When I was a kid, we used to play this thing called 'the writing game' with our father. My brother and I would play it - where first person writes a sentence, and the second person writes a sentence, and the third person writes a sentence, and so on until you get bored and have to go to bed.

Owen King

Categorized in : You Game Father Brother

My first job was as a groundskeeper at the local ballpark in the town where I grew up. There was a lot of down time, and I got to drive tractor, so it was pretty good gig. I've also taught creative writing, dabbled in reviewing and journalism, and toiled as a screenwriter.

Owen King

drive job good time

One corollary of the wretchedness of the second trilogy of 'Star Wars' films has been the final, demented sanctification of the first trilogy of films.

Owen King

final star first been

I find that I'm extremely unattracted to anything that's humorless. There is writing that is entirely serious, and it doesn't ring true to me, because I think, oftentimes, life is very, very funny. Even the worst, most humiliating, savage disappointments in retrospect have elements of bleak humor.

Owen King

me humor life funny

Steve Buscemi is the little black dress of cinema, appropriate for any occasion.

Owen King

dress little cinema black

Just because it's physically impossible for Steve Buscemi to be in every movie doesn't mean he's not capable of dramatically improving them all.

Owen King

just-because just impossible mean

Although it's depressing to admit this, more than a handful of post-'Donnie Brasco' Al Pacino roles would have been better served by Steve Buscemi.

Owen King

more better admit depressing

I'd love to be able to draw or play guitar or dance. All three at the same time - that's the talent for me.

Owen King

me dance time love

I suspect that perfect happiness is not possible for me. I suppose if I was ever selected for eternal life - the moment I was informed - that would bring me the closest.

Owen King

me moment happiness life

My personal history is strewn with massive errors in judgment. They're all precious to me.

Owen King

precious personal me history

The last thing I want to do is to present something as 'Stephen King, Part II,' and have it be something that's a big disappointment.

Owen King

king present disappointment want

I wasn't good at the sciences; I wasn't a good enough athlete. The only thing I could do was mow lawns. So I thought that writing or teaching was what I wanted to do.

Owen King

thought good enough writing

I'm a very liberal person.

Owen King

liberal person very

I didn't want to write a book as Stephen King's son, because all I did was get born, and that's not much of an accomplishment. If that was the reason my book was published, it wouldn't be worth the paper it was printed on. I wanted to do my own thing.

Owen King

king my-own book son

I could write about coal miners in Northern Pennsylvania, and people would ask if I was writing about my dad.

Owen King

ask dad writing people

I think the model that I look at is someone like Jakob Dylan, whose dad is obviously every bit if not more famous than mine. He's a guy who sought to build a career on his own, doing something that's a little bit different than what his father does.

Owen King

look think dad father

I didn't really get serious about my own writing until I was convinced it was something that I wanted to do, that I wanted to spend that much time alone.

Owen King

alone my-own serious time

I went to public schools in Bangor, Maine, and had as normal a childhood as you could imagine someone could, living in an enormous red house and being the son of a millionaire best-selling writer. I mean, I actually had a strangely normal childhood despite all that.

Owen King

you childhood red son

The questions about my father are inevitable, regardless of the characters I create or the subject matter.

Owen King

questions create matter father

I was pretty naive about how hard it would be to get out from under the family name. Not that I'm complaining.

Owen King

name hard family complaining

It's not easy for me as a writer to suspend my disbelief in a fantastical zone. I can do it. But it's more natural for me to write stories that are comic. Or hopefully comic.

Owen King

more me i-can easy