10 Most Important Features Of Stephen King's Writing

10. Telling You Too Much

A man known as 'The Master of Suspense' should surely be careful not to give too much away as his stories unfold. Stephen King, however, gives tantalising facts to his readers that let them know world-changing events that are still to come. You may be just finishing a chapter when you are told of the looming death of a key character or that the protagonist's fears were focused on the wrong cause all along... and that something entirely different is responsible.

In Pet Sematary, around the half-way mark, we are told matter-of-factly that the youngest child in the Creed family has only two months to live. In The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, after a suspenseful page in which Trisha (the nine-year-old protagonist) makes the decision of which way to turn in order to find her way out of the forest she is lost in, we are simply told that she made the wrong choice. If she’d gone the other way, King tells us, she’d have been home hours later. But no, poor Trisha went wrong.

As readers, we are told of crucial moments, almost like being given a huge spoiler for an upcoming episode of hit television. However, we aren’t told how these events will come to pass, and it only serves to build intrigue and keep you turning those pages even though you know you should have gone to bed an hour ago.