Introduction
For over 37 years no author has scared more readers and supplied more sleepless nights to fans than Stephen King. While King is best known for his mastery of spine-tingling tales, he's also written stories that comment on society's ills and problems. King has written over fifty novels, five non-fiction books, and numerous short stories. Many of King's books and stories have been adapted to the screen; a few famous stories that became movies are The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Christine, Pet Semetary, It, and The Mist. King's most recent books include Under the Dome, Dr. Sleep, Revival and Finders Keepers and the recently released End of Watch. King is easily one of the most respected and recognizeable authors in the world today. His easy style of writing, ability to tell a story, his crafting of characters, and skill of driving home the thrills and chills is a big reason why we keep buying his books.
Can horror ever be literature? Could the most prolific writer in the horror genre ever be worthy of study? Or is anything written in this genre merely entertainment at its best and nothing but worthless junk for the masses at its worst? Stephen King, the author this webquest is about, is an amazing storyteller, most critics agree on that, but ask yourself the question: is telling stories that terrify, horrify and gross out readers enough if one wants to be considered a serious writer? And is terrifying, horrifying and grossing out his readers really all that King does or is there more to him than meets the eye? That's your job to find out! In this webquest you are going to investigate King as a person and as a writer, you are going to look into his characters and films based on his books, you are going to read some of his short stories and parts of his novels and in the end you are going to decide whether King should be subject of study in English Lit classes or should stay in the paperbacks section at the airport, where he belongs.
Oh, and while you're at it, be prepared: you may very well be terrified, horrified or grossed out.
Task
The situation: your teacher, who is too lazy to do her own work, has given you an assignment: the English department is fed up with teaching Shakespeare and has decided they need new authors to study. A few authors have been shortlisted and your job is to investigate Stephen King. Most teachers at your school refuse to consider him a serious writer but your teacher loves him. If you do a good job, you will gain enough credit to get you through three more years of English. If you fail, your teacher will yell at you and you will spend three years reading nothing but Twilight, unless you like Twilight. Naturally, you want to do well. But if you hate King's work, you should be able to say so - as long as you can support your opinion with evidence from your research. If you can't - you could always ask for another teacher, right?
The criteria deciding whether or not an author is deemed worthy of study have been determined by the English department. You will find the criteria in the Process section.
So what do the Powers That Be want you to come up with?
Step 1: The author. Ten interesting facts about Stephen King's life and career (Fifteen if you work in pairs).
Step 2: An overview of his work. Titles and descriptions of at least six of King's novels (ten if you work in pairs). You do not need to read these books, but you do need to find out what they are about. Give a VERY BRIEF summary of the story and include a picture of the book cover.
Step 3: Reading. A review of two short stories by Stephen King (four if you work in pairs). These you DO need to read! You can find your own, you can follow the links included in this description or you can use the hand-out given to you by your teacher.
Step 4: At the movies. Answers to questions about films based on King's work
Step 5: The master's own advice. Stephen King's own advice on writing, and the answer to the following question: in what you've read, does he stick to his own advice about use of language?
Step 6: Characters. Answers to questions about King's characters.
Step 7: Your personal recommendation: is King a good enough writer to be studied in class? Why or why not? Which of the department's criteria for good writing does King meet? And what is YOUR opinion?
EVERYTHING IN STEP 1 - 7 NEEDS TO BE PUT IN ONE WORD FILE AND UPLOADED IN MAGISTER BEFORE THE START OF TEST WEEK 4.
If you used sources other than the ones given here, include them in the document.
You can choose to work in pairs, but if you do so, mind the following: Both of you must write step 7 separately and hand it in. Also, if you work in pairs, you need to include a page stating who did which part of the work. And of course, you need to do all your talking in English.
Process
Task One — Personal Information
What are 10 (15) interesting facts you learned about King? Why are they interesting? Use the sources below but feel free to find your own.
http://www.stephenking.com/index.html
http://www.stephenking.com/the_author.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King
https://interestingliterature.com/2015/04/27/five-fascinating-facts-about-stephen-king/
Task Two - Books
List 6 (10) books written by King. Include a short description of each book and a picture of the book cover. Each description should be a minimum of one paragraph. Then answer the following question: Which of these books would you like to read if you had to choose two, and why?
http://www.vulture.com/2012/04/ranking-all-62-stephen-king-books/slideshow/
http://stephenking.com/library/written.html
Task Three - Short stories
A review of two short stories by Stephen King (four if you work in pairs). These you DO need to read! You can find your own, you can follow the links included in this description or you can use the hand-out given to you by your teacher.
Tips on writing a good review:
http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/curriculum-development/resource-support/net/handout%201.13-%20writing%20a%20short%20story%20review.pdf (You may skip step four in your review)
Stories:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/09/a-death-stephen-king?intcid=mod-yml
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/05/herman-wouk-is-still-alive/308451/
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/11/09/premium-harmony
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/06/30/harveys-dream
http://stephenking.com/promo/little_green_god_of_agony/ep1.html (graphic novel)
Task Four - At the movies
A lot of King's short stories and books have been made into films or television series, and some of these are classics.
Watch the film clips and read the descriptions. Then answer the questions.
1. Are all of these films horror movies?
2. If not, what other genres are they?
3. In the scary scenes overview, which scene did you find the scariest? And why?
4. Which of these films have you seen?
http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/films/top-10-scariest-stephen-king-scenes
http://listverse.com/2009/02/11/top-15-movies-based-on-stephen-king-stories/
http://stephenking.com/library/movie/
Task Five - On Writing
Read Stephen King's 20 rules for good writing. Rules number 2, 3 and 4 deal with language in the story. Choose one of the stories you've read and go through it again. Does he stick to his own rules? Discuss.
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers.html
Task Six - Characters
One of the things Stephen King does best is create believable, likeable (or terrifying) characters. Read the character descriptions, watch the clips of King's most memorable characters and answer the questions.
1. If one of them had to be in your life, with which one would you be okay? Why?
2. Which one would you NEVER want in your life? Why?
3. Do the character quiz. Which character are you?
http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/stephen-kings-10-most-memorable-movie-and-tv-characters
http://www.cinemablend.com/pop/Stephen-King-5-Best-Lead-Characters-61779.html
http://www.enotes.com/topics/stand/characters
http://www.shmoop.com/shining-stephen-king/characters.html
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-it-stephen-king/characters.html#gsc.tab=0
http://www.playbuzz.com/bonequiquijones10/which-stephen-king-character-are-you
Task Seven - Recommendation
Read the criteria below and answer the following two questions:
1. Which of these criteria does King meet, based on what you've learned in this webquest?
2. Would you recommend that we read Stephen King's work in English class, based on what you've found out about his work? Why or why not?
| A good writer..... | |
| Writes in more than one genre. One trick ponies are not considered worthy of study. | |
| Creates believable characters and settings | |
| Makes you care about what happens to the characters | |
| Is not too predictable and stays away from clichés | |
| Makes you think about the book or story after you've read it | |
| Is a good technical writer, with great vocabulary, faultless grammar, correct use of narrative tenses. | |
| Manages suspension of disbelief: stories are consistent within their own universe. http://www.mediacollege.com/glossary/s/suspension-of-disbelief.html |
Evaluation
Use the checklist below to see whether you have included everything you should include. Your final work should include:
| 1. Ten (fifteen for pairs) interesting facts from Stephen King's life | |
| 2. Descriptions of six (ten) of his books, of maximum one paragraph per story. | |
| 3. Two (four) reviews of short stories that you've read. Use the ones your teacher gave you, the ones online or use your own. Max 1/2 A4 page per review. | |
| 4. At the movies: Answers to the questions. | |
| 5. On writing: answer to one question. | |
| 6. Characters: answers to the questions. | |
| 7. Recommendation: based on the criteria given, on what you've read yourself and on what you've found out from others, should Stephen King be studied in English class or should we just stick to Twilight? | |
The following rules also apply:
This must be YOUR OWN work, so no copying and pasting. If you use quotes from a certain source, say so!
Example: "On the website so-and-so Stephen King says blablabla" Plagiarism will mean very easy grading for your teacher, as you will get an instant 1.
Your work must be handed in ON TIME, which means no later than day 1 of TW4. Exact date will be in the assignment in Magister. Not on time? A 1.
If you use other sources than the ones given, include them in your document, at the end
Your work can be in Dutch, but in that case your maximum grade is an 8. This might still be worth your while, if writing in English is very difficult for you.
If you worked with a classmate, include an overview of who did what. Step 7 should be sent in separately (alternatively, you can include step 7 twice in the document, once for each of you)
Conclusion
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Your work is not your own: Grade 1, work not assessed.
Your work is late: Grade 1, work not assessed.
Step 1: Content Max 10 points
Step 2: Content Max 10 points
Step 3: Content Max 20 points
Step 4: Content Max 5 points
Step 5: Content Max 10 points
Step 6: Content Max 5 points
Step 7: Content Max 20 pts
General quality of language: Max 20 points
Content includes: do you actually answer the questions? Is it clear that you've read the sources? Do you support your answers with evidence? Have you given the matter some thought?