Author of influence: Stephen King

Welcome to the third in my series of Author of Influence posts. I’ve told you a bit about how each Meg Cabot and Christopher Moore have influenced my writing style. Today, I’m here to talk about Stephen King.

King, one of the most well-known names in horror, has written more than 50 books, several of which have been made into movies or adapted for television. Some of his most popular include Carrie (which also happened to be his first published novel), It, and Misery.

So far, I’ve only recommended one of King’s books here–On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. That’s something I intend to fix; I have a recommendation for It planned later this month, and I hope to re-read a few of King’s books over the next year so that I can introduce you to more.

That said, I don’t need to direct you toward recommendations to tell you about how King has affected my writing.

While I’m fully willing to admit that I learned plenty from On Writing, King influenced my writing style long before I read it. And he did it without me even really realizing it. It wasn’t until I sat down and thought about who’d played a role that I figured it out.

See, like Moore, King has this incredible ability to blend genres. He just blends different ones. King’s work is primarily in the realm of horror, but there’s definitely a literary slant to it. Those are two genres that I’ve noticed a lot of authors have plenty of difficulty mixing together. King, I’d say, is one of the best at the task.

So how did that affect me? Well, like I said, at first I didn’t realize it had. Over the past few years, I’ve found myself writing more and more horror, and trying to incorporate a literary element in it.

For a long time, I couldn’t figure out where that urge came from. Then, a few months ago, it hit me: I was trying to accomplish what King had.

I’m not nearly vain or deluded enough to think that I’ve come anywhere near close to doing that. But I’m enjoying trying, and I can already see little bits of progress being made. So I’m going to keep at it.