The Gilmore Book Club

How to Find Your Creative Style with Stephen King

Let's play a game. No, it's not 1,2,3- go, but it is a classic Gilmore activity. That’s right, we’re going to make a pro/con list. So get out your rulers, pens, and pristine pieces of paper a la Rory. Or do this exericise your mind, whatever works for you.

What is your favorite Halloween movie? Feel free to pick more than one. Got it? Now think about everything you like about it. I'll go first. I'm not a huge Halloween fan, so it's relatively easy for me to choose: Hocus Pocus. Now, what do I like about it?

Hocus Pocus Pros- (in no order of importance)

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy

Bette Midler singing.

Sarah Jessica Parker is totally different than her now Carrie Bradshaw aesthetic.

Kathy Najimy is hilarious doing many things, including riding a vacuum cleaner.

Well-written, hilarious, and touching script (something you don't notice as being well written, but so much of this has to come from the writing)

The cozy fall vibes of the Northeast

Focus on myth and legend

Spooky but not scary. It's more often funny

I could go on.

Hocus Pocus Cons-

Sometimes spooky

Clear Sanderson sister hierarchy

Well, you get the point. Now, why are we doing this? To get ready to read Stephen King’s books, of course! But more on that later.

First up, we'll do a mini crash course on Stephen King. He's the author of Carrie, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Cujo, Christine, The Shining (the five mentioned in Gilmore Girls), and at the time I'm writing this, 55 other books, about 200 short stories, plus some screenplays. This makes him one of the most prolific writers in literature. However, according to my research, his numbers are on the lower end of the spectrum. Can you imagine!? That's a lot of writing!

Cujo regales us with a story about an enormous dog who bites a rabid bat and turns rabid himself, killing several people and destroying the lives of the central family in the book. I had a very Rory "I need my mommy, and I don't care who knows it" moment after finishing this one. Christine, a rare literary reference made by one Dean Forrester, is a hefty tome detailing a haunted car with parasitic tendencies toward its owner and a murderous temper toward everyone who messes with it. Carrie shares a young girl's journey dealing with her mean-girl schoolmates and telekinetic powers. The Shining gives full haunted hotel vibes during writer Jack’s not-so-relaxing stay at Overlook Hotel. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption details the daily life of two prisoners, both convicted murderers, as they try to survive their sentence and eventually change their circumstances.

If you read the In Cold Blood post or surmised by my G-rated Halloween movie pick, you'd know I'm not a horror fan. When I was little, I firmly believed there were monsters in the closet and under the bed- not the funny Mike and Sully kind. It was a cold, hard fact that gremlins could get you if you didn't have a sheet covering your feet at night. Bushes repeatedly chased me in my dreams, closing in as I fumbled with the door handle, unable to escape their encroaching prickly arms.

These days, the world is full of enough real horrors, and I don't need or want more in my literature, helping my mind go down Dr. Bailey-style tailspins of monsters coming after my friends and me. No thanks.

So you won't be surprised when I say I could have happily gone my entire life without picking up a book written by one of the most well-known horror authors: Stephen King. But why do I want to now, you ask? The blame falls squarely on the Gilmores for referencing not just one but five of King's books, a few more than once! And because I committed to reading everything Rory read, I've been forced into a dark hallway with a creepy set of twins forcing me to read horror novels. I planned to read all the Stephen King novels at once to get it over with and never have to pick up one of his books again if I didn't want to.

But there are five Stephen King novels on the Rory Gilmore Book List, so I'll need to clear plenty of space in my freezer because I know I will easily reach my limit. Joey Tribbiani isn't the brightest person, but putting books that scare you in the freezer is probably his best idea ever. So move aside frozen dinners; we're going in.

go to Part Two

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