Tag Archives: stephen king

About This Writing Stuff…

This week, Kristen Lamb asks, “Would you STILL write even if I told you you’d never make a dime and likely die in obscurity?” Something to ponder as you embark on your writing journey.

Christina Delay explains how to clear our creative “ley lines” when we’re feeling blocked while Anne R. Allen encourages us to create (or resurrect) a blog rather than relying on the train wreck that is social media.

James Scott Bell helps us avoid sinkholes in our plot, Dave King speaks out in defense of the prologue, and Oren Ashkenazi points out typical mistakes when writing fight scenes—both with and without weapons.

All that and much more! Enjoy…

The Prologue is Past? by Dave King

Finding Those Laser Beam Words by PJ Parrish

To the Pain: Is Writing a Career or a Hobby? by Kristen Lamb

Three Things That Can Sink Your Novel by James Scott Bell

Creativity: Avoiding Blocks and Refreshing Ideas by Christina Delay via Jami Gold

Five Common Weapon Mistakes in Speculative Fiction by Oren Ashkenazi

Six Common Mistakes in Fight Scenes and How to Avoid Them by Oren Ashkenazi

7 Tips from Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction by Open Culture

Stephen King’s 20 Rules for Writing by Open Culture

Blogging is Essential in the Era of Fragmenting Social Media by Anne R. Allen

Honey, I Shrunk the Plot! Learning to Love Synopses by Diana Giovinazzo

The Art of Misdirection: How to Keep Readers on Their Toes by Maggie Smith

TikTok to Sell Books Directly to Users via Marketplace by Arwa Mahdawi

BookBub Ads 101: How the Auction Model Works by AJ Jack

Book Review: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

The Colorado Kid by Stephen KingOn Moose-Lookit Island off the coast of Maine, a reporter from The Boston Globe fails in his attempt to elicit any undocumented tales of the bizarre from Vince Teague and Dave Bowie, owners and editors of The Weekly Islander newspaper. This later sparks a conversation between the two elderly men and their lovely young intern, Stephanie McCann.

After recounting all of the local, tired chestnuts—including among others the mass poisoning of attendees at a church picnic, the appearance of a ship with a dead man on deck and the rest of the crew missing—Vince and Dave regale “Steffi” with the mystery of the Colorado Kid.

In 1981, two high school students discovered the body of an unidentified middle-aged man on Hammock Beach. After a brief in situ examination by the coroner, a piece of meat was found lodged in the man’s throat. It was then concluded that he merely choked to death.

Yet, other clues left Vince to wonder if the cause of death was truly that simple. His overwhelming curiosity prompts him and Dave Bowie to begin an investigation, aided by an unexpected phone call almost two years later from former forensics student Paul Devane, who had helped collect evidence on the day the dead man was found.

Devane’s recollection lead Vince and Dave to uncover John Doe’s identity—but also served to evoke more questions than answers as to what motivated the Colorado Kid to travel halfway across the country on an apparent whim to a remote island town in Maine…

I picked up a paperback copy of The Colorado Kid from a used book dealer at one of the many SF conventions I attend each year. I might have passed it over had it not been for the spectacular television series, Haven, which was loosely based on King’s novel but expanded the storyline in wildly different directions. The only common characters between novel and series were Vince and Dave, though in Haven, the two were written as brothers and the actors (Richard Donat and John Dunsworth, respectively) did not at all correspond to Stephen King’s original description. Police chief Wuornos is briefly mentioned in the novel, but was a main character in the first season of Haven and portrayed by Nicholas Campbell.

Thanks to the show, I was curious about the novel. I finally got around to reading it this past week. While the writing is not particularly sophisticated, the story is a quick and delightfully lighthearted read, told from the point of view of the intern, Steffi, who makes several deductions of her own as she absorbs the tale of the Colorado Kid imparted by the two ancient news hounds.