Neil Gaiman interviews Stephen King

[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/2012/0...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,

Dark Tower Spoiler

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.