me the technique just
wasn’t executed that well.
Character(s)/Acting: ★★★★★
Let’s
talk about Character(s) and acting… First off, there isn’t a whole lot of
character building in this movie. I understand that we, as the audience, already
know the characters from when they were children in the first movie, however
this is 27 years later… people tend to change, a lot, in 27 years. The movie
gives us only one scene for each of the main characters to show us what they
are like now. It just feels really rushed as the movie pushes the characters
together, trying to get them back to Derry. Then, once they are there the pace
slows down considerably and it almost feels to slow with not enough action.
In
terms of acting… WOW! Everyone is really strong. Both the adults playing the Loser
Club as well as their child actor counterparts.
I
think one of my favorite scenes is when they all first come together, at the
restaurant. They haven’t seen each other is 27 years and yet there is an
instant connection. You can see and feel the comradery as if they have remained
close friends all their lives. They do a really good job of making it seem like
these adults are the grown versions of the kids we saw jut two years ago in the
2017 movie. Mannerisms and speech patterns are all very similar and it helps to
be able to connect each of the children actors to their adult counterparts.
Best
actor award has to go to Bill Skarsgard who plays Pennywise. Pennywise is just
a wonderful role for an actor. Tim Curry was amazing as Pennywise in the 1990 mini-series
and Bill Skarsgard has done a wonderful job in both the 2017 and 2019 files. He
is creepy – Defiantly the thing that nightmares are made of.
MY FAVORITE QUOTES:
“See,
the thing about being a loser, you don’t have anything to lose. So, be true. Be
brave. Stand. Believe. And don’t ever forget, we’re losers, and we always will
be.” ~ Losers Club (IT Chapter Two)
“Here’s
Johnny” ~ Henry Bowers
The
reason I like this one so much is because it’s a throwback to another Stephen King
book, The Shining when Jack Torrance has gone crazy and is chopping down the
bathroom door with an axe to kill his wife.
TO SUM IT UP:
Although
I enjoyed this film, maybe not as much as the 2017 movie, I have to say it just
doesn’t fully live up to the 1990’s mini-series. However, I do tend to lean toward
originals more so then remakes and books rather than movies.
Have
you seen IT Chapter Two yet? Did you see IT Chapter One, or better yet did you
see the Original IT Mini Series? And, even more importantly, have you read the
book? Let me know your answers, in the comments below. Tell me what you thought
of the book, the mini-series, or the movies! I’d love to know. As always, I do
recommend seeing this film for yourself and forming your own opinion.
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AMAZON DESCRIPTION: From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.
The fireman is coming. Stay cool.
No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.
Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.
Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to ruthless Cremation Squads—armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger she briefly met at the hospital, a man in a dirty yellow fire fighter’s jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged. In the desperate season to come, as the world burns out of control, Harper must learn the Fireman’s secrets before her life—and that of her unborn child—goes up in smoke.
WRITING (★★★): This is the second book I’ve read from author Joe Hill, the first being 20th Century Ghosts. It is really well-written, aside from the fact that it is 749 pages and could have been trimmed down significantly without loosing any of the story. His long-winded writing style came as no surprise when I realized he is Stephen King’s son. However, when I read a Stephen King novel, I am drawn in completely. That didn’t happen with this story.
There were many times where the writing gave away too much to the reader. Foreshadowing the twists and turns in a way that made them predictable and anticlimactic when they did happen.
STORY (★★★★): The story starts out strong, with a powerful moment for one of our lead characters, Harper Grayson. However, shortly after it starts to slow to a snail’s pace. I found myself putting the book down rather than being compelled to read it.
The Fireman, at its heart, is based on a really cool premise – a spontaneous combustion plague that is wiping out humanity. We not only see how the plague destroys humanity but also how society changes, turns on itself, and ultimately destroys itself.
Hill creates some really great images through his writing, the bird of fire, the glow of the camp members as they sing, the woman of fire, and so many others. The problem I had, was that they were to few and far between.
When all is said and done, I still recommend reading this book. If you are at all a fan of Joe Hill, or his father, Stephen King, you should pick up a copy and read it. The premise is awesome… just be prepared to have to push through some of the slower parts in order to get to the really good parts.
PS… there is a hidden ending to this story. If you read the credits included at the end of the book, you’ll get a little surprise from the author.
CHARACTERS (★★★): The dialogue between the characters often felt forced and redundant. It seemed that character personalities changed depending on which characters were in the scene. My biggest issue with this was with Harper Grayson. Harper is a kind, loving nurse who just wants to help people. Then, when she is talking with The Fireman, after getting to the camp, the way she talks gets hard and brass. It didn’t feel natural.
I did feel however, that Hill was able to give solid character development to the main characters throughout the story. Although I couldn’t relate to many of them, I do feel like I was able to understand what motivated their actions.
APPEARANCE (★★★): I love this cover… There is just something about a cover printed with only 2-3 colors that draws my eye. The movement in the fire, throughout the lettering, is beautiful in a destructive way. It looks great and intrigues the reader, tempting you to find out what’s inside.
FAVORITE QUOTES: “There’s something horribly unfair about dying in the middle of a good story, before you have a chance to see how it all comes out. Of course, I suppose everyone ALWAYS dies in the middle of a good story, in a sense. Your own story. Or the story of your grandchildren. Death is a raw deal for narrative junkies.”
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OTHER BOOKS BY AUTHOR JOE HILL
NOS4A2 – The spine-tingling, bone-chilling novel of supernatural suspense from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman and Horns—now an AMC original series starring Zachary Quinto, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Ashleigh Cummings.
“A masterwork of horror.”— Time
Full Throttle – In this masterful collection of short fiction, Joe Hill dissects timeless human struggles in thirteen relentless tales of supernatural suspense, including “In The Tall Grass,” one of two stories co-written with Stephen King, basis for the terrifying feature film from Netflix.
Heart-Shaped Box – Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman’s noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can’t help but reach for his wallet… GET IT HERE!
Wolverton Station – Saunders made his fortune as a hatchet man for hire and has come to England to do what he does best: chop down the little guys to clear the way for a global firm. But his train north just made an unexpected stop to let on some passengers straight out of the worst kind of fairy tale. Now he’s up to his ankles in blood and finding out just what it really means to live in a dog-eat-dog world… GET IT HERE!
Wraith – The graphic novel prequel to the bestselling novel and upcoming AMC series NOS4A2!
Discover the terrifying funhouse world of Christmasland and the ageless monster who rules it. Climb into the passenger seat as Hill and artist Charlie Wilson III explore Charlie Manx’s twisted beginnings, introduce a new and depraved cast of characters to Christmasland, and take us for a 100 MPH ride down an icy nightmare road in a car with no brakes… GET IT HERE!
Horns – A twisted, terrifying new novel of psychological and supernatural suspense, Horns is a devilishly original triumph for the Ray Bradbury Fellowship recipient whose story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, was also honored with a Bram Stoker Award—and whose emotionally powerful and macabre work has been praised by the New York Times as, “wild, mesmerizing, perversely witty…a Valentine from hell.” GET IT HERE!
Strange Weather – A collection of four chilling novels, ingeniously wrought gems of terror from the brilliantly imaginative, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman, Joe Hill.
STORYLINE: A teacher discovers a time portal that leads to October 21st, 1960 and goes on a quest to try and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which is complicated by the presence of Lee Harvey Oswald and the fact that he’s falling in love with the past itself. Written by Anonymous
MY 2 CENTS: I was so excited when I finished the novel that I immediately turned on Hulu to find the mini-series. My hope, was to watch the story that Stephen King had created come to live. I wanted to watch as Jake Epping discovered the “rabbit hole”, see how he would handle Harry Dunning’s murderous father, watch him plot and plan how he would save the president, and… I wanted to watch as his relationship with Sadie turned from friendship to love.
Did Hulu give that to me? NO!
If I had watched the Hulu mini-series prior to reading the novel, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. However, having known the characters so well, having known what actually happened in the novel, I was SO DISAPPOINTED by the mini-series.
Although I think James Franco is a fine actor, I don’t feel he was the right choice for Epping. He just isn’t strong enough and he doesn’t feel the part. Chris Cooper was wonderful as Al Templeton as was Sarah Gadon who played Sadie Dunhill.
There were so many deviations… changes that were made when the mini-series was developed, things that just didn’t have to be changed. Some of the minor ones that just irked me a bit where:
The book, like so many Stephen King books, connects to other Stephen King books. In particular the mention of the Derry murders… IT! We even get to see two of the young children, Beverly Marsh and Richie Tozier, while Epping is in Derry… However, the mini-series leaves this out… WHY?
In the book, we get to see Epping learn about how his actions in the past affect the future when he first goes back to stop Harry Dunning’s father from killing his family. When he returns to the present, he finds out that Harry once alive is not dead. He then goes back to the past to try again… Why the producers decided to take that out, I don’t understand.
The relationship between Al Templeton and Jake Epping is beautifully written in the book… We also get a better feel for why Al chose Jake to share his secret and we understand more why Jake decides to go. In the mini-series, the spread the conversation between Al and Jake out across the series, instead of putting it all up front and then letting Al die (LIKE IN THE BOOK). The book gives a finality to the relationship, an urgency to Jake’s decision, and a purpose that the series didn’t do.
There is virtually no character development for the students at the school Jake teaches at in the past. We don’t get to know Bobbi Jill Allnut or Mike Coslaw. We don’t watch them grow as people. The book allows these smaller characters to shine… I think the producers forgot they even existed.
That was just 4 of MANY minor differences that bothered me along the way… The thing is, the book was 849 pages, that was more than enough material to make a wonderful 8-episode series. Yet, I found myself saying “That wasn’t in the book,” “That never happened in the novel,” over and over as I watched the series. WHY?
NOW FOR SOME OF THE BIG STUFF…
In the series Bill Turcotte, played by George MacKay, was a huge part of the story. He became Epping’s side-kick… his brother from another mother… his support system. WHAT? WHY? In the book, King left Epping to carry the responsibility of saving the president on his own. Epping didn’t run around telling everyone he was from the future, that the president was going to die, and soliciting help. In the novel, Bill Turcotte played a small role, important but small, and his role ended when Epping killed Harry’s father. That is where it should have ended in the show as well.
Again, with Bill Turcotte… WHY did the series have to make Bill Turcotte fall in love with Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife? That side story was not in the book, did not further the story in any way, and was completely unnecessary!
Relationship and character development are one of Stephen King’s strongest talents… he laid out the unconventional (for the early 60s) interracial relationship between Deke Simmons (played by Nick Searcy) and Mia Mimi Corcoran (played by Tonya Pinkins) so beautifully. In the series… well, their relationship didn’t really exist. We never got to see that love affair, and yet we were supposed to just believe Mimi when she told Jake that she was dying and that she loved Deke and he loved her. We didn’t get to see the wedding… but they, at some point, got married. SHOW US, the book did!
Mia Mimi Corcoran… She was a pivotal character in the novel and yet, the series all but reduced her role to almost nothing. We didn’t celebrate her wedding to Deke Simmons, we didn’t mourn her when she died… in fact, the viewer has no idea she died… she is just gone one day and eventually there is mention of her death.
I didn’t list everything, I don’t have time. I guess I just wanted to prove a point… the book is often times (99%) better than this show/series/movie. This novel was fantastic and I highly recommend reading it, but the series more than disappointed me. Purchase your copy of 11/22/63 by Stephen King HERE!
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The latest from legendary master storyteller Stephen King, a riveting, extraordinarily eerie, and moving story about a man whose mysterious affliction brings a small town together—a timely, upbeat tale about finding common ground despite deep-rooted differences.
Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis.
In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.
From Stephen King, our “most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work” (The Guardian), Elevation is an antidote to our divisive culture, as gloriously joyful (with a twinge of deep sadness) as “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
THE CRITICAL POINTS The cover says ‘ELEVATION a novel” but it really isn’t a novel. At only 146 pages, small pages at that, I’m guessing ELEVATION can’t be 50,000 words. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d say it’s probably a novella. I read one review that called it a short story, and for Stephen King it is, but in reality its more than that.
WRITING: It’s Stephen King, so the writing is spot on.
STORY: Elevation takes ordinary people and puts them in an impossible situation. So basically, its your typical King story. I loved that there were two main stories going on here, the first being the communities lack of acceptance of the new lesbian couple that moved to town, and the second being Scott Carey’s inexplainable weight loss. At first glance it doesn’t seem that these two stories make sense together, but in the end everything comes together.
There wasn’t a lot of backstory. We don’t find out what brought Missy and Deirdre to town other than the affordable restaurant space. We don’t find out what causes Scott’s drastic weight loss. We don’t even find out what happens after everything comes to a head and he loses those final pounds, not really anyway. What we do find out, and the message behind this story, is how a single act of kindness can change everything. I won’t go into more details, if you want to know what I mean… read the book.
CHARACTERS: There are four main characters, with a few smaller characters sprinkled throughout. Again, not a lot of backstory and even less character development. Yet, somehow, it works for this book. As readers, we come into the lives of these characters for only a brief moment. We are the proverbial fly on the wall. It’s a very voyeuristic reading experience and at times you feel guilty for watching, but by the end you care for the characters you know so little about and, if you’re like me, you just might cry.
APPEARANCE: The cover is beautiful, but you won’t understand it until the end.
MY FAVORITE QUOTES: “Not a wind, not even a high, exactly, but an elevation. A sense that you had gone beyond yourself and could go farther still.”
“Gravity is the anchor that pulls us down into our graves.”
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AMAZON DESCRIPTION: Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine
#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s timeless novella “The Body”—originally published in his 1982 short story collection Different Seasons, and adapted into the 1986 film classic Stand by Me—now available for the first time as a stand-alone publication.
It’s 1960 in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. Ray Brower, a boy from a nearby town, has disappeared, and twelve-year-old Gordie Lachance and his three friends set out on a quest to find his body along the railroad tracks. During the course of their journey, Gordie, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio come to terms with death and the harsh truths of growing up in a small factory town that doesn’t offer much in the way of a future.
A timeless exploration of the loneliness and isolation of young adulthood, Stephen King’s The Body is an iconic, unforgettable, coming-of-age story.
WRITING: You already know how I feel about Stephen King’s writing style. He is the whole reason I feel in love with reading and this book is the reason. Actually, it was the movie, Stand by Me, that introduced me to Stephen King in the first place. I was eleven when Stand by Me was released and after seeing the movie, I immediately read the book and I was hooked from that point on.
STORY: If you’re like me, and you’ve read a lot of Stephen King, you’ll be surprised that this one is rather short. Instead of your typical 500+ pages, this short story comes in at just 179 pages. Don’t worry, he doesn’t skimp on the story. I feel like I’ve known Gordie Lachance, Chris Chambers, Teddy Duchamp, and Vern Tessio all my life. King has an amazing way of developing his characters without throwing everything in your face, but instead infusing them in your life.
APPEARANCE: The cover is perfectly illustrated with a depiction of the four boys running across the railroad track bridge. It’s a pivotal scene in the story, and was beautifully filmed in the movie.
MY FAVORITE QUOTE: “Vern’s head jerked bac over his shoulder. The surprise that distorted his face was almost comically exaggerated, written as large as the letters in a Dick and Jane primer. He saw me break into my clumsy, shambling run, dancing from one horribly high crosstie to the next, and knew I wasn’t joking. He began to run himself.”
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It’s no secret… Stephen King is my favorite author and I just don’t see that changing any time soon. Now, it doesn’t mean I love everything he writes, because I don’t. However, I do love most of it!
The thing is, Stephen King is the author that made me first fall in love with reading. It was his books that got me through not only my youth but also some pretty tough times in my life. Lonely times.
So, as an author myself, I often turn to my “mentor” and seek his guidance. I ask WWSKD – What Would Stephen King Do? I’m actually thinking about getting #WWSKD bracelets made… I wonder if other authors think the same thing. Maybe I should start a club… I digress.
Stephen King has written at least 90 books… probably more. Check out his online library HERE! His books have sold more than 350 million copies. AMAZING, right?! It doesn’t matter if you love them, like them or even hate them, you have to admit 90+ books is impressive. He has even written the manual on writing… literally! In his book, On Writing Stephen King shares all his thoughts on writing including his ‘rules’ which he admits, like most authors, even he breaks from time to time too.
He also shares a lot of advice for aspiring writers. I’ve picked some of my favorite quotes and shared them here:
“You don’t need writing classes or seminars any more than you need this or any other book on writing. Faulkner learned his trade while working in the Oxford, Mississippi post office. Other writers have learned the basics while serving in the Navy, working in steel mills or doing time in America’s finer crossbar hotels. I learned the most valuable (and commercial) part of my life’s work while washing motel sheets and restaurant tablecloths at the New Franklin Laundry in Bangor. You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot, and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.”
“While to write adverbs is human, to write ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ is divine.”
“Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes. The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story… to make him/her forget, whenever possible, that he/she is reading a story at all.”
“Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe. The timid fellow writes “The meeting will be held at seven o’clock” because that somehow says to him, ‘Put it this way and people will believe you really know. ‘Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back your shoulders, stick out your chin, and put that meeting in charge! Write ‘The meeting’s at seven.’ There, by God! Don’t you feel better?”
“You have to read widely, constantly refining (and redefining) your own work as you do so. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”
“A radio talk-show host asked me how I wrote. My reply—’One word at a time’—seemingly left him without a reply. I think he was trying to decide whether or not I was joking. I wasn’t. In the end, it’s always that simple. Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like ‘The Lord Of The Rings,’ the work is always accomplished one word at a time.”
“There should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with. If there’s a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall.”
“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out.”
“If you’ve never done it before, you’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience. It’s yours, you’ll recognize it as yours, even be able to remember what tune was on the stereo when you wrote certain lines, and yet it will also be like reading the work of someone else, a soul-twin, perhaps. This is the way it should be, the reason you waited. It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings that it is to kill your own.”
“Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your ecgocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)”
“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink.”
If you do a google search for the best tips for new authors, you’ll be inundated with a ton of advice. Some suggestions will be good… others, not so much. Below are some of my favorite tips from famous authors out there:
Be open to criticism – Be it from your peers, your beta readers, and most importantly your editor. You have to be open to listening to your editor! (Stephen King)
Write for yourself, not the market – Write what you care about. Don’t try to write for the market or just to sell. If you aren’t writing what your passionate about it will never sell. (Neil Gaiman)
Practice makes perfect – Writing is like a sport. If you don’t practice you’ll never get better. Just a little bit every day – a page a day – will make you better. (Rick Riordan)
Ask practical questions – The moment you make a decision about your story, a character choice, a plot choice, etc. you need to ask yourself practical questions about it. How will that work? How will it affect the characters? When you start asking yourself those types of practical questions and finding answers then the unrealistic becomes realistic. It becomes possible. (Salman Rushdie)
Teach yourself that everything is interesting – A common desire for new writers is to edit everything, and although editing is VERY important, you don’t want to edit yourself as you write. Put everything into your story – everything is interesting – everything is important. You can edit out what really doesn’t matter at the end, when you’ve finished your first draft. (Malcolm Gladwell)
AMAZON DESCRIPTION: Stephen King teams up with long-time friend and award-winning author Richard Chizmar for the first time in this original, chilling novella that revisits the mysterious town of Castle Rock.
There are three ways up to Castle View from the town of Castle Rock: Route 117, Pleasant Road, and the Suicide Stairs. Every day in the summer of 1974, twelve-year-old Gwendy Peterson has taken the stairs, which are held by strong—if time-rusted—iron bolts and zig-zag up the precarious cliffside.
Then one day when Gwendy gets to the top of Castle View, after catching her breath and hearing the shouts of kids on the playground below, a stranger calls to her. There on a bench in the shade sits a man in black jeans, a black coat, and a white shirt unbuttoned at the top. On his head is a small, neat black hat. The time will come when Gwendy has nightmares about that hat…
The little town of Castle Rock, Maine has witnessed some strange events and unusual visitors over the years, but there is one story that has never been told—until now.
WRITING: I’ve never read anything by Richard Chizmar, but I’ve always loved Stephen King. This book, although it doesn’t have the creepy factor of a typical Stephen King book it does still have the mystical… magical elements that are all to familiar with reading Stephen King. One of the things I love most about reading Stephen King’s writing is that he doesn’t treat his readers like they’re stupid. He assumes you’re just going to be able to suspend your disbelief and fall into this world he has created as if it is the most natural thing in the world. The funny thing is, you do. I crack the spine and instantly I’m transported to a whole new world where everything-anything is possible.
STORY: The story was simple. It asks the question, if you had a magic button box that could destroy lives and essentially grant your every desire, what would you do? OK, that is dumbing it down a bit, but you get the point. Simple story, but then you ask that question of a twelve year old girl and lay on her the responsibility of protecting the box and essentially the world and it becomes much more complex.
CHARACTERS: The story follows Gwendy, from the time she is twelve until after her college graduation. Although it’s a fast read, I still feel like the reader really gets to know Gwendy. We understand her decisions and we can even anticipate what she is going to do next. I love that in such a short novella, Stephen King and Richard Chizmar are still able to satisfy my craving for detail and in depth character development.
APPEARANCE: Beautiful cover. It doesn’t give anything away and yet, when you read the book the cover fits perfectly.
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AMAZON DESCRIPTION: The #1 national bestseller for Stephen King’s rabid fans, Cujo “hits the jugular” (The New York Times) with the story of a friendly Saint Bernard that is bitten by a sick bat. Get ready to meet the most hideous menace ever to savage the flesh and devour the mind.
Outside a peaceful town in central Maine, a monster is waiting. Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the best friend Brett Camber has ever had. One day, Cujo chases a rabbit into a cave inhabited by sick bats and emerges as something new altogether.
Meanwhile, Vic and Donna Trenton, and their young son Tad, move to Maine. They are seeking peace and quiet, but life in this small town is not what it seems. As Tad tries to fend off the terror that comes to him at night from his bedroom closet, and as Vic and Donna face their own nightmare of a marriage on the rocks, there is no way they can know that a monster, infinitely sinister, waits in the daylight.
What happens to Cujo, how he becomes a horrifying vortex inescapably drawing in all the people around him, makes for one of the most heart-stopping novels Stephen King has ever written. “A genuine page-turner that grabs you and holds you and won’t let go” (Chattanooga Times), Cujo will forever change how you view man’s best friend.
WRITING: When you pick up a Stephen King book you know exactly what you’re going to get… AMAZING! Now, Cujo isn’t my favorite of King’s novels… but I loved it… and I hated it… I think I have a love/hate relationship with Cujo, mainly because it makes me feel ALL THE FEELS! It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time and when Donna Trenton is stuck in the car fighting for her life and the life of Tat, her little boy, Cujo becomes the monster that nightmares are made of. The thought of Cujo wakes you up at night in a cold sweat.
STORY: Like pretty much all of Stephen King’s books, Cujo had a slow start for me, but once the story got going it was a page turner. I had a hard time putting it down. I wanted… needed to know what would happen next, who Cujo would go after and if they would survive. Stephen King has a way of making you relate to his characters… care for them… and then he rips them away showing you how truly unfair and unexpected life can be. If this story doesn’t tear at your heartstrings, shock you to your core, and leave you feeling depleted and saddened then I’m not sure what else would.
CHARACTERS: Stephen King is known for his amazingly complex characters, and this book delivers, to include Cujo. A dog as a lead character could have been a disaster in the hands of any other author, but not for Stephen King. Cujo left me with conflicting emotions. His life… his story was bittersweet. As an animal lover, I found it hard to read some of the more gruesome parts. The pain, corruption, and changes that Cujo had to endure was painful to read, especially since they all stemmed from something so out of his control… a minor incident that led to so much pain.
APPEARANCE: My copy of Cujo is an old one… the cover isn’t particularly great, but Stephen King’s name is on the front so the cover doesn’t really matter. If you like Stephen King’s writing, like I do, you’ll read just about anything he makes available.
MY FAVORITE QUOTE: “…Wife, that’s fine. But you’re gone at work, even when you’re home you’re gone at work so much. Mother, that’s fine, too. But there’s a little less of it every year, because every year the world gets another little slice of him.” This has to be one of my favorite quotes from Cujo. As a mother I can totally relate. I feel the world taking my kids away from me, one tiny sliver at a time year-by-year. I know it has to happen, they have to grow up and become independent adults. I just wish it didn’t have to happen so quickly.
WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE? While Donna and Vic Trenton struggle to save their rocky marriage, their son Tad befriends the loveable 200-lb St. Bernard who belongs to their mechanic. But what they don’t realize is that a bat bite has transformed Cujo from a docile pup to a vicious killer.
TITLE: 
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TITLE: Cujo
Nina Soden 