The genre of fiction which have influenced me the most is drama. Most notable are the works of Stephen King. His depiction of events is natural, and his characterization makes the story feel almost real. Maybe that is why film directors try to make Kings stories come to life, to make them real. King writes dialogue in short and concise precision, which feels effective. It is this kind of method that inspires me to do the same.
As an aspiring writer what I would like to take from the fiction genre specifically from Stephen King's way of writing is his method of describing an event and how he uses that to create tension. For example, in his novel 'Misery', Stephen King opens the narrative with a description of the sound of the wind. We hear this sound from the protagonist's perspective. King's decision to open with this description is brilliant because it creates tension in the reader's mind. It piques the reader's interest and spawns a question: what happens next?
Another thing I love about is his characterization of the antagonist. In the case of 'Misery', It is Annie Wilkes. Stephen gave her all the characteristics an antagonist needs. Bad mouth, socially awkward, and emotionally unstable. King also balances out the negativity with an emotional arc. Or the reason for her being this way. A Freudian solution that makes the reader go, "Ah, that is why she behaves this way". King's method of infusing character arc is worth learning.
It is not the only thing I have learned while reading 'Misery', another thing that launched my interest in Zenith is his method which I call the 'Scheherazade technique'. We have all read or heard the story about Baghdad prince Shahriar who decides to invite a girl for a night and asks her to keep him awake all night, If she fails to do so he then will murder her the next day. Young girls started to die in Baghdad in an alarming number. People in the city panicked and decided to migrate to another city with their daughters. One girl thought differently. She decided to try her luck and go to the castle of Shahriar. This is Scheherazade. The daughter of a minister of Baghdad. We all know the rest of the story. How there is a similarity between The protagonist and Scheherazade? The similarity is in the story within a story structure. The tale Scheherazade tells to the prince cumulates to 'Arabian Nights' and The protagonist's rewriting of his novel (against his wish) creates another story. The story of Misery, a women who must decide between her husband who has returned from the dead and a man who is a friend of her husband. We leave the dilemma as it is not the topic of our discussion but focus on why this "story within a story" is so effective. In my opinion, I believe, it keeps the reader engaged. When the reader reaches the top of tension and is about to drop from that place, the author then starts from the next story. This technique is notably used by Christopher Nolan to keep his audience hooked and at the edge of their seat.
Just as a story needs a dramatic beginning it also needs a dramatic ending. In the case of 'Misery', we find the protagonist out of the lair of Annie, and his desire to get out of a long-gestating novel series is finally fulfilled. But as a marksman of great writer King does not forget to give an ominous ending where a thought will linger in the reader's mind. Why King did do it? Because a tense event always leaves a lingering effect.
As a writer the outcome that I love to take after reading King's Misery' is, to begin with, a dramatic description, give a character its depth by giving it a character arc, apply a story structure that keeps the reader retention, and finally ending that story just the way it began, dramatically.