How To Write A Great Story And Steven King
Without Prejudice
If you can tell a good story, you can write a good story.
That's mainly what you have to be able to do.
Steven King
I took the girls when little to the drive in at Dandenong, to see Carrie. I am not sure what they remember of it but it stunned me, I know that much. I loved the story of it. The Ugly Duckling that turns into a Swan and then a killer.
The colours of red, (blood) and virginal white, the pigs blood dripping down Carries prom gown, the niceness of one girl, the cruelty of the others. John Travolta in one of his first acting roles was a standout as the callow youth.
There was nudity, sex, blood, murder, fear, redemption a crazy devoutly religious Mother, a finely drawn character by Piper Lawrie. She looked like she was chewing up the furniture in the role and I bet she loved it. Her praying devoted Christian that thought everyone else was a sinner was beautifully executed.
But the most stunning actor of all, was of course, Carrie, Sissy Spacek. She was playing an 18 year old at 28. She seemed plain, almost ugly, freckles, hair pulled back, no makeup. Then she glowed once she thought a nice boy was interested in her. In a Prom gown she was so incandescent she was ethereal, a Princess at the ball.
Then came all the shifts once she felt the last painful humiliation. She had the ability of Telekenisis, the power to change things with her mind, move things, and to do so she had to be in a highly emotional state. I will never forget her slow almost catatonic walk down the steps of the stage. Her eyes bulging, blood dripping down from her hair to her face and dress.
She was Lady Macbeth, Lucretia Borgia, a witch, a demon. Her eyes flashed and all the doors of the school hall slammed shut. One solitary screech of music fir each act. Within minutes the hall was on fire and Carrie begins her long slow walk to home and Her Mother.
Even now the end scene makes me shiver and made the girls scream out loud.
I hear they are making a remake but it will never have the Power of the original. They couldn't remake Psycho. Sometimes you just have to leave well enough alone.
I read Steven Kings book "On Writing " a few years ago. He didn't like the story of Carrie. He didn't like the character, a composite of two High School girls he went to school with. One had the religious Mother and one had the shapeless nerdy look of Carrie.
Even when the girl modernised her look, the kids at school were so used to picking on her that they gave her more hell for trying too hard.
He was working as a Janitor for a while, at the time he began the story. He worked at a co ed high School with a garrulous old man who had been the Janitor for years. When Steven asked what the machines were for in the Ladies Toilet, the old man replied,
" Pussy plugs"
So Steven put that in the story and the phrase,
" Plug it up "
Steven and his wife at that time were barely existing money wise. They had a baby girl and lived in a cold spartan, furniture wise flat. Steven wrote his stories between jobs and he ended up screwing up the story of Carrie and throwing it in the bin. His wife rescued it, read it, and said she liked it.
So he sat down again and finished it. One bitterly cold Mothers Day his wife was out with the baby. They needed " this pink stuff" from the pharmacy as their baby girl was sick. They had exhausted all avenues of money, family, friends.
The phone rang and Stevens agent was on the line. He asked Steven if he was sitting down. Steven replied, why .
The agent told Steven they had just sold the film rights to Carrie for $400,000. Steven was in such shock he had to get the Agent to actually spell the words, four hundred thousand. He thought he meant Forty dollars. At that time Steven was getting tiny sums for one story in a magazine. His genre, horror, a hard sell in those days.
He described a six inch nail above his desk, full to the end with rejection slips.
As he spoke to the agent he looked around at the glum flat and cried. He ran out and bought his wife a present for Mothers Day. Only the pharmacy was open and he wanted some grand gesture present. The only thing he could find was a hair dryer. His wife puzzled at his choice and his frivolousness
Asked gently what the hell was going on.
They held their baby tight between them and cried. Excited and yet knowing their lives were about to change, monumentally. All from a simple story about a girl who gets her first period in the shower at school after attending Gym. Not the greatest premise in the world. And a few weeks before he wrote the story he had read a small article in the paper about Telekenisis.
And a writers legendary career was born. The most prolific and famous writer of modern times
If you can tell a good story, you can write a good story.
That's mainly what you have to be able to do.
Steven King
I took the girls when little to the drive in at Dandenong, to see Carrie. I am not sure what they remember of it but it stunned me, I know that much. I loved the story of it. The Ugly Duckling that turns into a Swan and then a killer.
The colours of red, (blood) and virginal white, the pigs blood dripping down Carries prom gown, the niceness of one girl, the cruelty of the others. John Travolta in one of his first acting roles was a standout as the callow youth.
There was nudity, sex, blood, murder, fear, redemption a crazy devoutly religious Mother, a finely drawn character by Piper Lawrie. She looked like she was chewing up the furniture in the role and I bet she loved it. Her praying devoted Christian that thought everyone else was a sinner was beautifully executed.
But the most stunning actor of all, was of course, Carrie, Sissy Spacek. She was playing an 18 year old at 28. She seemed plain, almost ugly, freckles, hair pulled back, no makeup. Then she glowed once she thought a nice boy was interested in her. In a Prom gown she was so incandescent she was ethereal, a Princess at the ball.
Then came all the shifts once she felt the last painful humiliation. She had the ability of Telekenisis, the power to change things with her mind, move things, and to do so she had to be in a highly emotional state. I will never forget her slow almost catatonic walk down the steps of the stage. Her eyes bulging, blood dripping down from her hair to her face and dress.
She was Lady Macbeth, Lucretia Borgia, a witch, a demon. Her eyes flashed and all the doors of the school hall slammed shut. One solitary screech of music fir each act. Within minutes the hall was on fire and Carrie begins her long slow walk to home and Her Mother.
Even now the end scene makes me shiver and made the girls scream out loud.
I hear they are making a remake but it will never have the Power of the original. They couldn't remake Psycho. Sometimes you just have to leave well enough alone.
I read Steven Kings book "On Writing " a few years ago. He didn't like the story of Carrie. He didn't like the character, a composite of two High School girls he went to school with. One had the religious Mother and one had the shapeless nerdy look of Carrie.
Even when the girl modernised her look, the kids at school were so used to picking on her that they gave her more hell for trying too hard.
He was working as a Janitor for a while, at the time he began the story. He worked at a co ed high School with a garrulous old man who had been the Janitor for years. When Steven asked what the machines were for in the Ladies Toilet, the old man replied,
" Pussy plugs"
So Steven put that in the story and the phrase,
" Plug it up "
Steven and his wife at that time were barely existing money wise. They had a baby girl and lived in a cold spartan, furniture wise flat. Steven wrote his stories between jobs and he ended up screwing up the story of Carrie and throwing it in the bin. His wife rescued it, read it, and said she liked it.
So he sat down again and finished it. One bitterly cold Mothers Day his wife was out with the baby. They needed " this pink stuff" from the pharmacy as their baby girl was sick. They had exhausted all avenues of money, family, friends.
The phone rang and Stevens agent was on the line. He asked Steven if he was sitting down. Steven replied, why .
The agent told Steven they had just sold the film rights to Carrie for $400,000. Steven was in such shock he had to get the Agent to actually spell the words, four hundred thousand. He thought he meant Forty dollars. At that time Steven was getting tiny sums for one story in a magazine. His genre, horror, a hard sell in those days.
He described a six inch nail above his desk, full to the end with rejection slips.
As he spoke to the agent he looked around at the glum flat and cried. He ran out and bought his wife a present for Mothers Day. Only the pharmacy was open and he wanted some grand gesture present. The only thing he could find was a hair dryer. His wife puzzled at his choice and his frivolousness
Asked gently what the hell was going on.
They held their baby tight between them and cried. Excited and yet knowing their lives were about to change, monumentally. All from a simple story about a girl who gets her first period in the shower at school after attending Gym. Not the greatest premise in the world. And a few weeks before he wrote the story he had read a small article in the paper about Telekenisis.
And a writers legendary career was born. The most prolific and famous writer of modern times
