my beef with stephen king

ever notice he is terrible at FINISHING stories? I've read so many stories by him that are great until the end. They either don't go anywhere or take a real stupid twist. Especially his short stories in the book Skeleton Crew

 

Reading short stories by Stephen King isn't a good way to judge him.
I'm a big fan of his books and have read just about all of them. Maybe I'm just on the same insanity level that he is, but I get his stories, and I think that the reason alot of people don't like them is because most people have to be lead to an ending that is overall "good" or all the loose ends are tied up. The real world isn't like that, and that's why I like him so much. He's got a real japanese movie type flair.

 

I've read his novels as well and run into the same problem. I don't need to be lead to an ending, but I don't need the middle of a book to be dragged out and then have it go nowhere either. A good novel has metaphorical peaks and valleys, he tends to write in metaphorical plateaus.

Japanese Movie Flair????? Are we talking about the same guy?????
Steven King is an old pot smoking social outcast from Maine who reeks of 70's and early 80's Americana. I won't flat out say youare wrong but I would be interested to hear how you came to that conclusion. Can you provide some examples?

 

Lol!

 

I have not read anything that King wrote that I did not like. Some were better than others were of course. However, I did not find his endings to be disappointing - they are far from traditional endings - I will give you that. Which book or story did you have in mind? So that we can all get on the same page (pun intended).

 

Japanese Movie Flair, as in how most japanese movies are ended. They don't walk you to the end, and sometimes they just end abruptly. But I guess that's what imagination is for.

 

no thats called leaving it open for a sequel ......its a marketing technique that degrades the quality of the plot IMHO. I have an imagination thank you. I could see if you were trying to say that Japanese movies have an impressionistic quality perhaps. But I still feel that King lacks in that as well.

BTW so you don't have to use your imagination, impressionism is a style characterized by the use of details and mental associations to evoke subjective and sensory impressions rather than the re-creation of objective reality.

 

I agree that his endings are kinda Japanese. It's all part of the King psyche. I've been a big fan since the 70s. Some people love him, some think he's not even noteworthy. Most of the younger crowd (under 25) don't even understand half of the things he's talking about (Ex: Without using a search engine, define "pegged jeans").

It's not necessary to insult something or someone just because you don't happen to like it or them.

 

Nor is it necessary to defend something or someone just because you like it or them so whats your point? I'm dissappointed and insulted by SOME of his endings so that makes him and I even

 

That's a very common problem with pulp-fiction writers.

The inspiration that motivated them to start a story quickly runs dry, and by the middle of the book they're struggling and begin to lose interest.

Steven King does a good job of setting up a story, but you can tell he soon gets bored with the project.

What Steven doesn't realize is that, whenever you depend on the super-natural to fuel your plot, your imagination becomes weak and flabby with the constant use of that easy crutch.

Girls with books are irresitable and can't be argued with.
Girls at the bus-stop with pages pressed to their noses,
Girls with glasses.
Thick, coke-bottle glasses,
......I wish I was a paper-back writer.

 

mmm i wanna marry a writer
oh wait, i guess i kind of am... haha
anyway, i just wanted to comment, this is an interesting thread.. i haven't finished any king books... haven't really started to read many, just seen the movies.

 

he is almost completely overrated
he sucks at "what he does best"

he should do more realistic drama

 

That's fair enough.

 

For anyone who doesn't think King ends his books well, read the Dark Tower series. I could'nt possibly fathom a better ending to that story. Amazing story, amazing end. In my opinion, anyway.

 

What about The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon that gets very close to realistic drama and was I think one of his better books.

 

Thanks for that suggestion, I'll give it a go!!!

 

I used to be a huge Stephen King fan. His earlier stuff was great. I actually love his short stories(as a rule), because a lot of them were written when he was still "hungry" and it shows. His earlier novels tend to be better, IMO. Once he got famous, and started having to make a deadline, his writing suffered. I agree about the Dark Tower series, though I still have to pick up the last two books. It's easily his best writing ever. My biggest gripe with King is his lack of research on things he knows nothing about.

 

i actually enjoy the stephen king movies from his books more than the books, my favorite is dolores clayburn. i love that movie, to see a woman that is severly abused become so brave and stand up to her attacker and destroy him.
hippiewise angel

 

His books are way better than his movies. For those of you who said his endings suffered, I would like some examples. Sorry, I am a huge King fan and have been for 20 years so I get a little defensive when it comes to him. I'm trying to keep an open mind and maybe see it from another's perspective so maybe some examples of his "overrated" books and why one feels that he is overrated (besides that he became popular) may help me see another side.