Neil Gaiman interviews Stephen King

[Clacke]

The UK Sunday Times Magazine on April 8th published an interview with Stephen King conducted by Neil Gaiman. The online version is subscription only but I scanned the paper version and converted it to PDF format.
For anyone interested in reading it they can (hopefully!) get it at the link below:

http://freepdfhosting.com/5f4691aff7.pdf

[ELazansky]

Thank you so much for scanning that - looks great!

[nocny]

I was so hoping somebody do that, thanks a lot!

[frik]

Thank you!

sk

[harrison ryan]

Some people read the newspaper in the morning with their coffee. I got to read this. Thanks!!!!

[John Blaze]

The UK Sunday Times Magazine on April 8th published an interview with Stephen King conducted by Neil Gaiman. The online version is subscription only but I scanned the paper version and converted it to PDF format.
For anyone interested in reading it they can (hopefully!) get it at the link below:

http://freepdfhosting.com/5f4691aff7.pdf

Thanks so much for going through that effort for us. :D

[sgc1999]

Thank you! :)

[herbertwest]

thanks !

[Brainslinger]

I thought that bit concerning the next draft of the Dark Tower books very interesting.... (I won't spoil it if you haven't read the latter books.)

Certainly something to discuss in the relevant section!

[jhanic]

Thanks, Clacke!

John

[DanishCollector]

Did he mean when he was working on the DT books back then or if he's considered a rewrite in the future?

[Randall Flagg]

It's very unclear. Gaiman and or his editor really did a poor job of clarifying the statement "Stephen is wondering whether to take him out of the next draft". There are several other peculiarities that bug me, but they are not related to the DT series.

[Ari_Racing]

Thank you very much! Very kind of you.

[DanishCollector]

Yes, and I noticed quite a few other errors and it made me wonder since the interviewer/author is Gaiman.

[beam*seeker]

TY for posting that--a good read.

[johnsmith87]

It's Torrance not Torrence. Poorly edited article, but very interesting nonetheless. Thanks for posting.

[Xile]

Respect

[Randall Flagg]

Yes, and I noticed quite a few other errors and it made me wonder since the interviewer/author is Gaiman.
For some reason I have become accustomed to articles and interviews published in the UK to have and uphold a higher standard than those I see in the US. I am happy to have read the article, and pleased at certain information that was disclosed, but all in all, the editing and proofing was terrible. Almost grade school quality.

[Randall Flagg]

Yes, and I noticed quite a few other errors and it made me wonder since the interviewer/author is Gaiman.
For some reason I have become accustomed to articles and interviews published in the UK to have and uphold a higher standard than those I see in the US. I am happy to have read the article, and pleased at certain information that was disclosed, but all in all, the editing and proofing was terrible. Almost grade school quality.

[Darkthoughts]

Especially as it was in The Times aswell. I read this article at the weekend being in the UK, but good on you Clacke :thumbsup:

If you guys ever hear of interviews like this in advance, in the magazine supplements, let me know as at one of my evening jobs we sort through the Sunday newspapers (which are sale or return) and throw the magazines away, so I'd be quite happy to send copies to people who wanted them.

[sgc1999]

Especially as it was in The Times aswell. I read this article at the weekend being in the UK, but good on you Clacke :thumbsup:

If you guys ever hear of interviews like this in advance, in the magazine supplements, let me know as at one of my evening jobs we sort through the Sunday newspapers (which are sale or return) and throw the magazines away, so I'd be quite happy to send copies to people who wanted them.

Thats really nice of you. :)

[Brice]

Lisa: I'm sure I'm too late, but if you run across a copy... :huglove:

[Darkthoughts]

No worries sgc, the giveaway karma is very good at TDT :D

Bricey, I nabbed the magazine we had at my day job (pub) and hid it in the kitchen at lunchtime - if it's still there tomorrow you can have it, won't be pristine as it's been read by a few punters but it wasn't trashed by any means.

[Ari_Racing]

And if you manage to get another one beside Brice's one, I'd love to get it! :)

Very kind of you!

[Brice]

Thank you, dear! :couple:

[herbertwest]

A few websites are mentionning that King is rewriting The Dark Tower, in order to delete himself from the books.
They mention Neil Gaiman's essay as the source.



"His next book, The Wind Through the Keyhole, is a Dark Tower novel, part of a sequence that King plotted and began when he was little more than a teenager. He only finished it spurred on by his assistants, Marsha & Julie, who were tired of fielding fan letters asking when it would be completed. Stephen King is a character in the fifth and sixth Dark Tower books, and Stephen is wondering whether to take him out of the next draft."

What do you think of that?
I remember reading couple of years ago (?) that he was considering rewriting the whole saga, in order to make an even bigger saga..

[mae]

I highly doubt this happens.

[Brice]

I hope you're right. Rewriting the first book was bad enough.

[DanishCollector]

I like the revised Gunslinger but would hate for King to edit himself out of the series. It won't happen.

[Brice]

Hasn't he spoke of editing/revising the other books before? Like back when he revised the gunslinger?

[Brainslinger]

Hasn't he spoke of editing/revising the other books before? Like back when he revised the gunslinger?

Yes. It was his plan to go through the whole lot. (The earlier issues anyway.) I figured that had fallen by the wayside, but seeing that article makes me wonder if it's still on his mind.

I'm undecided if that's a good idea or not. I am curious to know what the DT story would have been like without King as a character* but another part of me thinks, "it's written, so let it stand". I don't mind if he sorts out continuity errors though.

*Maybe I should spoilerize that, but since other people haven't bothered... As for my own feelings on the subject, I thought it interesting at the time, but I'll admit, I'm not really a fan of actors appearing in their own books.

[Brice]

I'm fine with him rewriting them if he likes. Kinda' like I view the revised gunslinger like I view a remake of a classic movie (that didn't need remaking). I'll probably view anything else he rewrites the same.

[Shadow]

Nice thread

[herbertwest]

Unabridged version of the text :
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/04/popular-writers-stephen-king-interview.html



Now he's finished the story he is trying to decide how much he can rewrite it, if he views the sequence as one very long novel. Can he do a second draft? He hopes so. Currently, Stephen King is a character in the fifth and sixth Dark Tower books, and Stephen King the non-fictional author is wondering whether to take him out on the next draft.

[DanishCollector]

Hope he don't erase himself from the novels...leave the books alone.

[Ben Mears]

SK can certainly do as he pleases but personally I would prefer he invest his writing time in new projects or even trunk novels vs. rewriting previously published material.

[Brice]

I wholeheartedly agree! Actually I'll just go ahead and say I do not want a rewrite at all.

[Ari_Racing]

I also agree. Or if he wants to rewrite books, he can start with those that haven't seen the light yet :)

[Robert Fulman]

Spoiler alert for the person who hasn't read the DT series, I would love to see a re-write of the series. I think it would fit
perfectly with the themes of redemption/resumption/etc. I also think it
would fit in with the literal fact that at the end of the last book, Roland is
starting over. Maybe this time around things happen differenly; maybe this
time around, Stephen King never becomes part of the story? I already put
the original Gunslinger at the beginning of the series and the revised version
at the end. I would have no problem reading a somewhat revised version of
Roland's adventures.

[Brainslinger]

I mentioned earlier that I'm curious as to what the series would be like without King as a character*, although I'm largely in the 'leave it as it is' camp.

One thing I am curious about though. Assuming that article is right and King is considering not including himself in rewrites, why is he considering this? Does he feel maybe it was too self -indulgent**, i.e. maybe something that he needed to do at the time, but now he's a lot better health wise (bearing in mind he was in some pain from the accident when writing the last three books) he'd like to take it down a different route.

* My feelings on those scenes were mixed. They were interesting scenes, though to be sure.

** I don't say this to criticize King, It's just something I've read others state when he decided to include himself as a character in a Story. I'm not sure I agree, but I can see why they came to that explanation.

[Darkthoughts]

Yes, when we've all been on tenterhooks for T3 for years, rewrites are surely not a priority?!

[Tik]

The series at this point doesn't need extensive rewrites, only minor tweeking (exchanging the word "Beast" for "The Crimson King" in book 3 for example) which I'd be happy for him to do. Maybe take out or completely rewrite the arguments in books 2 to 5 too. But I dont think he should take himself out of the novels. For one thing, that would change the series completely. For another, it's one of the reasons I love the series.

[mikeC]

Is this interview any different in CD magazine #67?

[Randall Flagg]

At first glance-no.

[mikeC]

Darn. Thanks for the info.