Stephen King’s The Stand: a chapter by chapter breakdown
Stephen King’s “The Stand”. A chapter by chapter breakdown. | John Birmingham on Patreon
King’s book, many times revised now, remains the prime reference work for anyone serious about writing an apocalypse novel. It is a huge work that still floats just under the surface of modern pop culture, decades after it was first released. I was looking at the outline of my own world killing project last week, feeling dissatisfied—it’s surprisingly difficult to destroy all of the things, all of the time—and I thought it might help to review the narrative structure of King’s apocalyptic opus.
Half an hour of frustrated web searching later, I had to accept that no such resource existed, at least not on the open web. As a self help exercise, and because I think it could be useful to all humanity, I took a couple of days to go back through THE STAND and write a summary of each chapter, noting when an especially long, or unusually short one broke the rhythm of his storytelling. I’ve also included the first line or two from each to aid recall for those who have read the book before. And who hasn’t? Multiple times!
I hope it helps, and hopefully da King do not object.
The Stand
Chapter Summary.
