...which probably isn't that surprising.
Warning: this post contains discussions of drugs and addiction, and brief references to one of the most notorious scenes in IT (the child sex scene.)
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Stephen King
- or so the meme goes -
did not write Stephen King's IT
- he co-wrote it, alongside IT's primary author:
Cocaine.
And before I read IT, I figured that the meme was because of the sewer clown - because, well, sewer clown.
Now I know differently.
There is no way that a 100% sober person could have written this book. No. Freaking. Way.
(...and King was, notoriously, addicted to both alcohol and cocaine in the 80s when this book was written, so it doesn't take a genius to put those pieces together.)
The format is, to be blunt, f**ked up.
We have dream sequences... inside flashbacks... inside reminiscences.
...That's the kind of multi-layered tangent-based sh**tery we're dealing with. All the way through.
And at the end, the two primary timelines (because, yes, there are subsidiary timelines - many, subsidiary timelines,) practically melt into each other.
More than once I got confused over which one I was reading - the two timelines literally finish each other's sentences. I cannot stress enough how much I am NOT being metaphorical here.
And yet... it works? Somehow?
This thing is over a thousand pages of twisting drug-induced brain-tracks, and somehow... you just keep reading.
Even when we end up with a backstory for the backstory for the backstory, it just keeps pulling you along...
I mean... the structure is far from the only weird thing, of course.
The content is, in some places... more than notorious.
And in other places... I can only describe it as metaphysically bat-poop.
It makes me wonder about the editing, to be honest.
If the child orgy (I sh** you not,) got through the edits, and the structure is still... however you'd describe this... then what tha actual eff happened in the editing phase?!
The way I see it, there's two options:
Option 1 - This is actually a highly-edited version of IT, and the original was both barely legible and somehow even more batpoop.
In this scenario, any editors involved would require a nice big bonus and the eternal gratitude of literature in general. Maybe give them the Nobel Prize, even, cos they've sure as hell earned it.
OR...
Option 2 - The editor took one look at it, said some variation of 'Hell no! F**k this sh**, I'm out,' and point-blank refused to do anything except correct spelling and grammar.
...I personally feel like the second is the most likely, but who knows?
Regardless, it does give a lesson for the rest of us not-so-famous writers.
(No, I don't mean you should do drugs. DRUGS ARE BAD, M'K?)
The lesson is this: you can experiment with your writing.
You can play around with format, you can make the structure utterly bonkers, you can add some metaphysical b*llsh** about a turtle and a spider's tongue...
...Who knows? Maybe you'll create a masterpiece. Just don't let Cocaine write it.
The next Nerd Church will be posted on 5th October 2025 - hope to see you there!
"Who knows? Maybe you'll create a masterpiece. Just don't let Cocaine write it."
ReplyDelete😂
"You can play around with format, you can make the structure utterly bonkers, you can add some metaphysical b*llsh** about a turtle and a spider's tongue..."
...and here I was expecting a "but maybe leave child orgies out" 😅. Which, I mean, probably your Option 2 is exactly what happened...
I've never read this book and the "thing" above is the main reason why...I have enough of a hard time when there's adult sex in books. That kind of stuff wouldn't have flown nowadays, that's for sure...
It was surprisingly well-done, as in: brief, tender and (thank God) NOT involving a mix of kids and adults, but... yeah. Objectively, those words should never appear together, and that kind of scene should never appear at all!
Delete'...and here I was expecting a [...]' - I was trying to limit the amount of times I said that phrase for SEO (and grossed out,) purposes, lol.
That particular scene only appears when you're 900-1k-ish pages in, and only takes a page or two, so you could skip it if you really wanted to - totally understand if you don't wanna chance it though! I think I was expecting it to be worse than it was - so I was relieved when it wasn't, y'know? There's some other stuff that refs. and/or threatens child SA pretty heavily, and some teens fooling around at one point, but The Scene is mercifully brief!
Generally, I think if you're gonna read IT, you need to be prepared for it to be dark AF!
And yeah, I reckon Option 2 for editing - that's what I would've done! ;)