Why do people love him so much?

Why do people love him so much?

He wrote a couple of decent books and had his name attached to some fantastic cult movies. Mix in our subconscious need to stand out and be unique, and you've got a love for King.

Makes books for people who usually don't read and it isn't YA trash.

Because spooks.

>isn't YA trash
still trash though

He is prolific and his books read with a lot of filmic imagery and the pacing of a decent Hollywood film.

His stuff is normally one simple concept that is normally quite compelling that eventually expands out in to the story. He writes it this way too, where he starts with a small concept and builds out. Unfortunately, this is why he has a lot of shitty endings.

Honestly, out of all the big name writers, SK is the one I don't mind. He is far from literary genius, but the man genuinely cares about writing and at least he writes his own stuff. Compare that to the John Grisham types that fill the shelves next to his books and you will realise SK isn't all that bad compared to the ghost-writing factory 'bestsellers' are.

He has a fantastic name.

I actually thought Misery was a really good book. I read it in high school and it made a big impact on me so I'm pretty biased, but I thought it was interesting how the first-person perspective allowed you to understand how the narrator started losing his sanity in the latter half. The sentences got less grammatically correct and more frantic, imitating his increasingly unhinged mental state. I also liked the passages from the meta book-within-a-book that the protagonist was writing because you could see how the little phrases and thoughts he had had during his ordeals would work themselves into his prose. It was well paced and kept me interested so that has to count for something. Good book desu. The man has a few real gems under his belt if you are into a good old-fashioned boneheaded thrill every once in awhile.

This as well.

he has a good reputation from writing a handful of amazing books 30 years ago.

Padding.

kek I unironically enjoyed The Dark Half

this

It's cheap entertainment that works. Not all of his stuff his decent though.

I love his books because they are written in a digestible format for everyone. They’re not child-tier but they’re not overly wordy or pretentious either.

muh Americana is comforting

What is it about King’s writing that appeals to so many people? Clearly, King’s readers — many of whom seem to get hooked on him when they are adolescents — don’t care that the sentences he writes or the scenes he constructs are dull. There must be something in the narrative arc, or in the nature of King’s characters, that these readers can’t resist. My sense is that King appeals to the aggrieved adolescent, or the aggrieved nerdy adolescent, or the aggrieved nerdy adult, who believes that people can be divided into bad and good (the latter would, of course, include the aggrieved adolescent or adult), a reader who would rather not consider the proposition that we are all, each of us, nice good people awash in problems and entirely capable of evil. King coddles his readers, all nice, good, ordinary, likeable people (just like the heroes of his books), though this doesn’t completely explain why these readers are so tolerant of the bloat in these novels, why they will let King go on for a couple hundred pages about some matter that has no vital connection to the subject of the book.

He has a fantastic surname*.

trash>YA trash

I don't think I'm a King fan, I read a lot of his work growing up (I don't think I was aggrieved, I always liked horror better than other genres, King is well-known, has a decent library and easily accessible to teens).

I believe the major appeal is the slight distortion of normality. Most of the stories have a very normal set-up, with very little focus on a great looming threat (although King has tried to change this by having everything relate to the Dark Tower). Another thing is the characters. There is so much in the characters that appeal to people that even if you remove the paranormal aspect from the stories you get some interesting character interaction.

Your criticism of bloat is very on-point though. I recently tried to read Hearts in Atlantis (a couple stories loosely tied together with some characters) and every time I thought that the story had come to a decent conclusion there is another chapter. In every single story this happened multiple times. I had to put the book down again because I just couldn't stand it.

He's written a few genuinely good books, he's reasonably consistent, he's accessible, his stories adapt well to film, he writes akin to a hollywood screenwriter whose style many people are familiar with, he continually pumps out fresh books, and hes gotten to the point where his name has become a strong brand.

If you're at an airport and you see a Stephen King book for sale you know what you're going to get, it may not be the best read of your life, but it will be okay. That's why he's so ubiquitous, the strength of his brand.

No one's ever had to run to a dictionary reading his work.

"No!"

Why wasn't he a screenwriter? It seems with a bit of direction that would have been where his talent would lie. I think if also he had a firm editor to pass scripts to he could have been amazing.

Accessible, comfy suspense, essentially.

>his readers don’t care that the sentences he writes or the scenes he constructs are dull
Or maybe they don't agree with your assessment. Do you think they'd actually read his stuff if they found it dull? That's retarded.

Just because a book has child orgies and some clumsy curse words doesn't mean it wasn't written for children. Disguising something written for people with the reading level of a preteen in gore and vulgarity is exactly how YA has gained so much popularity in recent years. King started that trend.

herd behavior, just like star wars, harry potter, twilight, 50 shades, etc etc etc

He can come up with great concepts. This is why many of his movies are damn good. People with actual skill putting his concepts to use. Also his short stories are great since you don't have to deal with Stephen King for too long

herd behavior kek. you're so fucking smart and authentic and only like really truely awesome things. fuck. i'm in awe.

Shining movie>Shining book

I've never been a fan of his works. He is good, but heavily overrated.