King's Writing Style
King's Writing Style
In Stephen King’s novels, his speaker is usually a third-person narrator. However, in most of his novels, this narrator is unique because it emphasizes the appearance and actions of each character. This type of narration creates a sense of eeriness, as the narrator is presented as stalking the characters. For example, the opening of King’s IT, “A small boy in a yellow slicker and red galoshes ran cheerfully along beside the newspaper boat.” By mainly focusing on how the character’s appear, the narration leaves the character’s inner thoughts open for interpretation, ultimately creating a vague and mysterious tone.
King creates a sense of realism in his novels by presenting different forms of media in order to describe information. For example, in the novel Carrie King uses news clipping to display events that have occurred. Furthermore, he also uses magazine articles, letters, and other passages to contribute to the realism of his novels. By adding these epistolary forms, King breaks up the speaker’s narration to different viewpoints in order to simulate the gathering of real-world information.
King swears profoundly in his novels in order to present the strong emotions and topics of his characters. For example, King allows the children to cuss regularly in IT because it represents the children’s immaturity; however, when the book focuses on them as adults, the swearing continues but in a more mature manner. The continuation of swearing represents the similarities between their child and adult forms, ultimately illustrating that Pennywise affects them the same as he did throughout their childhood.
In the solemn town of Derry, Maine, where whispers were screams and shadows were abundant, an english class was humming away in room 210. Inside this room were children of few words, yet their pencils spoke most profoundly. Perched on their creaky wooden seats, the students wrote for what felt like ages. Both their writing and appearance lacked vibrance. Amongst these scholars, the occasional cough or resentful sigh would alert the teacher, but would quickly return to tranquility. However, one soul stood abruptly in the silence. She chattered louder than the keyboards of her peers, and let out a screech that would damage the virgin ear.
“Mrs. Fritz, I have a question.”
The silence was broken in the span of a single breath, yet it wouldn’t be replaced for many minutes. This soul dared to question the teacher sitting at the front of the classroom, speaking without the signaling of a hand or a look of inquiry.
“You dare speak up to your teacher without raising your hand?” Mrs. Fritz exclaimed, “Speaking with such disrespect will most definitely secure your place in detention.”
The teacher did not hand out detentions like candy, but they were definitely abundant. However, these detentions were quite the opposite of sweet; they were filled to the brim with essays that had no end, and the painful impatience of the students which were enslaved inside.
“I apologize Mrs. Fritz. I am just eager to expand my knowledge.”
Apologies were always futile to Mrs. Fritz, as to her, showing regret for an action is no better than stabbing someone then attempting to hide the body.
“Damn you for trying to reverse your acts! Your punishment will not only be an eternity of rhetorical writings, but also a lifetime of diminishing creativity and a blockage of your greatest potential.”
The student stood, frozen with what felt like a shock to the mind. A singular tear crawled down her left cheek, pausing for a moment, then continuing to roll down to her quivering dimple. Although she was confused on the meaning of the teacher’s punishment, the delivery in which it was declared caused the greatest amount of distress. This distraction made the other students pause their writing, eventually turning on their ears out of curiosity and intimidation.
“A blockage of my greatest potential?” the student questioned with a worried yet stern look on her face. Mrs. Fritz looked through her, provoking more tension. The others noticed the glare of Mrs. Fritz and quickly directed their eyes back at their laptops and notebooks, beginning to write gibberish so she would believe they were not interested in the distraction.
Mrs. Fritz grabbed the student’s shoulder, digging her nails into her just enough to make her flinch, “Your writing will be nothing but a pile of shit.”
The student felt a sort of connection through the teacher’s piercing fingers, like a fiber-optic cable transferring millions of megabytes of data. She then began to inhale, ready to refute Mrs. Fritz’s statement, but nothing came of her breath. She stood there and stared into her teacher’s eyes. She stared lifelessly, as if she was spacing out into nothingness.
“Your writing will be nothing but a pile of shit,” repeated Mrs. Fritz. The students stopped their scribbling and looked at their classmate in uncertainty, noticing her nod blankly to her teacher, eventually taking a seat in her devitalized desk chair.
The class continued in silence for the next four weeks. Nothing was vastly peculiar, but even the soul who refuted Mrs. Fritz was as quiet as a church mouse. Although it was unusual for her to be quiet, her peers never questioned her silence.
Eventually, one of them walked past her computer screen and noticed a blank document, with no trace of creativity or inspiration. Confused, the classmate looked up at their teacher in worry.
“She simply has writer’s block.” proclaimed Mrs. Fritz, grinning after intimidating her students, “now she writes nothing, and if she ever does, it will be a pile of shit.”
By initially describing the scene with a large amount of detail, I simulated King’s narration style. Furthermore, the description of the student’s appearances make the reader feel as if they are watching the characters, rather than seeing through their perspectives, leaving their internal thoughts unknown. Since King often allows the reader to interpret characters based off their looks, I decided to only describe the student’s facial expressions and movements when Mrs. Fritz is confronting her. Moreover, the occasional swearing adds a bitter tone like King commonly does. However, the swearing only occurs in the dialogue, because most of the cussing in King’s books are from the characters, portraying their strong emotions throughout the novel.
Books Referenced:
King, Stephen. It: A Novel. First Scribner trade paperback edition. New York, 2016
King, Stephen. Carrie. Random House, 2011.
King, Stephen. The Shining. Random House, 2012
King, Stephen. Holly: A Novel. Large print edition. A Cengage Company, 2023