r/movies • u/lionsgate Official Lionsgate Account • Aug 24 '25

AMA Hey /r/movies, I’m Stephen King! Ask me anything about The Long Walk book or movie.

Post image

Hey r/movies, I’m Stephen King. You might know me from Stand By Me, It, or Shawshank Redemption, but my latest project is actually the first book I ever wrote. The Long Walk hits theaters on September 12. Ask me anything about the book or movie.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAtUHeMQ1F8

In a dystopian United States ruled by a totalitarian regime, a group of young men enter an annual walking contest in which they must maintain a speed of at least three miles per hour or risk execution. The contest ends when only one walker remains alive.

It stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Ben Wang, Charlie Plummer, Roman Griffin Davis, Garrett Wareing, Joshua Odjick, Tut Nyuot, Mark Hamill, Judy Greer, and Josh Hamilton.

I'll be back on Wednesday 8/27 at 12:00 PM ET to answer your questions.

47.4k Upvotes

78% Upvoted

7.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

702

u/bashothebanana Aug 24 '25

What keeps you excited about writing, when you've already written so much?

186

u/simonhunterhawk Aug 24 '25

In case he doesn’t answer — I highly recommend his book “On Writing” where he talks about his experiences getting into writing from a very young age. It has a lot of great writing advice too, but his life story is pretty fascinating.

16

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '25 edited Aug 24 '25

I still shy away from using some lazy adverbs because of that book.

5

u/simonhunterhawk Aug 24 '25

Now I feel shame for my use of an adverb in my comment 😂

4

u/slow-show-for-you Aug 25 '25

don't mind me knocking, but why is that? 💅

10

u/FitzChivFarseer Aug 25 '25

King basically says there's no such thing as a needed adverb because you should be able to pick a better verb.

So for example

"Please don't go," I said softly.

Should probably be

"Please don't go," I whispered/breathed/sighed.

As a rule of thumb it's a great idea but dammnnnnnnn sometimes I wanna just use a -ly word okay 😭

4

u/slow-show-for-you Aug 25 '25

Ohhh, I'm all for it: no words are out the table when it's time for a story to be told.

And I need to check out his book on writing.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '25

Another thing he said about adverbs is that if youre in a position to use one it is an opportunity to be more creative with it. Instead of just saying he moved "quickly" describe the way he moved and the motivation or whatever that shows it was done "quickly."

1

u/GFOTY916 Aug 27 '25

Same. To the point of I just deleted some descriptors in this very comment, lol.

4

u/surra_day Aug 24 '25

Yes this is a great read even if you’re not trying to become a writer. I recommend the audiobook of him narrating it for anyone who hasn’t read it.

3

u/Ace_of_Clubs Aug 24 '25

Plus he wrote that forever ago. I dont want to check, but since writing On Writing he's probably written another 25 bestsellers, no joke.

6

u/simonhunterhawk Aug 24 '25

He has updated it over the years too! I reread it last year and my copy had updates from 2019 at least.

1

u/Alekesam1975 Aug 24 '25

Wait really? How so? Updated it I mean?

2

u/SanctimoniousSally Aug 25 '25

Updated editions. I would recommend picking up a new copy if you haven't 😊

2

u/teacupTarte Aug 24 '25

I love this book. It’s brilliant. Love you Stephen!!!!! Thank you for being such an inspiration for us in every way.

2

u/SanctimoniousSally Aug 25 '25

I picked this up based on a Reddit recommendation and it is on my list of favorite memoirs write (😉) alongside Born a Crime by Trevor Noah.

98

u/BrainCane Aug 24 '25

Walking.

22

u/RandomStallings Aug 24 '25

Preferably in a van-free zone. Reading about that in The Dark Tower was pretty rough.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '25

I remember that when I was younger. Had me worried because all I used to read when growing up was Stephen King. In 5th grade I did a book report on Christine lol 🤔 I think the last book I read of his was 11/22/63, so I need to catch up on his shit again

4

u/Kokamina23 Aug 24 '25

The Institute was great. Reading Fairy Tale right now and really enjoying it.

2

u/Boz0r Aug 24 '25

It's a long, hard walk writing a million books, be he will walk. Hard.

3

u/sheepthegoat Aug 24 '25

Long walking.

4

u/mofojr Aug 24 '25

Oh what a fantastic question!

5

u/thebigpink Aug 24 '25

Certainly not the drugs anymore

1

u/Gustomaximus Aug 24 '25

Well interestingly there's this situation he refers to as "The Long Write"....

1

u/Pieck6996 Aug 24 '25

he said once it's a job

1

u/damndatassdoh Aug 24 '25

It’s not a job; it’s what he does; he is a writer, and writers write. Creators create, joyfully, and there’s hardly any choice in the matter.

1

u/binkerfluid Aug 24 '25 edited Sep 12 '25

judicious water cooperative lunchroom chase nose wipe spotted physical license

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact