You'll Float Too, Jenkins

I've never read a Stephen King book.
I know.
I know.
I've seen a bunch of the movies. But I've never read his books.

Maybe I've avoided them because I've always been told that King is really long winded and rambling, and my attention span isn't that great. But now, ever since I discovered audio books, my gnat-like attention span isn't really an issue.

Currently I'm listening to IT. It's interesting. Stephen King is as long winded as advertised. If I was reading it myself I'd have given up. But having it read to me by a narrator who seems to think this is an audio-drama (seriously, Steven Weber is a stellar narrator) makes it tolerable.

The funny thing about being a writer, or just a critical reader, is when you read/listen to other stories you also look at it technically. I notice things now that I wouldn't have 10 or even 5 years ago because I wasn't looking for them. But, now that I'm on the look out for literary faux pas and taboos in my own work, I look for them in the work of others too. For instance, I noticed Stephen King's perspective wanders from time to time. So far every chapter has centered around 1 particular character, and we are always inside their head. But, every so often, we drift into someone else's head and see their thoughts. Maybe just for a line or two. But it happens.

When it first happened, I was elated. "Ha! Stephen King wanders too! Stephen fucking King has wandering perspective too! And he's as professional as they come!"

Now, I'm not pointing  this out to rag on King. I'm pointing this out because, shit like wandering perspective and over use of adverbs and all that, happen. They happen. And the fact that they happen isn't wrong or bad. It's how they're handled that matters. And King handles these things well. But, then again, IT is his 22nd novel or something like that.

Part of me would love to get my hands on some original manuscripts or first novels of some famous authors just to see how they started out. Did they commit rookie errors in their writing like over use "that", or use excessive adverbs? Were the things they handle so expertly now, sloppy and jarring back then? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not.

On an unrelated point, I tried my first macaron today. ...I thought they'd be crunchy.

They're not.