This is a horror novel, but nothing in this opening is designed to scare you. There was a red carnation in the lapel, perhaps so that no one on the street would mistake Stuart Ullman for the local undertaker. To the hired help it spoke more curtly: This had better be good, you. I am a man you can bring your problems to, that suit said to the paying customer. The part in his hair was exact, and his dark suit was sober but comforting. Ullman stood five-five, and when he moved, it was with the prissy speed that seems to be the exclusive domain of all small plump men. Jack Torrance thought: Officious little prick. Stephen King’s opening few lines does something different: Sometimes they’ll start off by describing the setting, or by showing us a moment in the future before cutting back to the past. Sometimes the writer will try to hook the reader in with action, by throwing the reader into a life-or-death situation straight off the bat. (“When it happened, I knew there’d be no turning back.”) The writer will often bend over backwards to try to create a feeling of suspense, usually by using vague pronouns. One of the most common issues I see in manuscripts is an opening sentence or opening paragraph that is trying too hard to impress.

Within just the first few sentences of The Shining, you can find a lot to learn about how to write compelling fiction, and how to hook readers in. He’s often criticized for having unsatisfying endings, but I have yet to see anyone claim his beginnings aren’t immediately compelling.

It’s because the guy knows how to hook you in. How did he achieve this level of widespread acclaim? It’s not just his knack for creating memorable characters or his ability to scare you. For the last thirty years, his name has taken up more space on his covers than the actual title of each book, because people love him so much they’ll read anything with his name on it. Stephen King isn’t the most respected writer in the world - his work is often dismissed by literary types - but he is undeniably successful. First edition cover for The Shining, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1977.Īs a freelance book editor who specializes in horror, science fiction and fantasy, I’m often tempted to tell some clients after reading a rough manuscript, “Just read some Stephen King and study how he writes.”

The shining book