Even the greatest have to start from somewhere and Stephen King is no exception. King tells us a story about how his foot got wedged into the door of author stardom at a young age. The diction used by King is absurdly wonderful; King describes his childhood definition of words such as draft, details, and bitch. His ability to convey a funny yet relate-able story of his youth doesn't fail to impress. He is able to bring us into the mind of his elementary school self and creates punchline-like sentences. King reminisces: "I remember believing that details [meant] dentals and that a bitch was an extremely tall woman. A son of a bitch was apt to be a basketball player." King effectively goes from telling a story of the past to being back in his grade 1-self shoes from one sentence to the other. King comments, "When you're six, most of your Bingo balls are still floating around in the draw-tank", granting him a chuckle from myself due to this witty remark. King uses font settings effectively, illuminating his main points with italics. His passive tone gives the article a matter-of-fact voice which makes his message quirky and interesting. Throughout the article, King leaves well-placed trails of information that tell his family's tale with lines such as: "They were all still married, after all; their men had stuck." and "Ruth, on the other hand, had been left holding the baby when Don ran out. She wanted them to see that he was a talented baby, at least." Although it is clear that in these quotes King is referring to his father running out on him and his family, he does not shove these facts into the face of the reader but instead lets the reader take it in gentle doses, creating greater depth and impact. For instance the first paragraph reads: "That year my brother David jumped ahead to the fourth grade and I was pulled out of school entirely" which relays the visual image of a) he and his older brother are children at this point in the story and b) he did not have a father for very long at all, leading the reader to put two and two together and visualize the emotional struggle of a single mother raising two young children. This piece by Stephen King tells us novels have always been a fixation of his and that writing can start unlocking the "closed doors" in the "vast building" of imagination. As a best-selling author of countless novels and having a monstrous amount of awards and nominations under his belt, Stephen King is definitely one writing soul that should not and cannot be ignored.
