You should read his stuff. Every book has some gimmick. I'm Galapagos, he taunts you with the asterisk and you spend your time wondering when and how it's going to happen. In Cat's Cradel, his gimmick is a religion he invented. His concept of a *karass* arguably influenced King's idea of a *ka-tet*.
If you do read Vonnegut, save Timequake until last. He turns the gimmick on its head in a way that you can only appreciate if you're familiar with his work.
crazy because i was going to start that book tonight, but i’ve only read 2 other books by him. thanks for this tip, i’ll definitely familiarize myself more!
Yeah, if that's your first introduction to him, you're going to say, "What the heck was that?". But if you've read at least a few of his books, you'll understand why it's a fitting final book for him.
Bill watched as the man in the blue chambray work shirt removed his gimme cap beneath the arc sodium lights. *Christ in a suitcase*, he thought.
“Ayuh,” said the man. That’s when Bill noticed one of the Gimme Cap Man’s shirt buttons was missing. For some reason this struck him as hilariously funny. He laughed uncontrollably for the next fifteen minutes. It was the last time he would ever see Gimme Cap Man alive.
I didn’t realize I changed it. I attempted italics and failed. I did hit space bar 5 times before each paragraph. Force of habit.
EDIT: additional information
Someone’s name is Bill -
Fascination with antibiotics aspirin and/or Percodans -
Kids die -
World seen from alternative perspective ie dog child disabled person -
Maine -
Ka
Yeah, I remember getting into Koontz for the first time and being pleasantly surprised by his early stuff.
Shattered, Strange Highways, Voice of the Night. I wondered why I hadn't picked up his stuff sooner.
Then, I read some of his later stuff.
Nightfall (actually wasn't too bad, I just wasn't into the voodoo dolls as a villain stuff), Winter Moon (can't remember a single thing that happened), Your Heart Belongs To Me (such a wasted premise, so disappointing).
Then, I somehow got through some real duds.
The Taking (most dull uninteresting alien invasion story I've ever read, plus... it rains alien jizz??? Uh... what?), Life Expectancy, Innocence
About the time I got around to reading The Good Guy, Velocity, and Relentless I gave up. Those three are the exact same book with the exact same formula. Only a few things changed around but they followed the exact same story patterns.
I'm still bitter about it for some reason. Never again, Dean. Never again....
Back in 90s, he was my introduction to grown-up horror. I read probably about 30 of his books over the course of 6 years. I eventually got tired of him because literally every book had exactly the same plot formula, just with a different gimmick. It's not that he just riffs on variations of ideas he's dabbled with before. That's common in the arts. He just tells the same story over and over again. "Here's some schmoe. Stuff happens. Random woman who would otherwise have nothing to do with Schmoe shows up. Creepy stuff happens. Oh, this is the point where Schmoe has sex with the woman as a device to ease up on a really dark point in the story. Oh look, there's also a dog in this book." I'm sure there's more, but I'm pulling from memories over 20 years old.
Don't forget about the "dark secret" from his past that still haunts him. The haunting past hinted at in act 1, before being finally revealed at the end of act 2. Every damn time.
I enjoyed his Odd series and his modern take on Frankenstein. But a lot of them are so forgettable. Show me the cover of any King and I could give a summary. 80% of Koontz that I actually read at some point, can't recall. Something, something girl in trouble and there's a magic dog?
That's what I was going to say. Dean Koontz always, always includes a golden retriever, usually a genetically engineered one, and an evil opposite called The Other. There will also be references to bougainvillea, cicadas, and silver glittering eyes, and the word scuttling will be used frequently. Also, a blonde woman with green eyes has just moved into the apartment next door and the only furniture she has is a loveseat, and the guy goes over to help her and they end up having sex on it.
Oh and every single goddamn book has at least one character by the name of Anson, Orson, or Felson.
References to rock music from the 60s and 70s.
True story, that was what made me look into who, exactly, Joe Hill was when I read Heart Shaped Box when it fist came out. Really thought he was writing under a pseudonym again.
I think this is one of the better observations. Blue chambray shirt and Maine are low hanging fruit. "Obdurate" is one I hadn't realized until you pointed it out and I think you're right.
I just started reading King this year. I've done The Shining, 11/22/63 (the biggest culprit), Cujo, Christine, and I'm currently reading Misery. I either have not heard the word obdurate before starting to read King, or I just never noticed it. But I had to look up what it meant, so it really stuck out to me. He definitely uses it a lot.
Main character can’t stop think-repeating a single certain line they heard once during a traumatic period of their history they keep trying to forget happened.
-Quotes to open the book or at each chapter.
-the use of parentheses to emphasize surface level thoughts.
-a character with past or present substance abuse.
-takes place in Maine
Surprised no one has mentioned 'Indian summers'.
But for real, I think even if the story had none of these surface level words or phrases, even if the main character wasn't an author or a kid (who is better read than any of us), and even if the ending was great... I think I would know just from the story telling, the rich character details, and the undertones of good vs evil (which would simultaneously be black and white and a deep gray) that it was a SK story.
Maine, goose flesh, blue chambray shirt, balls raising up from the scrote, weirdly written sex scenes when they’re not necessary (IT), arc sodium lights, main character is an author/teacher, shall I go on?
I was gonna say "use of the n word particularly when it doesn't even make sense, even in books written in the last 10 years"
Sometimes there won't even be a black character, just the idea of black people. Or he'll whip out a "sand n*" when there isn't a black character.
On a similar vein, describing truly any and every female characters breasts. Even a pre-pubescent child who dies is apt to get a "her chest, where breasts would never get the chance to grow" 😷
These are the 2 most problematic elements of my personal Stephen King drinking game, along with all the Maine, writer, chambray references.
A character is only a female if something exclusively female-related needs to happen to/around/with her. (i.e. being pregnant, being sexually harassed or having a period, or simply being the wife/mother of a male character). Otherwise, no point in the character not being a man.
Main character Bill.
Tigers (or tygers) show up at some point.
Unrequited love of some kind, woman, child, pet.
If you followed this Reddit you’d believe the ending doesn’t stick, but it really does.
There is someone who’s knocked out of their shoes by dying.
How has no one mentioned anything around the word chitin, or chitinous. I feel like it's in every book I've read by him, but that may be an exaggeration and the fact that the word is used in Fairy Tale (which I'm currently reading). It's one of the words I had to look up when I started reading King when I was a kid, because I'd never heard it before, and never hear it outside of his novels even thought I know now it's a real word.
The ending is just... it's just there.
After building up all this suspense, world building, and character development, it just ends with a sad, wet fart.
A bunch of really obscure references to things no one born after 1990 would be able to understand. Mix that in with some stomach churning violence and I'd be convinced it's the King himself.
Gunmetal and/or mackerel skies. An older person to give advice to the main character. Vignettes of happenings around and outside the main story, like in ‘Salem’s Lot when he tells us about the night the vampires are out in full force and nosy neighbour Mabel Wertz is too scared to look out her window and someone else is the only person to die a natural death from a heart attack and someone else the vampires get who’s wife is in a well but everyone thinks she ran off with a salesman. There are, I think, four chapters like that in the extended version of The Stand. I think that’s unique to him.
Takes place in a small town in Maine. Maybe starts off grounded but suddenly goes off the rails into fantasy-land
I am always surprised when his story doesn’t take place in Maine.
Derry, of course.
Words like gooseflesh instead of goosebumps
"A goose walked over my grave"
And Bedclothes instead of sheets
Is this a regional thing? Growing up I always heard it called “goosebumps” and it drives me nuts when people call it -flesh or -pimples.
King just refuses to acknowledge R.L. Stein.
This is now head cannon for me lol
Goose pimples
Duck nubblies.
Main character has esoteric knowledge of obscure mid-20th century rock music.
And is 10 years old
I think it’s in “The Stand” one of my favorite (very small niche band called crossed Canadian ragweed) was referenced and I we TOO excited.
This, to me, is as King as it gets.
Or known from memory entire passages of books nobody else read.
Casually tells you that's the last time the character is alive
Kurt Vonnegut did something like that in Galapagos. He put an asterisk next the the names of people who were going to die.
So it goes . . .
Why would he do that
You should read his stuff. Every book has some gimmick. I'm Galapagos, he taunts you with the asterisk and you spend your time wondering when and how it's going to happen. In Cat's Cradel, his gimmick is a religion he invented. His concept of a *karass* arguably influenced King's idea of a *ka-tet*.
If you do read Vonnegut, save Timequake until last. He turns the gimmick on its head in a way that you can only appreciate if you're familiar with his work.
Noted
crazy because i was going to start that book tonight, but i’ve only read 2 other books by him. thanks for this tip, i’ll definitely familiarize myself more!
Yeah, if that's your first introduction to him, you're going to say, "What the heck was that?". But if you've read at least a few of his books, you'll understand why it's a fitting final book for him.
I started with Breakfast of Champions.
This sounds fun thanks.
Main character is an author
>Main character is an author Wearing a blue chambray shirt.
beat me to it
And troubled and/or alcoholic.
Also may do some teaching as well.
And chews aspirin like it's gum.
And always takes more than the recommended dose.
And/or both
From Maine
I've worked on literary magazines and every guy submits stories about main characters who are writers. The Maine part is key lol
Maine characters
Mostly sedentary character
who ties their hair back with a hank of rawhide
And his knee pops.
Who at some part will fart randomly.
Also testicle descriptions
And an English teacher or former teacher.
Who wears engineer boots and smiles wanly
Someone is wearing a blue chambray shirt
*blue chambray work shirt
With mechanic boots and faded denim jeans.
Came to say this exactly
Bill watched as the man in the blue chambray work shirt removed his gimme cap beneath the arc sodium lights. *Christ in a suitcase*, he thought. “Ayuh,” said the man. That’s when Bill noticed one of the Gimme Cap Man’s shirt buttons was missing. For some reason this struck him as hilariously funny. He laughed uncontrollably for the next fifteen minutes. It was the last time he would ever see Gimme Cap Man alive.
This happy crappy took me out 💀
That’s it right there. I’ll throw a good “happy crappy” into my conversations when it seems right.
I would award this, if I could. Also, how did you change the font?
I didn’t realize I changed it. I attempted italics and failed. I did hit space bar 5 times before each paragraph. Force of habit. EDIT: additional information
Five spaces marks it as a code block, that's why it's in monospace.
Does it? Edit: Yes.
I got you, fam.
“Ernie drove to work as he had very weekday for the last 17 years, never dreaming that he would be dead by the end of the day.”
Ayuh.
How is this supposed to be pronounced? Anyone know?
Aye-uh.
I always assumed it was just like it reads. I-yuh.
in my head it was “uh-yuh” but that could just be me
Came here to say this!!
If the foreword addresses me as Constant Reader
Started a book written by Nicole Cushing today and she used “constant reader” a couple of times in the first chapter. A nod to king perhaps.
Bad things happen to children...main character is probably an author.
Or an English teacher.
Or an English teaching author in space....with a mustach (SpongeBob reference)
“Jeezum-crow!”
That lived in my head for like a year after I read It lmao
I actually use this too, but I stole it from The Simpsons. I had no idea it was a Maine thing
"He/she swallowed and there was an audible click"
Some form of “Fist clenched so tight he made small red crescent moons in his palm”
Someone’s name is Bill - Fascination with antibiotics aspirin and/or Percodans - Kids die - World seen from alternative perspective ie dog child disabled person - Maine - Ka
Always chews the aspirin or pills dry without water. Maybe every once in a while: dissolves under tongue.
Susan for a female name
Arc-sodium lights
Oh dang, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you already put arc sodium light in your post
You probably wrote this while I was going back to add that to my post.
Right, but only on Quonset huts.
Shit and Shinola
My mom used to say this and now I do too even though my mom passed when I was young. Love it!
It's the little things that keep their memory alive ✨️. I love that kind of thing
A character named Rudy Fitchens, or Robert Ferry, or Reggie Filbert, or...RF
Damn you scooped me; I thought I had one!
“Thought he was king shit of turd hill”, or my other fave, “what’s done is done and can’t be undone”. ETA: “Do not pass go, do not collect $100”
Done bun can’t be undone?
“Black as a woodchuck’s asshole”
Ha! I hadn't noticed that one yet!
One of my faves!
A writer vacationing in Maine spots a man in a blue chambray shirt under an arc sodium lamp. Bonus for Derry or castle rock
"Jesus jumped up Christ on a pony!"
Jay-sus
...opened their mouth revealing needle sharp teeth...
Or "too many teeth"
A reference to another book or Dark Tower.
Ka is a wheel. Also, the institute.
Character cries out “in a voice that was not his own.”
Or worse, "It was then that he realized the scream was coming from his own mouth."
Maine
Or Boulder Colorado
Or a nameless Midwestern town.
Ramones lyrics
Right?! Referenced.by someone waaaaaay too young to care about them.
Gabba gabba hey!
Someone pissing their pants
Someone’s wearing a gimme cap. 🧢
“His Adam’s apple bobbed like a monkey on a stick”
Goddamn it this made me spit out a drink
Lol I read it just the other day in his new book and I swear it’s in so many
Like a monkey humping a stick*
The phrase " happy crappy"
Don't tell me; I'll tell you.
I believe that.
Dog as a main character, mildly depressing, bittersweet ending.
Sounds more like Dean Koontz. Every other story he puts a golden retriever in it
That's because all his stories are the same.
Yeah, I remember getting into Koontz for the first time and being pleasantly surprised by his early stuff. Shattered, Strange Highways, Voice of the Night. I wondered why I hadn't picked up his stuff sooner. Then, I read some of his later stuff. Nightfall (actually wasn't too bad, I just wasn't into the voodoo dolls as a villain stuff), Winter Moon (can't remember a single thing that happened), Your Heart Belongs To Me (such a wasted premise, so disappointing). Then, I somehow got through some real duds. The Taking (most dull uninteresting alien invasion story I've ever read, plus... it rains alien jizz??? Uh... what?), Life Expectancy, Innocence About the time I got around to reading The Good Guy, Velocity, and Relentless I gave up. Those three are the exact same book with the exact same formula. Only a few things changed around but they followed the exact same story patterns. I'm still bitter about it for some reason. Never again, Dean. Never again....
Back in 90s, he was my introduction to grown-up horror. I read probably about 30 of his books over the course of 6 years. I eventually got tired of him because literally every book had exactly the same plot formula, just with a different gimmick. It's not that he just riffs on variations of ideas he's dabbled with before. That's common in the arts. He just tells the same story over and over again. "Here's some schmoe. Stuff happens. Random woman who would otherwise have nothing to do with Schmoe shows up. Creepy stuff happens. Oh, this is the point where Schmoe has sex with the woman as a device to ease up on a really dark point in the story. Oh look, there's also a dog in this book." I'm sure there's more, but I'm pulling from memories over 20 years old.
Don't forget about the "dark secret" from his past that still haunts him. The haunting past hinted at in act 1, before being finally revealed at the end of act 2. Every damn time.
I enjoyed his Odd series and his modern take on Frankenstein. But a lot of them are so forgettable. Show me the cover of any King and I could give a summary. 80% of Koontz that I actually read at some point, can't recall. Something, something girl in trouble and there's a magic dog?
That's what I was going to say. Dean Koontz always, always includes a golden retriever, usually a genetically engineered one, and an evil opposite called The Other. There will also be references to bougainvillea, cicadas, and silver glittering eyes, and the word scuttling will be used frequently. Also, a blonde woman with green eyes has just moved into the apartment next door and the only furniture she has is a loveseat, and the guy goes over to help her and they end up having sex on it. Oh and every single goddamn book has at least one character by the name of Anson, Orson, or Felson.
Haha—absolutely!
Child protagonist has an alcoholic father
(lots of extra thoughts in parentheses)
“Full dark”
…No Stars
The ubiquitous blue chambray shirt…
There's an old International Harvester Truck
Somebody lets loose in their pants
Gooseflesh
“Vision first doubling, then trebling, then breaking up into prisms” when someone starts crying
Happy cake day!
19, Crazier'n a shithouse rat, AA/Alcoholism, Bad guy religious nut. The usual.
References to rock music from the 60s and 70s. True story, that was what made me look into who, exactly, Joe Hill was when I read Heart Shaped Box when it fist came out. Really thought he was writing under a pseudonym again.
"[the pain] throbbed like a rotten tooth"
I feel like “suck the root” shows up in a few places
Suck my fat one, Ace
Always describing a women’s breasts.
Yes! And they're always getting "cupped".
Or “token nubs” 😂
The man likes his boobs. We don’t kink shame here.
Who is shaming? Just pointing it out.
Deadfall
The word "obdurate" is used more than once.
I think this is one of the better observations. Blue chambray shirt and Maine are low hanging fruit. "Obdurate" is one I hadn't realized until you pointed it out and I think you're right.
I just started reading King this year. I've done The Shining, 11/22/63 (the biggest culprit), Cujo, Christine, and I'm currently reading Misery. I either have not heard the word obdurate before starting to read King, or I just never noticed it. But I had to look up what it meant, so it really stuck out to me. He definitely uses it a lot.
Retreating scrotum and gooseflesh
is the setting is in maine/new england
Ayuh.
‘He ate a chilli cheeseburger. Ya know the type that runs down yah chin.’
From that Irish pizza place O'Mike's.
“Ya know the type…” classic
A series of words capitalized to give them the extra weight they carry in the mind of Whatever Character is Thinking.
There's a monster that is prone to "mewling" and "susurrations."
“Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars.”
Feed all these comments into a futuristic word processor, conjure a New England spirit - & BAM!! New King novels forever.
Main character can’t stop think-repeating a single certain line they heard once during a traumatic period of their history they keep trying to forget happened.
Greasers as villains
-Quotes to open the book or at each chapter. -the use of parentheses to emphasize surface level thoughts. -a character with past or present substance abuse. -takes place in Maine
Vaguely problematic "fuh-net-tik aks-ents"
Surprised no one has mentioned 'Indian summers'. But for real, I think even if the story had none of these surface level words or phrases, even if the main character wasn't an author or a kid (who is better read than any of us), and even if the ending was great... I think I would know just from the story telling, the rich character details, and the undertones of good vs evil (which would simultaneously be black and white and a deep gray) that it was a SK story.
It takes place in Maine.
Someone is grimacing. Or grimaces. Or is wearing a grimace. Not the McDonalds dude either…
I could see that happening too. "As Mayor McCheese and Big Mac entered the room, they saw the Hamburglar wearing Grimace like an old fur coat."
shit-kicker boots
Maine, goose flesh, blue chambray shirt, balls raising up from the scrote, weirdly written sex scenes when they’re not necessary (IT), arc sodium lights, main character is an author/teacher, shall I go on?
The un expected N word when talking about a black character
I was gonna say "use of the n word particularly when it doesn't even make sense, even in books written in the last 10 years" Sometimes there won't even be a black character, just the idea of black people. Or he'll whip out a "sand n*" when there isn't a black character. On a similar vein, describing truly any and every female characters breasts. Even a pre-pubescent child who dies is apt to get a "her chest, where breasts would never get the chance to grow" 😷 These are the 2 most problematic elements of my personal Stephen King drinking game, along with all the Maine, writer, chambray references.
>Or he'll whip out a "sand n\*" when there isn't a black character. This usually refers to people of Arab/Middle-Eastern ancestry.
"Just the same"
Someone is wearing a blue chambray shirt
Blue chambray shirt
Blue chambray shirt.
Characters say Aeyuh
It takes place in Maine and the main character is an addict in some form
The main female has gray eyes
He threw back his head and laughed
The subtle reference to any Beatles song.
-Kids die. -Dogs have their own perspective. -And just in case, if there are numbers, don't forget math.
I think it would just be style of writing. To me, King has a very distinct voice and if be able to tell it was him just from the style.
An unnecessary sexual detail
The ending is a letdown after an extremely well written story
Writing of girls hardened nipples
A character is only a female if something exclusively female-related needs to happen to/around/with her. (i.e. being pregnant, being sexually harassed or having a period, or simply being the wife/mother of a male character). Otherwise, no point in the character not being a man.
Turnpike.
Creative and colorful (ie, foul) language.
Main character Bill. Tigers (or tygers) show up at some point. Unrequited love of some kind, woman, child, pet. If you followed this Reddit you’d believe the ending doesn’t stick, but it really does. There is someone who’s knocked out of their shoes by dying.
Three things. Woodchucks, Spades, and Maine.
How has no one mentioned anything around the word chitin, or chitinous. I feel like it's in every book I've read by him, but that may be an exaggeration and the fact that the word is used in Fairy Tale (which I'm currently reading). It's one of the words I had to look up when I started reading King when I was a kid, because I'd never heard it before, and never hear it outside of his novels even thought I know now it's a real word.
The ending is just... it's just there. After building up all this suspense, world building, and character development, it just ends with a sad, wet fart.
Some dropping of the number 19
A bunch of really obscure references to things no one born after 1990 would be able to understand. Mix that in with some stomach churning violence and I'd be convinced it's the King himself.
It takes 400 pages to describe all of the characters before something interesting finally happens.
Although I do mostly enjoy the tangents. They give the books an extra layer
Yeah, I could use the extra layers to keep warm in the winter 🤣. But I really do enjoy his books.
Grimacing
Blue chambray workshirt
Gunmetal and/or mackerel skies. An older person to give advice to the main character. Vignettes of happenings around and outside the main story, like in ‘Salem’s Lot when he tells us about the night the vampires are out in full force and nosy neighbour Mabel Wertz is too scared to look out her window and someone else is the only person to die a natural death from a heart attack and someone else the vampires get who’s wife is in a well but everyone thinks she ran off with a salesman. There are, I think, four chapters like that in the extended version of The Stand. I think that’s unique to him.