The Gunslinger Followed

Me: Did you start that book yet?

Ben: I finished chapter I.

Ben: I expect to be done before the next ice age.

Ben: At the very latest.

Me: No good?

Ben: No I liked it so far.

Ben: From reading one chapter I can already definitely tell what Gabrielle means when she says that he over-describes things.

Ben: Honestly, my biggest obstacle is that I have this tendency to absorb the writing styles of any author who I read extensively and I'm not sure how reading Stephen King will affect my ability to write.

Ben: What I am trying to say is that I am for whatever reason somewhat uncomfortable at the idea that I may subconsciously channel Stephen King into my own writing.

Ben: Nanowrimo is next month, we can't have any of that shit.

Ben: I'd like to do it this month if I have still not found a job/am not too depressed at having not found a job.

Ben: But I'm a pantywaist milquetoast so I probably won't.

Me: But anyway, there are worse writers you could assimilate than Stephen King.

Ben: True.

Ben: Shakespeare.

Me: Even his books that I dislike I would hesitate to call horrible, because his writing style is anything but.

Ben: Have you not read the foreword in any of his books?

Me: The Gunslinger and The Stand.

Ben: Oh okay.

Ben: So you are aware that he wrote the first book when he was 19 and today, hundreds of years in the future, he does not hold a high opinion of it.

Ben: Although I know you said you thought it was the best book.

Me: Pretty sure he didn't actually write it when he was 19.

Me: Maybe that's when he started percolating the idea.

Ben: He's been percolating it from birth. It is the culmination of his artistic career.

Ben: His opus.

Me: Okay whatever.

Me: Anyway that's why he revised it.

Me: I haven't read the original version.

Ben: How far are you in IT?

Me: ~300 pages.

Ben: What %?

Me: 25%-ish.

Me: More than that, I think the book's like 1090 pages.

Ben: Maybe you will discover that IT is inextricably intertwined with DARTOWER.

Me: I already know it is, it has the little rose/keyhole symbol on the back.

Me: Plus there have already been a couple of references I've noticed.

Me: I know for a fact that no DARTOWER characters appear in it though so I didn't include it on your reading list.

Ben: What is the rose keyhole indicative of?

Me: I think that comes up in book three.

Me: It's just a little icon one publishing company put on one edition of his books that are most closely connected to the DT books.

Me: Anyway what do you mean about him over-describing things?

Ben: I will give you an instance.

Me: You are not folding, mutilating, and spindling these books too much are you?

Ben: I've already placed them in more orifices than you can count.

Ben: "Below the waterbag were his guns, finely weighted to his hand. The two belts crisscrossed above his crotch. The holsters were oiled too deeply for even this Philistine sun to crack. The stocks of the guns were sandalwood, yellow and finely grained. The holsters were tied down with rawhide cord, and they swung heavily against his hips. The brass casings of the cartridges looped into the gun belts twinkled and flashed and heliographed in the sun. The leather made subtle creaking noises. The guns themselves made no noise. They had spilled blood. There was no need to make noise in the sterility of the desert. His clothes were the no color of rain or dust. His shirt was open at the throat, with a rawhide thong dangling loosely in handpunched eyelets. His pants were seamstretched dungarees."

Me: Isn't that just a paragraph describing the physical appearance of the main character?

Ben: Yes, but it reads like an itemized list. I've never known any other author to leave so little to the imagination regarding the appearance of his main character. Also I am not bashing Stephen King, I am merely telling you that I understand where Gabrielle is coming from.

Ben: The first chapter actually reminds me of Dune, which is good.

Ben: It doesn't remind me of the first chapter of Dune or anything, it just has a similar flavor to the overall setting.

Me: The apotheosis of all deserts.

Ben: I confess I'm not sure I really grasp the notion of this desert that is hard earth covered with a fine layer of sand.

Me: DUNE

Me: ARRAKIS

Me: DESERT PLANET

Me: You can't use just one name, you have to say all three each time.

Ben: I do, actually.

Ben: Not even joking.

Ben: But not when I'm actually trying to make a point.

Ben: Only in casual conversation.

Me: Why did Brandon make us watch that terrible movie?

Ben: It was hilarious.

Ben: Remember when Patrick Stewart turned on his Tron belt?

Me: My name is a killing word.

Me: I'VE GOT YOUR GOM JABBAR.

Ben: There's no line like that

Ben: in any work of fiction or nonfiction.

Me: So what do you think of The Gunslinger so far?

Ben: I am liking the setting.

Ben: It is appropriately mysterious.

Ben: Don't know how I feel about the opening line, clearly I'm not crazy about it but it's not terrible.

Ben: I suppose it depends on how important this man in black is supposed to be.

Ben: (I am guessing he will be important.)

Me: Why did you focus on the opening line at all?

Ben: Because it was somewhat unimpressive for the opening line to what was intended to be the longest fantasy epic in history.

Me: Stephen King loves the shit out of that line.

Ben: Hahaha.

Ben: Does he keep using it?

Me: It is referred back to a couple times.

Ben: I'm not saying it couldn't grow on me, or that it's an inappropriate line to repeatedly reference, just if I was a new reader with no prior knowledge of Stephen King I would not be ultra-hooked by the opening line (but the first chapter itself is alluring enough).

Me: I think it's a great hook.

Me: It's what Kirk would call an "attack sentence."

Ben: Haha.

Ben: Tell me what an attack sentence

Ben: is.

Me: I don't know if he ever defined it, but from context clues I guess it's basically an opening sentence that not only hooks your attention but also immediately plunges you into the action and evokes some kind of emotional response.

Ben: Is it the best kind of opening sentence or is there a spectrum?

Me: I don't know.

Ben: Okay well are there any other notable varieties of opening sentence?

Me: I'm sure there must be but I don't know any.