Author and horror extraordinaire Stephen King released a collection of short stories a few months back. Titled You Like It Darker, the book has 12 stories to it and does not conform to a single genre. While some belong to his trademark horror line, some are funny, while others are downright creepy.
The book has been termed from magnificent and excellent to everything in between. And King has been praised for his work on the collection. But while appreciative, what many readers might not know is that one of these stories took King 45 long years to complete. And you thought Francis Ford Coppola and George R.R. Martin were bad!
Stephen King Took 45 Years to Write a Story For You Like It Darker
It’s anyone’s guess how long a writer would take to finish a project if there is no set deadline. Our brain is a marvel, and who knows what tangent it will suddenly feel like moving along. It could be days, months, or maybe even more before we can make a break for it. And something similar happened to Stephen King when he was writing the short story, The Answer Man, for his latest collection, You Like It Darker.
In a conversation with NPR, King said he “lost it,” when asked about why the story took so long to complete. Allegedly, he started writing The Answer Man when he was 30. Currently, he sits at 75, when he finally wound up finishing it.
What happens with me is I will write stories and they don’t always get done. And the ones that don’t get done go in a drawer and I forget all about them. And about five years ago, these people started to collect all the stuff that was finished and all this stuff that was unfinished and put it in an archive.
They were going through everything – desk drawers, wastebaskets underneath the desk, every place. I’m not exactly a very organized person. My nephew John Leonard found this particular story, which was written in the U.N. Plaza Hotel back in the ’70s, I think. And he said, “You know, this is pretty good. You really ought to finish this.” And I read it and I said, “You know, I think I know how to finish it now.” So I did.
If it weren’t for his nephew, maybe we wouldn’t even have the opportunity to read The Answer Man. But as the saying goes, ‘Better late than never’, and this is exactly what it is all about.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis Was In Unintended Limbo For 30 Years
Francis Ford Coppola has finally managed to complete his lifelong passion project, Megalopolis, more than 30 years after the idea first came to him. It first came to his mind in 1977, when he was in the initial stages of making Apocalypse Now (1979). But it was another 5 or so years later, that he started developing the idea into something substantial.
It was 1983 when Coppola actually started working on the script for the movie. Now, it is 2024, more than 30 years since he started working on Megalopolis. And he has finally managed to get the movie made. Even if it is followed by massive financial trouble, and surrounded by heaps of controversies. At least he got it done.
Francis Ford Coppola, in partnership with Lionsgate Films, has scheduled a domestic release for Megalopolis on September 27, 2024.
