 So you guys we have two mics. Where are they? Yes, see the see the men in yellow so we only have time for I'm just making a devil use. I'm doing shit man freakin when Stephen King does it. It's kind of scary So we have time for like a half an hour of conversation with the man So go up to the mic ask a question, but we only have time for probably seven eight nine questions So probably no more than about 45 of these should go up. No five six seven eight nine of you go up there Go ahead. I'll try to keep the answer short and then maybe we'll get a few more ask him only yes and no questions You did Good evening, Stephen. How are you? I'm fine. I'm to your right I'm Adam and it's a pleasure to meet you a little a little closer. Is that your glasses, maybe? Wave jump up and down. Okay. I got you. I got you man. Go ahead So In all these page turners, there's still a lot of poetry How do you find you? Thank you How do you find the balance and how can you tell when the the vocabulary is getting a little too onanistic? He did meaning onan being the fellow who was cursed for spilling a seed on the ground, but I spilled mine on paper So I'm okay No, I don't I don't that would make for a very messy book Let's not go there anymore. Look the only thing you can do is you use your best judgment, you know And I want to tell stories, but I love the language. I always have I fell in love with with books With novels when I was a young guy and I fell in love with poetry when I was in college people like Richard Wilbur Hart Crane Ezra Pound TS Eliot all these guys the quality of the language being like something that you could eat with a spoon and I don't aspire to be lyrical. I don't want to do that, but I want to write as well as I possibly can I don't want to get diarrhea of the mouth. I want to keep the story Rolling, but I want to do it as elegantly as I can. I think that readers sort of expect that so The and then when the thing is done you give it to people and Particularly an editor and one of the things I'm asked sometimes about editing The more successful that you get the more important it is to listen to an editor who won't let you hang yourself in Times Square So I try to do that and I remember what Hemingway said you must kill your darlings Well, that seems a little bit harsh. I'm not able to kill all my darlings But I do some next Hi Honey, I'm talking to Stephen King How old are you? I'm 11 years old. Yeah, baby. It's good You go with your bad self. What's your question? What was one of your like best writing moments when you had your Best idea and it just came to you and what a great question that is There have been a lot of times, you know the thing is I'm so lucky to be able to do this because you know the thing is like There are certain people in life Where everybody else says we have to grow up you stay a kid and play in the playground You'll be our designated playground person and you go play and will enjoy What it is that you do the the best idea? in some ways this is terrible to say but I was in Boulder, Colorado and I was driving on the Boulder Denver Cut-Off Route 36 and I was listening to a radio station in our Vada. It was one of these Bible shouters I love those guys. No, I do seriously love those guys. I love the cadence of them You know the sort it's a beautiful thing and this guy was talking about some Old Testament book And he's saying once in every generation the plague shall fall among them and we were living near You know a chemical warfare dump in that area and there was a lot of talk about it And I thought what if there was a plague and it killed just about everybody and there were only a few people left I thought to myself I'm gonna write that and that was just such a blast and it turned into the stand Good What's your name? Vaughn supple. Here's the Vaughn supple. Let's do that. Mike. Yes. Hi My name is Eileen and I came in from Chicago to see you today My question is I know home of Barack Obama, that's correct Well, it's also home in Chicago cuz I I Admire your creativity and everything that you write and I Was wondering if you'd ever consider expanding that creativity into something Useful I was thinking more of an event like a Halloween event. We were at Universal Studios horror nights Oh, I see. Yeah, and we always ask them How come you ever get Stephen King to come here and do something create something? There and they said well, we've tried and I said if I ever get the chance. I'll ask them. Why won't he do it? They wouldn't want to write I created Because there would be no repeat customer Yeah, hi, my name is Ben Bolger and I appreciate you coming to UMass Lowell to speak today I was wondering if you could reflect on when you were a student at the University of Maine and What you learned both in your classes and what you learned from writing for the student newspaper And how that shaped the development of you as a writer Well, if you go if you want to be a writer You really only have to do two things You have to read a lot and you have to write a lot and you have to continue to get buzzed By what you're doing, you know, you have to continue to feel good about it Yeah, well most writers do get buzzed, but I'm talking about a natural Hey, listen, I didn't say it you did But the thing is you have to really like what you're doing and You know, I remember when my son Owen who has his first novel coming out next year is terrific I'm very fortunate. I have three kids. My daughter is a minister and both my sons are novelists And they both have novels coming out next spring My son my son Joe has a book called Nosferatu he writes is Joe Hill and Owen has a book called double feature which is so funny that it's just illegal But in any case when Owen was a when Owen was a little guy he was this little round guy and he was a bigger than his age group and everything and He felt kind of stupid and the person that he fixated on was Clarence Clemens from the East Street band because Yeah, because because Clarence was the big man, you know And and he he blew the sax and he was cool and and Owen wanted to be like Clarence And he said can I learn the sax and we were delighted because our other kids, you know Had the musical abilities of bookends So we were glad when Owen wanted to learn the sax and Owen was very good And he practiced the sax and everything but it was clear after a year or so that he just wasn't getting a buzz out of it and so you know He stopped and he found something that he did get a buzz out of and that was writing that was kind of like the family business So you have to like it the thing about college and the college writing classes I mean they can fuck you up as bad as they can make things for you, you know, okay? Because because it's all subjective and sometimes you get bad advice on good work And sometimes you get you know good feedback on bad work But the thing is man the good thing about it and the thing that makes it worthwhile is that people take this job Seriously, and so often when you get out there in life people say you want to be a writer There's no money in that Jesus unless you want to write green cards that might work So I think that it college is an important place because it gives you a chance to grow And people take seriously what you want to do college is great because You know, maybe there's a tuition cost, but the dreams are free, and that's a good day First off mr. King, I would like to say thank you to you for all the pleasure you have given me over these years Yeah, oh my goodness all I can say is I'm glad it was good for you because It was great for me But I had racked my brains for months because this is a gift for my kids for my birthday for the question I was going to ask you and It didn't come to me until tonight when you were telling the story of when you sold your rights To carry and you fell on the floor knowing that you had that car that needed the repair My question is Did you repair the car or did you buy a new one? We bought a Ford pinto But you know what hey listen we love that fucking car it was brand new It was brand new it had that smell You know that new car smell and we've been driving all this junk, you know Listen one of the first times that I ever dated my wife back in the old you all those years ago I'm driving around in this station wagon that I got from my brother And we went over a bump and the goddamn gas tank fell off right off in the middle of the street and There were some guys playing Legion baseball and they they were just totally, you know drunk on their asses But they came over and they wired up my gas station That's how we roll but that car was so good. That's like the best car birthday mama. What's your name? Happy birthday. Happy birthday My name's Diane Yep, three of my favorite things are reading the Red Sox and one of the best authors I've ever had the pleasure and privilege of reading Stephen King. I happen to have a picture here of all three Which is a very young Stephen King leaning against the wall of a vomitorium in Fenway Park Reading a book. I'm wondering if you remember what book you were reading in this picture Hand it down here and it down here We're gonna see that you get it back. Okay. That's a great picture. I think it's friends of Eddie coil The friends of Eddie coil George Wicked snot. Well, that's really weird because my name's Diane too so weird Obviously your writing is amazing and I think is awesome and I brainstormed a million questions I could ask you your writing But I can't stand here and not ask you a question about the Red Sox So if you were the manager or the general manager of the Red Sox, would you have re-signed David Ortiz? Poppy Not re-signed Poppy you'd be insane not to resign No, no, no, no Trade Poppy and keep John Lackey, right? No, of course keep Poppy and if I can just be serious for a minute about the Red Sox I think the smartest thing a lot of people have asked me just lately like I know anything, you know What I think about the moves that the Red Sox have made and I really think that from a The standpoint of the management and the ownership saying I want to make amends to the fans for the really terrible season last year Resigning David Ortiz was the smartest thing they could have done because he's a goodwill ambassador You know, not just to the baseball world, but to Red Sox nation So I first have to say I thank you to my brother. He wanted me to say a good hello to Stephen King He's covering my shift tonight, so that I was able to be here With my pregnant fiance who now and you also want to thank your cinematographer Literary buzz as the theme has kind of been tonight. My question is We've been writing pretty hard for the last few months and had a lot of Odd things happen. I know you've spoken about Writing his magic and had a lot of malevolent almost forces trying to stop you from completing certain certain things So I'm just wondering if there's anything you can share here with us that's happened While collaborating either with someone or on your own almost I can't think of the right word There might just have to make one up, but like a hallucinogenic almost like seeing red for Something like that like a dick like experience fill up dick anything like that's happened to you. No I mean, I'm not putting you down or anything, but no, how do you follow that? I'm up from Pennsylvania nine-hour trip on the road today. I'm sorry. I missed the first 35 minutes of the talk My power went out for three days when we had that huge hurricane a couple of weeks ago and I read 11 22 63 By candlelight for three days and it took me away from everything that we were suffering from to 1958 to 1963 I thought that the Female teacher Sadie baby, that's how love is you forget her name right away I loved her so much as a creation of yours. She was just the most incredible Female fictional character that I gosh don't stop okay My question is did you set out do you set out at the beginning of the book saying I'm gonna write an awesome female character in this book or I'm going to Make the best child Paranormal child that I've ever No, I never do anything like that I set out to tell a story and to try to make the characters as believable as I can and With a you know, it's with a case of Jake and Sadie I tried to write a love story that would be kind of like the way that People got together in the 50s with their feelings that conflicted feelings about sex and and I just wanted to pour as much Love into that relationship as I possibly could Without again, you know, this goes back to the first question about the language that you use and you know I didn't want it to turn into a romance novel I wanted to write something as true as I could about love and it's such a Line to walk between what's true and in your heart and The sentimental and the mockish and that sort of thing and I just wanted to make it as real as I could and what I wanted What you always want is for reader identification So that so that the people the guys who read that book will say I would love to have a girlfriend like that I would love to be in love that way and have the women say I'd love to meet a man like that And if you succeed on that level I think that it's it's really good because I'm as much of a sucker for a love story Particularly if it's a little bit of a star-cross love story as anybody else. I got this reputation as a Horror writer and everything, but I really got a marshmallow for a heart Hi, Stephen. My name is Maeve. I'm you know, how you doing? I Grew up way out in Wyoming and I actually moved out here to go to go to graduate school in Boston It was a big move for me But I actually felt comfortable moving to New England because I'd read all of your books and I knew that it was okay in New England I figured if Stephen King lives out here and everyone likes it out here that it was okay to move this way It's literally why I felt okay moving to Boston to come to school. So I did it and I still live here Yeah, I'm a New England ambassador come up and get sucked by vampires I Do have a question I am I first read my first book of yours when I was 11. I read it and Scared the hell out of me scared the hell out of my little brother terrified my family that I was reading it and then I read the rest of your stuff and But I felt a real connection to your young characters And I noticed in all of your books that there's often a young character. That's a protagonist That's a 11 12 13 year old kid that takes charge and and leads through the book And is the one that that solves the solves the mystery or takes charge and you know finds the talisman and brings it back And solves the saves the day. I've just I've always wondered what it is About kids that you write so well and what is it draws you to writing them as your protagonists in your stories? Well with it my kids were about that age when I wrote that book and again, you know, they're the best Subjects for observation that you can possibly have you know, I I watched them. I saw how they operated in the world I checked out their friends Never in an intrusive way. I hope but to try to be you know sort of supportive and To listen to the talk that to me that's like one of the most important things is to listen to how People talk and the other thing is that I had noticed as a Reader that while there were books that were written for the so-called YA Audience young adult audience and there were books written for kids and those books were about kids There were damn few books that were written for grown-ups about kids, but why not? I mean that's a valid part of our life It's the launching pad for everything else and what I really wanted to do with it was to write about how kids have a wider Bandwidth when it comes to perception and belief and and the ability to accept Things and how when we become grown-ups that field of vision starts to change and and close down a little bit and so what I really wanted to do and it was to try to create a bridge fictional and and make believe and scary But childhood is a scary time and I wanted to give adult readers a chance to Relive those years as much as possible. So that's what I did and I'm fascinated by kids by children I think that it's a fantastic time of life And I'm starting to sound like Michael Jackson. So I'd better shut up Work is is this universal quality you always see compassion for for kids and people who are hurting old people People no one else pays attention to or looks at and I really love that about Steven's work It's compassion for people that no one else pays attention to I mean it brother This your turn we're gonna do two more one from you and whoever fights for the mic over there Don't fight don't fight Hello, my name is Jeffrey and I'm a huge fan and I can't believe I'm talking to you Oh, man, and I was wondering if you've ever been writing and you just like terrified yourself If I've terrified myself yes, and where all your characters go when you try to fall asleep at night You know what I don't really have like bad dreams or anything because I pass all that shit on to you guys Terrific, and I love that but yes, I have scared myself. I wrote a book called Pet Cemetery I got pretty scared toward the end of that book kind of you know Oh boy, I was just some of the things it was very black and When I finished the book I actually put it in a drawer because I didn't think anybody would want to read anything Like that but they did so Fuck him. I don't mean I have the I have the greatest respect in the world for my fans, but the time that I scared myself the most I was writing The Shining and And and I had I it's like being it's like being fucking Leonard Skinner, you know play free bird That's totally elliptical, but never mind What I started to say is I was living in a house or rather I had rented a room in a house that was away from the kids And I could go there for three hours a day and I worked and it was peaceful It was in the flat irons, and I would work for three hours and go home, and then I realized that The young kid Danny Torrance was going to go up to this room 217 and that there was a dead woman in the bathtub. I wasn't really dead and I was working away happy as a lock and then one day I thought five days to room 217 and Then it was three days, and then it was one day and then it was I was in the room and that was a very very Brilliant scene in terms of what was going on in my head, and I was very scared when I wrote that scene I think that comes across We have one more question Make it a good one. Oh God, I don't know No Do you have a question? Do you have a question? I do have a question after her question, and I'm gonna walk you down All right Question Wow There's so many um good evening Hi Where do I begin? Do you carry a cell phone? I know you Know actually when I'm on a trip like this I have one, but I I left it behind tonight, and I don't know my cell phone number So you do because I've listened to you speak before and you said you'd never carry a cell phone, and that was the cell And you swore That it was evil Well, I don't I don't think they're evil, but I do think that there's something Creepy when you walk down the street. We talked about this And you see ten people and seven of them are like this Something little and think about it think about it Think about how they lower your IQ. What's the first thing anybody says? When they pick up the cell phone hey, where are you? You don't think that's funny man. I think But then maybe it's just sort of lost on me because I don't have a cell phone Listen, you guys have been great to me, and I really appreciate it Thank you We're gonna sign chairs right now We got something that we got to do we got to sign the chairs Yeah, that's right. Well before we do that. I know it's colder up in Maine than it is in Lowell So we wanted to present you with a token of our Man, wait a minute the price tags on it 55 And a UMass lowl Riverhawks hat nice Stephen because of your generosity We have raised over a hundred thousand dollars for scholarships for English students for you math Thank you and To Andre abuse if I know there are a lot of young people here who are thinking that who love reading who love writing They're thinking about where to go to a college or university Andre debuts the third is an example of the high quality that we have in our English department consider UMass Lowell Andre, thank you for bringing Stephen here Appreciate it. He rocked me. This happened. Can I can I just say one thing, too? We're gonna get a hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on We'll get it Marty me and this is his kickoff Event and is and is the Marty me and chancellor speaker series and this is his brainchild And I just want to give a toast to Marty me and all he's doing. This is great Thank you. Hey I gotta tell you one thing before we go the American Insurance Association says That you know any kind of a get public gathering like this 7% of the people who arrive in automobiles for get to lock their cars And I'm not the one who wanted to say or would say that there's a maniac out there but We know that such people do exist and I'm just suggesting that you check Your back seat because you wouldn't want to look in your Rear view mirror Stephen is going to sign the chairs, but we have the winning numbers But I can't read them so I have them enlarge to you, but I better sign the chair first And yeah, you know you're here with this one hold up. I signed a lot of shit, but this is my first chair So mr. King if you will put your John Hancock right here. That's our plan This is fun. Oh man. This is gonna look like somebody with a bad brain tumor My are we both signing both? Yeah, we're signing both. Let's go, baby Look out you get a rupture. Thank you to rupture God this is exciting to watch me sign a chair So we don't know how you're gonna get these home You got a truck good the winning number for the first chair is number one three three One five six That's my number three three one five six the second chair is one three three four seven nine Who do we got the winners should go to the raffle ticket location near the sales Conquerors right up there two winners I'll read them one more time One three three one five six one three three four seven nine by the way, we made five thousand dollars on the raffle for Thank you very much. That's good Last the last message is that the law bank pavilion is going to be open if you want to have something to eat or a drink We're gonna be open up here for a while. Thanks very much Stephen. Thanks again