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View Full Version : Issues with King's writing *please mark spoilers



Merlin1958
12-03-2010, 05:24 PM
I know we all LOVE his writing (as do I especially), but you all must have some "pet" peeves with his books/stories that we coud air out here.

Personally, with some exception, I think he has trouble ending a novel. Not always, but sometimes his books feel like a race to the end and then..............................Uh Oh!!

UTD comes to mind, and while it was a novel concept, it seemed more suited (as an ending) to a short story.

This is your thread to nit-pick and discuss........................................... .......THE MASTER!!!

OchrisO
12-03-2010, 05:28 PM
I'd like to uppercut him in the junk for the end of Cell.

Merlin1958
12-03-2010, 05:32 PM
I'd like to uppercut him in the junk for the end of Cell.

I can see that!!! Although maybe not as graphically!!! LOL

:P

Ricky
12-03-2010, 05:37 PM
I wasn't his biggest fan when he killed off Jake in TDT...twice.

:lol:

Merlin1958
12-03-2010, 05:43 PM
Personally, I could never understand how his wife, Tabitha, could lay in a bed next to him at night after "Gerald's Game", but what do I know????


LOL

Erin
12-03-2010, 06:11 PM
I'm not a fan of when he makes up nonsense words and uses them over and over again, a la Lisey's Story.

Ricky
12-03-2010, 06:28 PM
Like Babyluv? Bool? Bad gunky? :lol:

CyberGhostface
12-03-2010, 07:19 PM
Definitely the fate of Flagg in DT VII. Really soured my view of the series.

thegreattim
12-03-2010, 09:10 PM
Definitely the fate of Flagg in DT VII. Really soured my view of the series.

Yup! I agree with that. Flagg... ...died way too easy for being such a bad ass. And then, to make matters worse, King had Patrick ERASE the Crimson King?!?! What the f**k? Both of those should have been epic battles in my opinion. and if he had to write a Vol. VIII to do it, so be it.

John Blaze
12-03-2010, 11:01 PM
great thread idea, Merlin. You're alright, even if you do like the yankees. :P

Jean
12-03-2010, 11:03 PM
great idea for a thread

I have a lot of complaints, mainly regarding King's writing style, which - unlike the story - I often find annoying, cliched, overusing the same devices etc. What Erin said, too.

John_and_Yoko
12-03-2010, 11:25 PM
My main beef is how he gets into the minds of the most insidious examples of human nature--I don't even want to READ about them, much less know what they're thinking. Then again, maybe that's for the same reason upstanding respectable Victorian people wanted to kill Mr. Hyde....

Other than that, inconsistencies in narrative bug me, and there was no shortage of those in The Dark Tower, favorite work or no.

Letti
12-04-2010, 01:34 AM
I am trying to come up with some "pet" peeves but I can't.
Once in a blue moon I feel he writes some stuff into the story because he thinks that's what the constant reader would like to read. That's how I felt when so many zombies appeared at the end of Dumakey.

mystima
12-04-2010, 02:04 AM
My pet peeve is that he rambles to get the story going....I still haven't finished UTD because of it....and I bought it as a Christmas gift to myself. That is how long it has taken me to read half the book.

Brice
12-04-2010, 07:41 AM
I'd like to uppercut him in the junk for the end of Cell.

I can see that!!! Although maybe not as graphically!!! LOL

:P

What you don't understand though is to Chris an uppercut to the junk is a term of endearment. :lol:

I have a beef with the apostrophe in this thread title. <_< :P

blavigne
12-04-2010, 07:48 AM
I have a beef with the apostrophe in this thread title. <_< :P

I think this is funny............although you are right the apostrophe does not belong.

Merlin1958
12-04-2010, 08:21 AM
great thread idea, Merlin. You're alright, even if you do like the yankees. :P


LOL, thanks Mr. Blaze!!! Somebody has to love them, right? LOL :dance::dance::dance:

To Brice:

Oops!!!!! Can you fix it? I don't believe I know how!!!! LOL

sarah
12-04-2010, 09:10 AM
I'll edit the title of the thread.

For me, I don't like when King makes you love a side character and then kills them. You know the whole time too. Like in Black House. You know it is coming and you try not to love them but you do and then they die. <_<

Merlin1958
12-04-2010, 02:26 PM
I'll edit the title of the thread.

For me, I don't like when King makes you love a side character and then kills them. You know the whole time too. Like in Black House. You know it is coming and you try not to love them but you do and then they die. <_<

Thanks Sarah, though just to be picky maybe we should drop the "my" and let it be "Issues with King's writing"? Good call on the "spoilers too. Sorry I missed that the first time around.

As far as your post. I know what you mean like when he

Killed the DJ off. He was a great character and I hated to see him go, but you just knew in advance he wasn't gonna make it to the dance!!! LOL Though he did "die well".

sarah
12-04-2010, 05:55 PM
Thanks Sarah, though just to be picky maybe we should drop the "my" and let it be "Issues with King's writing"?


done :D

Merlin1958
12-04-2010, 05:57 PM
You "Da Bomb" Ninja-Girl!!!!!


:P

Merlin1958
12-04-2010, 06:10 PM
Now that I think about it, what was your problem with "Beef"? LOL

Just Kidding!!!!!!!


I have a "beef" when he makes bad deals, like when "The Stand" came out or, when he sold the rights to "The Shining". I know he was pissed at Kubrick, but if he loved it that much which I believe he did, he could have lived without the money to make sure it was "right". Lets face it the guy is a marketing genius for his works, he could do it at his discretion, no? Even given the time frame.

ur2ndbiggestfan
12-05-2010, 05:40 AM
I find it a bit annoying when he writes something like "And that was that last time he saw her (or him)." or something like "He (or her) would be dead in two hours." That worked to maximun effectiveness in THE MIST, which was (correct me if I'm wrong), the first time he did that. It actually sent chills up my spine when I read that he never saw his wife again, as at that time I had absoulutely no idea what that story was about. But King has pulled that gag over and over again and it has totally lost it's thrill on me.

John Blaze
12-05-2010, 12:34 PM
he does that as far back as It, that I can tell.

Delacroix
12-14-2010, 07:58 AM
I agree so much with what's being said here!

Whether it's the Tic-toc man, Flagg, Mordred, CK or the Calla Bryn Sturgis, Algul Siento battle, SK generaly sucks at making a nice climax! He's the building kind, not the destroying it seems...

I didn't believe my eyes when I read Mordred's last stand! Such a great character down to kill one poor bumbler! And the "we escpaed Ka" (or not) thing insn't enough of an excuse for me.

Everytime the events, so slowly and brilliantly brought together, should end in a brutal burst of fire and death, it's not good. Even the battle at the end of Wizard and Glass is a bit dull, regarding the rest of the book!

Is it the same for the other books he'd written? I'm not talking precisely about the ending, but about the "climax" in general.

Brice
12-14-2010, 12:23 PM
The forshadowing "here's what's gonna' happen" thing goes back even to his earliest stuff as I recall. I think it just goes along with a king story.

Merlin1958
12-14-2010, 01:35 PM
The forshadowing "here's what's gonna' happen" thing goes back even to his earliest stuff as I recall. I think it just goes along with a king story.

I agree, I always thought that King did that rather well!! Not one of my beef's

pixiedark76
12-14-2010, 02:01 PM
I don't like it when he gets you to like a character and you get through the whole book with the character and then the character simply dies.
Like in Duma Key when at the end of the book it is very casually mentioned the Wireman died of a heart attack two months later! After we went through Wireman having his "brain" condition healed by Edgar and then Edgar and Wireman beating the ghosts.

then again in Dark Tower Seven when Susan tells Roland that Sheemie died of an infected foot. The news was just mentioned in passing like the characters were talking about the weather.

Does Stephen King just suddenly get an idea to just kill off a character without showing that he even gives a care?

Merlin1958
12-14-2010, 02:23 PM
I don't like it when he gets you to like a character and you get through the whole book with the character and then the character simply dies.
Like in Duma Key when at the end of the book it is very casually mentioned the Wireman died of a heart attack two months later! After we went through Wireman having his "brain" condition healed by Edgar and then Edgar and Wireman beating the ghosts.

then again in Dark Tower Seven when Susan tells Roland that Sheemie died of an infected foot. The news was just mentioned in passing like the characters were talking about the weather.

Does Stephen King just suddenly get an idea to just kill off a character without showing that he even gives a care?



I sympathize with what you're saying, but to me that aspects adds a sort of "realism" to the stories that I generally like. However, not always!!! Then "King" is King!!! LOL LOL

Jean
12-15-2010, 10:25 AM
The forshadowing "here's what's gonna' happen" thing goes back even to his earliest stuff as I recall. I think it just goes along with a king story.

I agree, I always thought that King did that rather well!! Not one of my beef's
ditto bears

LadyHitchhiker
12-16-2010, 01:17 PM
I don't like that he makes you get attached to animals and then kills THEM off either. I guess that would fall under the category of characters but some people wouldn't say so. :P

Merlin1958
12-16-2010, 01:25 PM
I don't like that he makes you get attached to animals and then kills THEM off either. I guess that would fall under the category of characters but some people wouldn't say so. :P

But "Cujo" had to go in the end, right? LOL

BillyxRansom
12-18-2010, 11:51 AM
great idea for a thread

I have a lot of complaints, mainly regarding King's writing style, which - unlike the story - I often find annoying, cliched, overusing the same devices etc. What Erin said, too.

This. Times infinity. To the power of infinity.

Merlin1958
12-19-2010, 07:20 PM
great idea for a thread

I have a lot of complaints, mainly regarding King's writing style, which - unlike the story - I often find annoying, cliched, overusing the same devices etc. What Erin said, too.

This. Times infinity. To the power of infinity.

That's kinda harsh for a "Fan", no?

BillyxRansom
12-24-2010, 10:06 PM
great idea for a thread

I have a lot of complaints, mainly regarding King's writing style, which - unlike the story - I often find annoying, cliched, overusing the same devices etc. What Erin said, too.

THIS.

X 10,000.

grobblewobble
08-16-2011, 06:05 AM
I find it a bit annoying when he writes something like "And that was that last time he saw her (or him)."

I actually agree, not that it's big beef for me, but this device is just a tad overused imho. Can spoil the surprise sometimes.

In part V, I didn't like SK referring to himself in his book, felt like a bad joke, although again just a minor annoyance.

And I haven't yet reached part VII but I fully expect an anti-climax at the end of the road. Imo the problem is that the tower is supposed to be "infinitely important", as the one thing that ties together all universes, so he is raising expectations there that are hard to fullfill.

For all the criticism I still do admire him.

Merlin1958
08-17-2011, 09:16 PM
great thread idea, Merlin. You're alright, even if you do like the yankees. :P

However, the Yanks do rule!!!!! No Doubt, even if you're a "hater". LOL LOL 27 Championships!!!! He does tend to reinvest in the franchise!!!

Garrell
08-17-2011, 10:22 PM
I have always liked that no one is safe in his stories...I hate knowing that the main/good guy or bad is gonna be there at the end. You know what I mean...you feel it sometimes in stories before the first chapter is done.

josiahmorgan11
01-06-2012, 10:09 AM
I don't really have many, but I found the writing style in Dolores Claiborne ineffective and annoying, I couldn't finish Black House, and I HATE it when he references himself and his own works as books or movies. e.g. "He hadn't been scared of monster cars since he saw that movie "Christine" as a kid."

That was in Mile 81

josiahmorgan11
01-06-2012, 10:11 AM
I don't really have many, but I found the writing style in Dolores Claiborne ineffective and annoying, I couldn't finish Black House, and I HATE it when he references himself and his own works as books or movies. e.g. "He hadn't been scared of monster cars since he saw that movie "Christine" as a kid."

That was in Mile 81

"OH, HEEEEELLLLL NOO"-smosh

pathoftheturtle
01-06-2012, 01:28 PM
I have always liked that no one is safe in his stories...I hate knowing that the main/good guy or bad is gonna be there at the end. You know what I mean...you feel it sometimes in stories before the first chapter is done.

Yeah, like I felt that pretty sure and pretty early in Cujo the movie.

mystima
01-06-2012, 04:29 PM
I didn't like what he did with the character of Alice Maxwell in Cell.

Why did she have to be killed off? She was their glue, the person that kept them grounded even though she drove Clayton Riddell mad with the shoe squeezing.

WeDealInLead
01-07-2012, 09:51 AM
I think foreshadowing works well half the time. It set that solemn tone of The Dead Zone fairly early on. You just simply know Johnny will end up being a tragic character and in the end, you (or at least I) are still an emotional wreck when the book's done.

My biggest issue with King was how rushed DT 7 was. Not just the action, but the writting. It's not as conscise as earlier books.

Silenoz
01-07-2012, 11:26 PM
I completely agree with the issues surrounding DT7, especially with regards to Flagg, the Crimson King, and the general pacing (as long as it is, it still does feel rushed to me).

I think some of my main issues with DT7 are also reflected in 11-22-63. As much as I loved the book, I think King shies away from the Card men too much, he scarcely explains anything about them. I think a part of this is a general reluctance on his part to delve too deeply into the mythologies of his own worlds, even, and perhaps especially, in the Dark Tower novels.

mtdman
01-08-2012, 01:54 AM
I'm sure this won't be a popular comment, but whatever. My biggest pet peeve about King's writing is when he injects his own political viewpoints into his works. His early stuff didn't have so much of that, but as he grew older more and more of it crept in. Whether it was anti-nuclear in Tommynockers, or his pro-abortion views in Insomnia, or pro-Gary Hart in DT, or anti-gun in Cell. I get it, you have liberal views and support democrats. That's your prerogative. But dragging stuff like that into the stories is distracting, whether I agree with them or not. Just tell a good story and leave the politics out of it.

I really couldn't get into Insomnia because of all the pro-abortion stuff. IMO it wasn't necessary to tell that story and King's bias comes through pretty clear.

Jean
01-08-2012, 05:47 AM
interesting - to me Insomnia did not sound pro-abortion at all. The feminists as he describes them looked to me totally disgusting, and one of the secondary characters (a Catholic like me) delivered one of the best speculations on the dubiousness of the issue that ever read.

Cook
01-08-2012, 09:26 AM
I didn't care for him writing himself into the dark tower story, it felt really weird to me.
Hard to explain, but I felt sort of embarrassed for him.... It's probably just me.




I don't really have many, but I found the writing style in Dolores Claiborne ineffective and annoying, I couldn't finish Black House, and I HATE it when he references himself and his own works as books or movies. e.g. "He hadn't been scared of monster cars since he saw that movie "Christine" as a kid."

That was in Mile 81

Jean
01-08-2012, 09:44 AM
I didn't care for him writing himself into the dark tower story, it felt really weird to me.
Hard to explain, but I felt sort of embarrassed for him.... It's probably just me.Probably. Although in a number of threads, particularly this one (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?1316-King-s-Role-in-SoS), people express a similar opinion for pages and pages

Cook
01-08-2012, 10:04 AM
Sorry, never been to this thread.
Thanks for the update. :)



I didn't care for him writing himself into the dark tower story, it felt really weird to me.
Hard to explain, but I felt sort of embarrassed for him.... It's probably just me.Probably. Although in a number of threads, particularly this one (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?1316-King-s-Role-in-SoS), people express a similar opinion for pages and pages

Jean
01-08-2012, 10:24 AM
I really wish you would post some thoughts there too. I would love them old discussion threads to get a new life

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

pathoftheturtle
01-08-2012, 08:13 PM
anti-nuclear in Tommynockers,
Interesting example: you know that wasn't just a case of SK writing about a political issue; it was a case of SK writing about a writer talking about a (non-partisan) political issue... and worrying about how talking about it could affect on his career.

mtdman
01-08-2012, 10:11 PM
anti-nuclear in Tommynockers,
Interesting example: you know that wasn't just a case of SK writing about a political issue; it was a case of SK writing about a writer talking about a (non-partisan) political issue... and worrying about how talking about it could affect on his career.

I don't think he ever comes right out and writes about a political issue, it's usually part of the story or a character's viewpoint. I don't think that the nuke issue was a non-partisan issue at all.

I just don't care for the political stuff no matter what. I don't read King for his viewpoints or to get his political views or even to hear about political views of any kind. IMO he did a pretty good job in 11-22-63 with no discussing any particular political view point surrounding JFK's presidency or assassination. Which I was surprised by. Reading fiction is an escape for me from real world events, especially King's fiction. I don't want that stuff creeping in, agree with it or not.

And like I wrote earlier, it didn't appear so much in his earlier work. I love The Long Walk, which is a book that's just asking for political commentary, but he manages to not inject much personal opinion in it at all. He just presents the alternate reality and lets you draw your conclusions through character development and experiences in the book. IMO he couldn't write that book today without labeling the Major as a republican or even presenting him as GWBush.


interesting - to me Insomnia did not sound pro-abortion at all. The feminists as he describes them looked to me totally disgusting, and one of the secondary characters (a Catholic like me) delivered one of the best speculations on the dubiousness of the issue that ever read.

Which character would that be? As a catholic as well, I'm interested in what you wrote there. And I found the feminists disgusting as well, I'm just not sure that was King's intent. I really had a hard time with that book and it's probably one of my least favorite because of the abortion issues.

pathoftheturtle
01-09-2012, 05:51 AM
... I don't think that the nuke issue was a non-partisan issue at all. ...Well, that might just be your personal perspective. I definitely know Democrats who are for it and Republicans who are against it.
... Reading fiction is an escape for me from real world events ...Oh, then I guess that's the big difference between you and me.

Jean
01-09-2012, 06:09 AM
mtdman: I'll find the quotation for you as soon as I can; it belongs to a police officer.

costanza
01-12-2012, 08:48 PM
argle bargle

Jean
01-14-2012, 08:06 AM
I wonder if cancer hazard is really as high in the USA as it is in King books. Everyone, if not killed by a monster, dies of cancer. Everyone's parents, other older relatives, or elderly friends, do invariably.

By the way, this thread - sorry guys, only now got around to noticing - belongs in The Constant Writer (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/forumdisplay.php?132-The-Constant-Writer) subforum, where it will be moved as soon as everyone gets used to this idea

Merlin1958
01-14-2012, 08:27 PM
I wonder if cancer hazard is really as high in the USA as it is in King books. Everyone, if not killed by a monster, dies of cancer. Everyone's parents, other older relatives, or elderly friends, do invariably.

By the way, this thread - sorry guys, only now got around to noticing - belongs in The Constant Writer (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/forumdisplay.php?132-The-Constant-Writer) subforum, where it will be moved as soon as everyone gets used to this idea

Hey, go do that voodoo, that you do, so well Mr. Bear!!!!

Ben Mears
01-15-2012, 11:54 AM
I wonder if cancer hazard is really as high in the USA as it is in King books. Everyone, if not killed by a monster, dies of cancer. Everyone's parents, other older relatives, or elderly friends, do invariably.


Clearly his mother's death from stomach cancer has had a major impact on his writing.

jhanic
01-15-2012, 05:31 PM
My wife and I have both had a number of relatives (including her mother and my father) die from cancer.

John

Jean
01-16-2012, 04:21 AM
My wife and I have both had a number of relatives (including her mother and my father) die from cancer.

John
Precisely. The same has been happening in my family, and I fully expect to one day die of same. That is why I am rather oversensitive about the issue, and the way King constantly overdoes it sounds like a bad joke to me.

pathoftheturtle
01-17-2012, 09:59 AM
Well I suppose that similarity of many King characters to the author himself in general is a fair ground for criticism. It would make the world they all live in rather strange... if they all live in the same world.

Jon
01-17-2012, 10:52 AM
Cancer is quite prevalent in my extended and nuclear family. Cancer is, by a wide margin, the #1 killer of both sides of the Gaskill clan.
My father was a victim but it was discovered in autopsy after the accident.

I will never forgive King for killing Henry in Black House.

But I am annoyed by all of the writers from the North East of America who dominate his charter selection. Things happen to folks in places other than the Northeast and who are not writers.

pathoftheturtle
01-17-2012, 01:16 PM
... Things happen to folks in places other than the Northeast and who are not writers.Like that one guy who went to Florida to paint... lol

mtdman
01-17-2012, 08:27 PM
... Things happen to folks in places other than the Northeast and who are not writers.Like that one guy who went to Florida to paint... lol

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

beam*seeker
02-21-2012, 04:25 PM
Well, I am stilled pissed at him

Merlin1958
02-21-2012, 05:24 PM
Tough crowd, for "fans" LOL LOL I have beef's with him from time to time (the ending of UTD), but he is really about the Read/journey. I get that and he is the Master!!!

harrison ryan
02-21-2012, 06:31 PM
I have many, many issues with King's writing.

They're all issues of Entertainment Weekly, though. :)

Jean
02-22-2012, 04:49 AM
Tough crowd, for "fans" LOL LOL I have beef's with him from time to time (the ending of UTD), but he is really about the Read/journey. I get that and he is the Master!!!
the ending is not really the issue with the writing, it's with the story. I have no issues with his stories. I have a lot with his writing, and they are getting worse.

mae
02-22-2012, 08:41 AM
I have a lot with his writing, and they are getting worse.

When do you think that started, Jean, and what exactly do you take issue with? I do believe King's writing has changed over the years, but that's only natural. I don't find any fault in King's newer style writing, it's just different. Perhaps, at times, a little too casual. I think he might've been trying a bit harder earlier in his career.