Edwin Fritz, who was the first to comment on our introductory column, saying he “couldn’t wait” for a write-up on The Long Walk. Yes, I do believe there’s wisdom and life lessons to be found in the works of Stephen King. So to answer the horror film actress’s question: Yes. It is in the reflection of their choices that we often find ourselves stopping to reflect on our own. It is because of King’s immense talent for portraying humanity (particularly that of modern day American culture) that it is so easy to not only relate to his characters, but to learn from them. By the very nature of the medium, the characters have the potential to be less black and white, more multi-dimensional, more human, more like us. In King’s novels, his characters live, breathe and have souls of their own – not merely the soul of the actor or actress adapting it. A 90-minute movie can’t touch the characterization King provides us with in hundreds (sometimes thousands) of pages. This is perhaps one of the biggest differences between reading a Stephen King story, and watching a film based on it. More than writing about horror, he writes about people – and he writes about people in a way that is so brutally honest, we see ourselves in his characters. Stephen King is a supremely talented writer. So what makes Stephen King different? What makes his stories rich with the stuff Sunday schools are made of?įor me, the answer is: Talent. Okay I’ll admit, I’m the kind of person who can find spiritual wisdom and life lessons in the pages of Penthouse just as easily as a church pew. When asked, the first thing that springs to my mind is self-doubt: What if I’m wrong? What if there really is nothing spiritual about Stephen King’s stories and I’m just grasping at straws here? What if I’ve doomed myself to write a monthly column about… nothing? The writer’s worst nightmare. It’s not the first time I have been asked the question since starting this column three short months ago, and I’m always somewhat alarmed by it. The question was served cold with a heaping side of skepticism, and it took me slightly off guard. I was having brunch with a friend of mine on a recent Sunday, a horror film actress in fact, who asked: Do you really think there’s anything spiritual about Stephen King’s books?
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