The Sequel To THE SHINING

I miss the Stephen King of the 70’s & 80’s.

For years, I’ve said that Stephen King is my favorite novelist, and that he’s one of the reasons I write. And that’s true.
But I have to finally admit this. An impressionable teenager enthralled with spooky stories fell in love with Stephen King in the early 80’s. I already knew of his movies but then I read his short story collections, Night Shift and Skeleton Crew. Then I tackled It and The Stand and that’s what forever did it. Those two brilliant novels moved something inside of me.
They cemented what I already knew: that I wanted to be a writer.
Many more Stephen King novels and collections have surprised and moved me: Different Seasons, The Green Mile, Bag of Bones to name a few. But as I grew older, so did Stephen King.
I’ve said this before: there are seasons in an artist’s life & journey that can only be seen in hindsight and can probably only be appreciated by others.

I’ve admired how Stephen King has evolved as a novelist. I have never believed that he cranks out books because he wants to make money or because he has a contract to fill. I can related to King’s desire to tell stories. The man has to write. He keeps retiring only to come back stronger. Even a near-fatal accident didn’t stop him.

This leads up to the most recent news about Stephen King: that he’s currently writing a sequel to The Shining.

Will I buy it? Of course. I’ll buy everything Stephen King writes.
Will I finish the story? That’s a good question.
I think I keep buying his books because I want to find another It or The Stand. But I also have to realize that won’t ever happen. That young writer is gone. He might be an even better writer now, but that season of King’s writing career is over.
I find it funny when someone tells me their favorite novel of mine is still The Promise Remains. The young naive kid who wrote that book is gone. I plan on writing more love stories, but I could never write one like that.
That might disappoint some readers, the same way it sometimes disappoints me that there won’t be another 70’s-esque Stephen King novel. But that’s the beauty of being an artist. Growing and changing and morphing as you get older and as the world around you changes.
The moment I discovered Stephen King and his vast array of stories, I started to believe that I really could do this. I felt like all these stories in my head could go somewhere. Stephen King proved that an ordinary guy with an imagination and drive could produce a shelf full of books.
He’s still doing it thirty years later.
I hope I can say the same thirty years from now.

3 Comments

  1. As readers we continue to evolve too. The real magic is when you encounter the right book at the right time. My personal favorite Stephen King book is On Writing. It really moved me.

  2. The problem with a lot of fans is that they do not want their artists evolving very much. They want the artist to stay in that one season and never change, grow and mature. If I am a true "fan" of an artist I am along for the journey. I may not like every season, every change, however I will do my best to be there, wherever they may lead me.

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