Thoughts on The Shining by Stephen King

My very first encounter (that I can remember) with this is actually from the movie Twister. The film version of The Shining is playing on the drive in movie theater when the tornados come through. I remember something about a boy on a tricycle in the hotel and then later when the tornado shreds the screen you see Jack Nicholson’s face pushing through the splintered door. I was told that it was a scary movie and later learned it was The Shining. After that, I didn’t have any other exposure to the story except for those two clips whenever I watch Twister again or when playing a movie game like Scene It.
Fast forward to January 2012, I’m in the Marriott Hotel in Greensburg, PA during my first residency in the SHU Writing Popular Fiction program and as I’m getting ready for bed I see a new scene from the movie. The elevator doors opening and a tidal wave of blood spilling out. June 2012, my second residency, and it is on again on cable and I see the exact same part. January 2013, my third residency, and I actually catch the beginning few minutes on my way down to the lobby for late night activities with my fellow students. And then, lo and behold, it is assigned for the horror reading in the genres course. And the three scenes I’d seen before were nothing compared to the experience of reading the novel for the first time. Now I will try to be vague in referencing points because I don’t want to spoil anything. That’s my way of saying thanks to everyone that had read and/or seen the movie and let me go 30 years without spoiling the fright for me.
As the second only Stephen King novel I’ve read in my life, I say what I said last semester. I can see why he has such a following and is revered by many as a superior writer. The man can weave a tale and scare you. And it was the little things that all add up for me, twisting me up until it really gets crazy.
For example:
I think that it doesn’t make a difference if your parents were always happy or if they struggled, the first time you learn of the concept of divorce, that works on your little mind and creates fears no child has to deal with. We’ve all been disciplined by parents so I think on some level we understand the fear of a parent losing their temper. I just turned 30 and I have never been stung by a bee, hornet, or wasp. In fact, I don’t even know the difference between a yellow jacket, hornet, or wasp without looking it up. But the fact that I’ve never been stung, I live by a lake in a desert state, and have wasps or whatever buzzing around my fence and gutters each summer, scares me like nothing else. For all I know I’m allergic! I’ve been in places where I felt figuratively and literally abandoned and alone. I’ve been snowed in for days where we couldn’t get any where if we needed help. And I’ve had nightmares that have woken me up yelling. Yep, had one just last year. Scared my wife. That is what struck me so strongly with this novel. It hit so many cords that no matter what our upbringing, we can all relate to something in there. By the way, I love that Danny is so determined to read so he can understand what Tony is showing him. I think I would have tried harder as well at his age if I was in the same situation.
My first semester in this program, I read Stephen King’s non-fiction book On Writing. It is so clear that he believes what he says and that he just wasn’t trying to come up with something to give the people that pester him for the secret to his success. Now, I’m not saying that there weren’t relatable aspects of the other stories we’ve read for this class. But this novel hit me harder because there were more things that I could relate to. And for me, that is a huge key to the success of the story or not. If I can’t relate to it, I can’t internalize it, I can’t put myself in their position, and then I don’t care about what happens to the characters. And that’s a huge problem in my own story. I’m very talented at make you not care about what happens to my characters. I can come with all kinds of events and action for a novel but in the end, if you don’t care about what happens to the characters other than that they stop so the novel ends, then I’ve failed as a writer and story teller. It’s clear to me, that Stephen King either experienced for himself, or from someone close to him, an abusive/alcoholic father, nightmares, cabin fever, etc, etc ,etc because of how well he was able to get me to believe it was happening to me. I’ve even started to check myself when I start staring off into space trying to concentrate and think through a new scene for my novel.

Well done, sir. I’m not sure I’ll sleep well tonight.

5 thoughts on “Thoughts on The Shining by Stephen King”

  1. That’s my favorite thing from his book On Writing, tell the truth about what you feel and know and embed it in the lies that are the story. It’s so powerful. And, it works. If you have pain in your past or present, you might as well toss it in your tool box and make some use out of it. The Shining is a perfect demonstration of how to do it.

  2. I had similar feelings with the books we’ve read together so far. None of the others really left the same impact as The Shining did, because largely I couldn’t relate to either the subject matter, event or emotion laced throughout the first three.

    However, that wasn’t the case for King here. His writing as a way of cutting to the core. I can only aspire to one day accomplish the same in my readers.

  3. It’s clear to me, that Stephen King either experienced for himself, or from someone close to him, an abusive/alcoholic father.
    And there you hit the nail squarely, DK. “Write about what you know,” as they say. For Stephen King, it was his own battles with addiction. It is that depth of understanding, of personal conflict, that resonates so deeply in his writing. He bravely takes on the task of looking at himself via a character’s eyes, and as many folks have come to realize, the person in the “mirror” isn’t always a pleasant reflection.
    But he takes it a step further. He examines himself—a character in all of its imperfections—through the eyes of the Others in the novel. Layers and layers of humanity get torn away through use of this device, often (metaphorically) the things people deny, push aside, or ignore. For Steven King, in my view, it is this habit that strikes the heart of his readers in such a terrifying manner. After all, nothing is more frightening than the monster inside everyone; more heart-wrenchingly full of desperation is a person’s hope for victory against his/her personal demons.
    That is what struck me so strongly with this novel. It hit so many cords that no matter what our upbringing, we can all relate to something in there. This is also an amazingly astute comment. For, from my viewpoint, King’s ability to touch his audience so deeply is not only due to his skill in delving deep into the dark heart of his characters/himself-as-his-characters, but in his ability to find something within them that speaks to everyone and for everyone, imperfect people included.

  4. Great insight here. I think that making a story relatable is the key to success. It’s funny you mention divorce. Reading about that and seeing on television doesn’t really make me uneasy. I come from a broken home so I was familiar with the concept from a toddler. So that part didn’t really grab me as much. It’s neat to see what makes people’s wheels spin.

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