While organizing my bookmarks, I stumbled across this article on The Atlantic’s website from last year and I thought it might be of interest to readers and writers alike who may not have read it before:
Stephen King on the Creative Process, the State of Fiction, and More
There’s some good stuff in there, and it’s a pretty long interview, but I really liked this:
SK: In the old days, it would seem like ideas were crammed in like people in an elevator. And my head was sometimes a very noisy place to be. The other thing that happens with that is, say you’re working on something and it’s going along pretty well, and two or three ideas occur, and they’re all yelling “You should write this! You should write this!” It’s almost like being married and all of a sudden your life is full of beautiful women. You have to stay faithful to what you’re working on. But it can be uncomfortable.
That May 2011 issue of The Atlantic also featured Stephen King’s short story “Herman Wouk Is Still Alive,” which you can still read online by clicking on the linked title in this sentence.
I’m curious to hear what everyone thinks of the interview and the short story.
You know, everyone wants what they want, NOW. There is no patience, yet, the short story, made to be a quick read, is not thriving out there in the world. Why is that? People have zip attention spans these days, you would think short stories would be thriving.
I personally love short stories. I’ve said this so many times, but, an author has to have wicked skills to pull off a really good short story. They have to write tight making every word count. With a novel, they can take their time and draw things out. They don’t have that luxury with short fiction.
Yep, I really wish short stories as a form would take off again, they seem perfect for the new digital (and short attention span) age we live in!