How “Carrie” Got Stephen King Noticed
Breaking Down the First Few Pages of King’s Debut Novel
I’m always intrigued in a special sort of way when I read the novel that kicked off a famous author’s career. What is it about that particular book that struck a hard enough chord in the collective zeitgeist to propel said storyteller into fame and fortune? Further, what takeaways can be applied to one’s own writing?
I read Carrie, Stephen King’s inaugural book, when I was in junior high and quickly becoming a fan of his. By no means is it his best work, but it is very, very strong. Recently, as I’ve delved further into my own creative writing, I picked it up again.
So the story goes, King had muddled his way through Carrie, eventually throwing the few pages he had written in the trash. They were then recovered by his wife, novelist Tabitha King, who urged him to continue, saying, “I think you’ve got something here!”
And thus, we as a reading collective were tossed into the demented world of Stephen King and he hasn’t let us go since.
But why Carrie? What elements of this story, beyond its premise, caught the attention of a publisher and impressed them enough to take a chance on the unknown author. For me, many of these answers can be found in the first few pages of the book.
A Sense of Realism
King immediately draws us in to the strange and tragic story of Carrie White by presenting passages from (fake) books and newspaper articles in an almost documentary style format, pulling us in like the opening of a Netflix true crime series and teasing us with what’s to come. This also provides the novel with a sense of immediate realism in a rather fantastical story and allows exposition to flow without feeling forced into the narrative.
The opening passage sets up a backstory for our protagonist without feeling like a traditional flashback (pg. 1):
News item from the Westover (Me.) weekly Enterprise, August 19, 1966
RAIN OF STONES REPORTED
It was reliably reported by several persons that a rain of stones fell from a clear blue sky on Carlin Street in the town of Chamberlain on August 17th. The stones fell principally on the home of Mrs. Margaret White […] Mrs. White, a widow, lives with her three-year-old daughter, Carietta. — Stephen King’s Carrie (1974)
Right away, we are introduced to Carrie and her mother. We understand their living arrangement (single parent) and the hint of something unusual and strange sets us up for the supernatural read ahead.
A Style All His Own
It can be risky developing a writing style of your own and showing it to agents and editors, hoping it sticks. But that’s exactly what Stephen King did. And his style became synonymous with success. While inner-thought dialogue is common amongst many writers, King seems to provide a sort of “stream-of-consciousness” inner-dialogue that curtly interrupts the narrative the way our own thoughts do. Note the bracketed phrase (pg. 14):
Miss Desjardin cried out with surprise, and it occurred to her (the whole damn place is falling in) that this kind of thing always seemed to happen around Carrie when she was upset… — Stephen King’s Carrie (1974)
This unique way of writing no doubt stood out from other manuscripts in various slush piles back in 1973/1974. For an even better example of this, check out Stephen King’s Pet Semetary.
Not Wasting Any Time
There is no preamble. No following Carrie White to school, or watching her in class, or her roaming the halls. Not yet anyway. Within a page, we are thrust into a rather graphic inciting incident as Carrie gets her period and is mocked by her classmates in the school showers. Right off the bat, it strikes the reader as an unusual way to start a book and it not only sets up the high school bullying drama that lies ahead, but ends up coming to full symbolic fruition in the haunting imagery towards the end (no spoilers if you haven’t read it!)
By page 7, she is freaking out over the sight of blood. By page 8, we are witnessing the harsh cruelty of her classmates, and by page 14 we get the first glimpse of Carrie’s telekinetic abilities. That is a lot!
King also gives us something to chew on in the second page of the story by telling us, in no uncertain details, what the characters in the book don’t yet know— a technique that is common in narrative, but absolutely grabs the attention of the reader in this case because of its implications to the rest of the story:
Carrie had been going to school with some of them since the first grade, and this had been building since that time, building slowly and immutably, in accordance with all the laws that govern human nature, building with all the steadiness of a chain reaction approaching critical mass. What none of them knew, of course, was that Carrie White was telekinetic. — Stephen King’s Carrie (1974)
Now we become the objective observer as Carrie discovers her abilities in the following pages. We know what’s up before even she does and have already made a connection to the opening newspaper passage — might that event have had something to do with her abilities?
Showing, Not Telling — And Doing It Efficiently
With the first bit of taunting coming from Chris Hargensen, we get the sense that she is a mean girl through and through — and this is later very much confirmed.
Through Sue Snell’s inner dialogue, POV, and hesitation (albeit gleeful participation in the taunting), we come to realize that she will likely be a key character in Carrie’s journey. And this also ends up being true.
Even the way in which the incident is described is done so through Carrie’s POV — seeing the blood, not understanding what’s going on, and hearing her classmates taunt her.
Most importantly, however, is the passage on pg. 13:
“… damn it, will you do it! You act as if you never had a period before.”
“Period?” Carrie said.
Her expression of complete unbelief was too genuine… — Stephen King’s Carrie (1974)
Not only does this bit of dialogue tell us a lot about Carrie without going into heavy exposition, it also tells us a great deal about her yet unseen but briefly mentioned mother. We realize that this is Carrie’s first period (at age 17), and even more shocking — that she has no idea what it is. There is clearly something very wrong with how Carrie is parented and this sets us up for the book’s strong religious undertones, her antagonistic mother, and the very thing that acts as a catalyst to Carrie realizing her abilities.
Plain Great Writing
By the time King sat down to write Carrie, he was well practiced enough to convey a certain degree of talent in his work. What makes ‘great writing’ can be debated until the end of time — for me, it’s using words simply and effectively to convey unquestionable imagery in the reader’s mind.
Take, for instance, this passage on pg. 4:
Carrie stood among them stolidly, a frog among swans. — Stephen King’s Carrie (1974)
Simple wording that presents a very clear idea of how Carrie stands out from the other girls in the showers.
Similarly, on pg. 5:
Calls and catcalls rebounded with all the snap and flicker of billiard balls after a hard break. — Stephen King’s Carrie (1974)
Without laying it out for us as simply as: “voices echoed”, King creatively creates the sound for us in our minds with something recognizable and clear.
Beyond the above examples, King goes on to tell an excellent, yet simple story with a shocking ending, powerful antihero as protagonist, and an even more frightening antagonist in the form of Carrie’s mother. It’s an incredible debut and one that makes the reader quickly understand why Stephen King went on to become the Master of Horror.
Not everyone’s first kick at the can will be like this. In fact, very few will. But perhaps by studying the initial works of our favorite writers we can continue to hone our craft, develop our own voice, and tell exciting and impactful stories to the masses.
