Stephen King discusses one of his favourite authors: ‘The very act of writing is a kind of torment for him’
In terms of modern authors, very few can claim to be more influential than Stephen King. Described by his fans as the ‘King of Horror’, the broad reach of his oeuvre has left a mark on people from all walks of life, thanks to works such as Salem’s Lot, The Shining, The Dark Tower series and countless others. A prolific writer and lover of “good” books, King is one of the most eminent commentators in literature.
One author that King has effused about on numerous occasions is Thomas Harris. The private Tennesseean writer is another master of horror and suspense and is best known for creating the cannibal serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter. Famously, his books Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising have all been adapted into Hollywood movies. King loved 1981’s Red Dragon so much that he once compared it with Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and labelled Hannibal “the great fictional monster of our time”.
Aware of the darkness his books contain, Harris writes in the forward to the 2000 edition of Red Dragon: “I found, and find, the scrutiny of Dr. Lecter uncomfortable, intrusive, like the humming of your thoughts when they x-ray your head.”
Remarkably, Harris has only written six novels, with it a testament to his skill that he is so lauded for such a small body of work. His other two novels outside the Lecter universe are 1975’s Black Sunday and 2019’s Cari Mora, and both are respected offerings. Stephen King wrote on Twitter in 2019: “I’m reading Cari Mora, the new novel by Thomas Harris. Comes out next month. He’s as good as ever. Reading his prose is like running a slow hand down cold silk.”
It seems that Stephen King understands the process and ethos that underpins Harris’ work, with him once claiming that writing for the Red Dragon author is a form of “torment”. When discussing that writing can often be tedious for other authors, King remarked that it is “writhing on the floor in agonies of frustration” for Harris because “the very act of writing is a kind of torment”.
In 2019, around the time of the release of Cari Mora, Harris echoed King’s comments by delving into his process and the difficulties it brings in the New York Times. He called it “passive […], sometimes you really have to shove and grunt and sweat. Some days you go to your office, and you’re the only one who shows up, none of the characters show up, and you sit there by yourself, feeling like an idiot. And some days everybody shows up ready to work. You have to show up at your office every day. If an idea comes by, you want to be there to get it in.”
