How Stephen King Hooks His Readers

Stephen King has some "killer" openings (get it, cuz killer is like in a horror book haha right?) so I decided to revisit some of them, especially Misery, to try to figure out what makes them so effective.
twitter: / mancarrying

[@gregothy9190]

Perfect book video: not stretching for that 10 minutes, succinct, and interesting.

[@ManCarryingThing]

thank you! i figure keeping it short saves everyone some time, including mine when I edit, lol

[@Josh_R2.17]

"Sally." A mutter. "Wake up now, Sally."

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

Man Carrying Thing, Man Analyzing King, interesting video on the hooks in openings...

[@ManCarryingThing]

thanks jim :)

[@avanishdutta2658]

@@ManCarryingThing This sounds like rhyming.

[@AsherIsbrucker]

One thing I appreciate about you as a KZbinr is your versatility and that you don't shy away from doing both comedy and these kind of analysis/essay style videos, and you're great at both. You clearly just make what you want to make and that's inspiring. A lot of people would say stick to one "brand" but that's nonsense and you prove it. From a fellow KZbinr and recent Stephen King fan (The Stand is my fave)

[@ChunzBunz]

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. That is my favourite opening line from any book I've read. People call Stephen King a "horror writer" but I find him more or a character writer. He has me hooked right form the start

[@tiernanmcculloch]

Nothing wrong with being a horror writer and being a good writer too. They aren't mutually exclusive, the horror genre has a lot of talent, and I hate to see people discount it because they just think that horror is about being scared and not about good storytelling.

[@ChunzBunz]

@@tiernanmcculloch that's a better way to put it

[@LJW1912]

My favourite line in all of writing is 'The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel'

[@eckhartpedersen3972]

Agreed, I was randomly browsing books in a library, read that opening line and got hooked immediately! Absolutely amazing.

[@TheGeorgeD13]

Also SPOILERS for The Dark Tower Series: One of my favorite closing lines of any work of fiction ever.

[@CapturedInWords]

Man you deserve way more subscribers

[@ManCarryingThing]

This really made my day, thank you! Your channel is one of the reasons I decided to read the stormlight archive. Your content is immaculate, so thank you

[@heneedsomemilk655]

Misery is one of my all-time favorite books. That it takes place in a rural house with two people and manages to be so easy to read really speaks of King's ability to flesh out charactees and put you inside their heads.

[@TheDiabeticGameMaster]

I was lucky enough to get to see Misery put on as a play in this tiny little theater. It was one of the best experiences of my fucking life. I still think about it to this day. The way they did the hobbling scene... omg, pure mastery of the art of stagecraft. They cut the lights and had the actress carrying around this giant like mining torch. They placed it just so at several key points and of course, they went all the way and used prosthetics to simulate the act. It was WILD. I really didn't think they could do something like that on the stage but they proved me wrong. It just really made me wish I could get to see more good plays and that they weren't all boring musicals focused on telling the same boring story about some git becoming a broadway star. There is so much more we can do and so many more places that they can perform!

[@rodrigo3732]

0:17 this one is so genius. The entire book is right there in that sentence.

[@ManCarryingThing]

so simple and perfect, totally agree

[@antk8493]

​@@ManCarryingThing My favourite opening in all of literature

[@citizensguard3433]

Creative writing teachers: "Make sure you start with a hook. Make your first line--at the very least, your first paragraph--open with a bang to really catch the reader's attention." Stephen King (writing The Stand): *Page One* Sally A mutter.

[@citizensguard3433]

A lot of his "hooks" are like anti-hooks. They grab your attention because it's just a single word paragraph to start, or something really simple.

[@montagskyrunner5884]

A king analyzing King. I’m here for it.

[@bryanlassiter698]

Would buy a Stephen King audiobook with you reading it for sure

[@ManCarryingThing]

self confidence boosted x100. Thank you

[@stephenwalker2924]

@@ManCarryingThing Think about it seriously. You have the perfect voice for radio or audio reading, believe it.

[@Kira1Lawliet]

I think the most important key to creating a hook opening line of a book is making sure the opening line in some way encapsulates the main conflict of the book in a neat little package of promise. Something like "the man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed" is a very simple and even mundane line of prose, but it gives you a bite-sized nugget of what the entire story of the Dark Tower series ultimately revolves around once all the fat and complexity of the narrative is cut away. It tells you about the main characters and about their dynamic that will ultimately inform everything else that happens around them. Meanwhile, an opening line like "the terror, which would not end for another 28 years, if it ever did end, began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain" is a much wordier, much less concise line. But it tells you about the main problem of the story-"the terror"-the fact that the problem persisted for a very long time-"which would not end for another 28 years"-the narrator's lack of perfect knowledge about whether the terror is actually gone, which adds both to the mystery surrounding what this terror could be as well as emphasizing the narrator's limited field of knowledge from being just an ordinary person-"if it ever did end"-and finally, the central emotional conflict between the main character and Pennywise being foreshadowed in the form of a physical detail of the event (George's brother's death) that incited the long-running relationship and dynamic between George and Pennywise around which their conflict, and the broader narrative, revolves-"[it] began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain." This sentence tells us who our central characters are, what the dynamic between them will be like, and how that will inform the events of the narrative in a succinct yet vague and mysterious way. A great opening line will plant the seed that the rest of the book will spend time watering until it is fully matured into a stalk. Far too many writers think the key to a great hook is about throwing you headfirst into action or about throwing the most fantastical or sensationalistic thing they can imagine at you to get you to go "wow, that sounds cool, I wanna know more about this!" But in those cases, interest only lasts for the duration that those details remain relevant. In order to write an opening line that truly captivates the reader, you need to give them a line whose reflection can be seen in the rest of the story.

[@shelfenthusiast]

it's called cocaine

[@ManCarryingThing]

first comment did not come to play

[@omnikrator9711]

Haha funny :D Though in all honesty that wont help, i didn't write very good when i had a coke habit, in fact my writing and my ability to focus became loose.

[@Kickiusz]

@@omnikrator9711 hope you're doing better these days. Just wanted to drop in and say it.

[@geosustento8894]

​@@omnikrator9711 hi. Late to the party. But just wanna point out that Stephen King had a coke era. There were a bunch of books he wrote while high on coccaine. I believe The Tommyknockers and Cujo are examples

[@taylor3137]

Man Carrying Thing more Like Man Carrying King into my TBR list. Your videos have gotten me to go out and buy some of his books, if I get addicted just know that I will place all the blame onto you.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Hell yeah! That makes me so happy to hear. Enjoy the ride!

[@videoslv4626]

Yay!! It’s Man Analyzing King day!!!

[@nadiapandey-riverstone5120]

All hail Man Carrying King! All hail Man Carrying King! All hail Man Carrying King!!

[@absurdentropy]

I love these writing analysis videos! Also I see Lonesome Dove stitting in the corner there. My absolute favorite book.

[@jameshenry8388]

Although I don't place Misery at the top of my list of favourite King books, I must say, it is the most fit for academia - as far as I have read of his (which isn't all of it, yet). In particular the opening. His imagery of the stumps and the waves coming in... that's good shit. (SPOILERS, btw) (SPOILERS, btw) (SPOILERS, btw) (SPOILERS, btw) The best imagery comes later on, in my holy opinion. (SPOILERS, btw). This moment sticks out to me the most, when Paul's leg is chopped off and Annie cauterizes it: ' “Can't suture,” she said. “No time. Tourniquet's no good. No central pressure point. Got to (rinse) cauterize.” She bent. Paul screamed as fire splashed over the raw bleeding stump. Smoke drifted up. It smelled sweet. He and his first wife had honeymooned on Maui. There had been a luau. This smell reminded him of the smell of the pig when they brought it out of the pit where it had cooked all day. The pig had been on a stick, sagging, black, falling apart. ' The pain was screaming. He was screaming. ' “Almost over,” she said, and turned the valve, and now the ground sheet caught fire around the stump that was no longer bleeding, the stump that was as black as the pig's hide had been when they had brought it out of - Eileen had turned away but Paul had watched, fascinated, as they pulled off the pig's crackling skin as easily as you might skim off a sweater after a football game. ' Fucking metaphoric layering? LEG>PIG>SWEATER. Fantastic. Bellissimo! Die Scheiße! этот кот!

[@ManCarryingThing]

That really is an amazing sequence -- appears so simple, but so many people try to write just like it and it doesn't work.

[@stephenwalker2924]

Another, lesser writer would write something economic and effective and boring like: "His torn flesh now smelled like pig fat burning..." or something too-on-the-nose like that.

[@towerjunkie1947]

I agree. SK has the best beginnings! The first book of his I read was Misery and your analysis of it's beginning is exactly what I thought at 11 years old. What the ... are those sounds!

[@ioccasionallypostbadeditso4590]

Another interesting thing in Misery is that random page way before the novel even starts which just has two words Goddess africa

[@dimos1231]

I know I'm late, but this is a great simple analysis on Stephen King's openings. (Really good opening by the way for your video, it sets the tone).

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thank you!!

[@windowsuser321]

My favorite opening to a Stephen King book ever was The Stand. Have you read The Stand yet? I won't spoil any of it because it's excellent, but the opening is something else...

[@ManCarryingThing]

Have not read it yet! I have read the first chapter though, but I don't remember the first line...

[@mwbreen]

Personally I really disliked The Gunslinger, and yet I still think that opening line has stuck with me more than any other opening line I’ve read.

[@ManCarryingThing]

I think it's funny how even when people hate the gunslinger, everyone loves that opening line.

[@whawhawhawhaaaa]

I love The Dark Tower, but even I can admit that The Gunslinger, for lack of a better word, is boring as fuck.

[@Galvatronover]

@@whawhawhawhaaaa I thought it was entertaining

[@TomorrowWeLive]

I just realised you sort of look like a much younger Steven King. It's in the hairstyle and a little bit in the shape of the face. It's subtle but it's there.

[@thefantasynuttwork]

Wonderful video and take. King is one of my favorites

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thank you!

[@GloriaGloom]

My new favorite channel.

[@wabisabi7755]

Man Praising King

[@wabisabi7755]

Also, may I ask what mic are you using?

[@ManCarryingThing]

@@wabisabi7755 Its a Maono studio microphone set, model AU-A04. Pretty inexpensive usb mic, i've been pretty happy with it

[@wabisabi7755]

@@ManCarryingThing Thanks! I'll keep an eye on a sale. Been looking for an affordable mic myself.

[@ehutchkins2518]

I would happily listen to you analyse king for two hours

[@meganmanning377]

Would you consider doing a tier list video of the Stephen King books you've read? I would love to watch that!

[@nabhchandra_]

"I've never been what you'd call a crying man."

[@SandrasLibrary]

Excellent video.

[@ManCarryingThing]

Thanks sandra!

[@MrX-pc5xn]

I really love the opening line of IT.

[@dyefield2712]

I've always found it phenomenal how he manages to start characterizing Jack in the first line of the Shinning.

[@shawnio]

when you are in the middle of a steven king book and you suddenly have to go back and look at his foreword blurbs, sometimes I go back and forth a few times, I think its a metaphor which he breaks down several times over and over IN the book, also when he's writing how sounds, sound lol its so corny but so serious, you know he was having fun writing it

[@august3777]

Man, I just discovered this channel with this particular video and I thought it was great. The only thing I didn't like was that it ended so quickly. You have to redo these and make it at least 10 minutes long, or even longer if you can like 20 to 30 minutes long. But any way, great video. I'm subscripted now. So maybe one day you can go deeper into this particular topic.

[@danielpetrone3696]

You should be an audiobook author. Your voice is 👌

[@kliffalibur3497]

He's the *King* of horror! Aight imma head out now.

[@jerrywhoomst1116]

Manthe carry thing 👍

[@Harryshortsae]

i watched the whole thing and thought it was some really long joke where the punchline happens at the end since you've made quite a few videos mocking this type of content lol

[@milicadiy]

Not a single dislike! Congratulations.

[@stephenwalker2924]

It's a pity Stephen King's endings are not always so great...

[@leirumf5476]

Wouldn't disagree, but everything else in his books are absolutely bangers!

[@stephenwalker2924]

@@leirumf5476 They sure are.😃

[@JC20XX]

King is probably still my favourite writer

[@pandittroublejr]

📚👍🏾📚👍🏾📚👍🏾📚

[@schultemeister6975]

Idk I read fairytale and it was like half the book was the prologue

[@LEARSIKCIGAM]

my SIL went to school with one of his ghostwriter’s kids

[@jacobfastpro]

hi

[@Rosalindx]

13 yo me writing fake reviews for my latest fanfic on wattpad:

[@bobafettjr85]

Why is dividing a book into chapters noteworthy? Isn't that what chapters are for?

[@Blackenedwhiplash]

He's talking about how King has numbered parts within chapters, basically sub-chapters

[@bobafettjr85]

​@@BlackenedwhiplashThat makes a lot more sense. I was so confused. Appreciate it. :)

[@Blackenedwhiplash]

@@bobafettjr85 Glad I could help! 😁

[@kristapskrumins5676]

I don't read books, why me wathc tciashs?