That's why he's the King
Alright, alright, so I have a writer's crush on Stephen King. While I've yet to resort to trekking to Maine to stalk him, my crush is so well-known that people send me literary bites about him.
The latest is King's very blunt description of our lives as writers and just how unsexy the whole writing process is. Good looking out to my girl Karen who flipped me the link!
Apparently I'm late to the game. The article came out last week.
One of the reasons I sit slack-jawed, in a state of dreaminess when I read Stephen King's musings is because he's just so darn good at it. I love the images his words conjure up. Like this:
On good days, that creature comes out of the thickets and sits for a while, there in one's writing place.
"The creature," he refers to is the muse. And what better image of a muse than a squat hairy green monster with snaggle teeth and one eye.
Okay, maybe I'm the only one who conjured up that image when I read it.
Whether or not my muse looks like that, I can't say. I think she's probably much cuter, though.
I do know the sentence above holds true for her. She, whom I've affectionately named, Miss Thing-Thing Muse. She's a free-spirited (sometimes mean-spirited) flighty little thing that will not be tamed. Although, since starting the SKR (hail to you Steve)she's been more cooperative than reasonably expected.
I'll not say much about her for fear of pissing her off. Such sensitive little creatures, muses.
Stephen King goes on, in The Washington Post, article to break writing down to its barest essence - sitting on our butts all day entertaining our muse.
Yet, even as he simplifies the process he points out how complex and surreal the whole thing is as words filter into our heads, almost like magic, and then tumbles down from our fingers.
I poo-poo any criticism of King (and there's been plenty) because I don't believe you can argue his talent. His horror is unapologetically graphic with very little use of obvious words like slash, kill, maim, shoot.
Anyone can spill blood and guts all over the page. But try doing it without the same old, same old.
Also, I adore his crafty honesty. Who else could both dismiss writing as boring as paint drying, while also still painting a pretty romantic picture of the beauty of stringing sentences together.
::sigh::
Oh, sorry. The man is just one of the best contemporary word slingers ever.
About the only thing King writes that doesn't get my motor humming are his Entertainment Weekly columns. Often they're a bit...dare I say it? Gah!
Boring! Okay, they're kind of dull.
But ya' know, it's okay.
He's been in the game long enough to be due a gratuitous column by my favorite pop culture mag. And even though the column never sets my heart racing like most of his other work, I read it anyway. Because well, he's the King!
The latest is King's very blunt description of our lives as writers and just how unsexy the whole writing process is. Good looking out to my girl Karen who flipped me the link!
Apparently I'm late to the game. The article came out last week.
One of the reasons I sit slack-jawed, in a state of dreaminess when I read Stephen King's musings is because he's just so darn good at it. I love the images his words conjure up. Like this:
On good days, that creature comes out of the thickets and sits for a while, there in one's writing place.
"The creature," he refers to is the muse. And what better image of a muse than a squat hairy green monster with snaggle teeth and one eye.
Okay, maybe I'm the only one who conjured up that image when I read it.
Whether or not my muse looks like that, I can't say. I think she's probably much cuter, though.
I do know the sentence above holds true for her. She, whom I've affectionately named, Miss Thing-Thing Muse. She's a free-spirited (sometimes mean-spirited) flighty little thing that will not be tamed. Although, since starting the SKR (hail to you Steve)she's been more cooperative than reasonably expected.
I'll not say much about her for fear of pissing her off. Such sensitive little creatures, muses.
Stephen King goes on, in The Washington Post, article to break writing down to its barest essence - sitting on our butts all day entertaining our muse.
Yet, even as he simplifies the process he points out how complex and surreal the whole thing is as words filter into our heads, almost like magic, and then tumbles down from our fingers.
I poo-poo any criticism of King (and there's been plenty) because I don't believe you can argue his talent. His horror is unapologetically graphic with very little use of obvious words like slash, kill, maim, shoot.
Anyone can spill blood and guts all over the page. But try doing it without the same old, same old.
Also, I adore his crafty honesty. Who else could both dismiss writing as boring as paint drying, while also still painting a pretty romantic picture of the beauty of stringing sentences together.
::sigh::
Oh, sorry. The man is just one of the best contemporary word slingers ever.
About the only thing King writes that doesn't get my motor humming are his Entertainment Weekly columns. Often they're a bit...dare I say it? Gah!
Boring! Okay, they're kind of dull.
But ya' know, it's okay.
He's been in the game long enough to be due a gratuitous column by my favorite pop culture mag. And even though the column never sets my heart racing like most of his other work, I read it anyway. Because well, he's the King!
posted by Paula at 12:13 PM
1 Comments:
I knew you would eat up what the King had to say about the muse!
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