FIRST OF ALL: I should apologize for being away for so long (very bad blogging form). Essentially, between traveling and family responsibilities and other major writing projects, I couldn’t give this site the attention it deserves. However, I am back and eager to continue. So let’s jump right into it….

I recently came across the following list on Amazon:  “100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.”

As a fantasy writer myself, I decided to spend the next few years reading every book on this list and record the lessons I learned from each volume on how to be a great writer.

PLOT: In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter. – goodreads.com

LESSONS LEARNED: There are countless fantasy novels that fit the “journey archetype.” These stories include The Hobbit, The Eye of the World and even The Odyssey, in which the heroes set out on a quest and on the way encounter a series of challenges/adventures through which they change. These stories are often episodic and present a variety of obstacles. (My own novel, The Night Highways, sort of falls into this category.)

The Gunslinger, which is the first installment in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, is something of a boiled down version of the epic quest. This initial volume lacks the sweeping scope of the later books, but it is the most episodic. I have read that it is even considered a “fix-up novel,” meaning it was initially a series of short stories that were connected to form a larger work (think The Martian Chronicles or I, Robot, only The Gunslinger has more cohesion and forms a single story.)

I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but the first book in the series can more or less be summed up in the following episodes:

1. The story begins “in media res” (“in the middle of things” like The Odyssey). Roland (“The Gunslinger”) journeys across the desert pursuing The Man In Black.
2. Roland encounters a farmer and tells him a story about an incident that occurred in the nearby town of Tull, which left a whole lot of people dead.
3. Roland continues across the desert, eventually reaching a way station where he meets a young boy, Jake, and they encounter a demon in the basement.
4. Roland and Jake are attacked by a succubus in the mountains beyond the desert.
5. Roland and Jake continue into the mountains and have a brief encounter with The Man In Black. Jake starts to lose hope.
6. Roland and Jake are attacked by the Slow Mutants, deformed creatures living in the mountains’ tunnels.
7. Roland confronts The Man In Black.

So what can we learn from this deceptively short/simple story? Well, each of the episodes are unique and each brings out various qualities of Roland’s past and personality. The seemingly endless desert displays his borderline suicidal determination. The incident in the town of Tull shows that he is a master killer (there’s a reason this novel is called The Gunslinger). The scenes with Jake show he has the potential to be a paternal figure and the demon and succubus display his understanding of the magical elements in his world.

The Town of Tull episode involves Roland shooting several dozen people. Had he moved to the way station and found a gang of killers holding Jake hostage and then more men with guns in the mountains, and he had to shoot all of them, the story would’ve gotten pretty repetitive. In short, when you send your hero on a journey, make sure you don’t give them the same brand of challenge over and over again. Give them a variety of physical, mental and emotional obstacles. That way the character has the opportunity to grow and the readers see them in a variety of situations.

Another takeaway from The Gunslinger is to parcel out your hero’s backstory. For the first third of the novel we know next to nothing about Roland’s past, but as he continues along his quest we learn more about where he came from and what he is trying to accomplish. As the journey progresses, he doesn’t just change as a character (although whether he changes is up to debate), but our understanding of him grows. Even if your hero is just a chicken farmer with a fairly mundane past, save some of the details for later in the story so:

1. You don’t hit us with an info dump at the beginning.
2. They remain intriguing. We don’t yet know every corner of their life.

The Gunslinger is a fairly short/simple novel and honestly it isn’t the best in the series. However it contains the elements of a strong episodic journey. If you find yourself writing that genre I would say read it once for the tale and then read it again, picking apart what Stephen King has to teach you.