About My Influences

I just recently finished reading Dolores Claiborne, by Stephen King and I got to thinking how this book, written in a first person narrative dialouge sets itself apart from many other books I have written--and in its way, is really more of a true story than most others I have read. From cover to cover, the character, Dolores, really is telling the story not just to the other characters sharing space with her, but with you as reader sharing that space with her. In my mind, this book is one of the prime examples of why Stephen King is a tremendous influence on my own works. Here is a guy who tries to break down the barriers between storyteller and reader. Here is a guy who wants to break down as many barriers and obstacles as possible so that you can get ushered directly into the story as effortlessly as possible.

Of course whether the reader wants to get up close and personal with the story and its characters can be debatable or chatted about--but the best stories and storytellers are those that make us want to dive right in and never leave unless we absolutely have to.

When I evaluate my own works, I sometimes realize that my stories may be such that the reader may feel compelled to step back, close the book for a while, or even shy away from it out of fear. As a horror writer, my business should be to scare and terrify the reader--but not to the point that they don't even want to come to the resolution of the story or see what the characters do to face their fears and terrors.

I often take the attitude where the reader is asked to be brave, patient, and resilient. I do see that I ask a lot of my readers. But I do feel I offer them a lot for their efforts. I offer to entertain them, draw them out of their mundane world into some sort of escape or thrilling adventure. For as long as I hold the reader captive, I have entered into a sort of contract where I am bound to make such captivity worth the price of their admission and the cost of the book at least. I offer to show them things they might not see. I encourage them to feel things that will make them stronger, better people perhaps--which I know sounds arrogant or something like a rather ambitious tall order on my part. But why not try and create works that can resonate and improve the human character? Why not propose a look at morality and life through fiction?

Does fiction always have to be for entertainment purposes only? Could it not teach us something of ourselves and each other? I know it can. And I know that fiction can be taken seriously as well as lightly. Things are more interesting for me anyway if my stories have a serious edge to them--a strong sense that there is something very real underneath all the fiction.

For me, Stephen King is one of those authors that has some of that same attitude, in my opinion. It is really no wonder that a lot of my books seems to have a similar feel to those by Stephen King.