Books that changed Me: It

So back in my toddler days I was over my dad’s house for the weekend and this movie came on tv about this evil clown who was torturing a group of little kids with his mind games and wicked ways. My dad explained the movie to me because he had obviously seen it before and liked it and now so did I. The name of that movie was called It and it is one of many chilling, yet amazing stories from sci-fi and horror master Stephen King. It is also an important book in my life that had a lasting impact that changed me.

I eventually learned that It came from Stephen King, like other movies I loved dearly like Stand by Me (1986) and The Green Mile (1999). I was infatuated with this movie and it became one of my favorite everything in film: one of my favorite horror films, one of my favorite films centered around children like myself at the time, but most strikingly, a film about the power of friendship. The film was so moving to me that I decided to pick up the book and give it a read, something I never thought I’d do, but sure enough I did and it was an experience unlike anything I had previously known.

With me being the slow pace reader that I am it took me a few weeks to get through this book, but as I did I was blown away chapter by chapter. Everything about this story pierced my emotions. I couldn’t just see it, I felt it more than anything. Every topic the book discussed latched on to my feelings: the antagonist, the protagonist, the fear, the joy, the racism, the anti-Semitism, the shock and awe, the loss, the love, it gripped my heart and in turn I gripped it all just as much. When I finished this story my heart was full, I was so emotional that I nearly shed tears.

I read this story long before the thought of being a writer ever crossed my mind and what I didn’t realize is that this book had planted seeds of craftmenship in me that I not only applied to my writing, but life in general. This book taught me so many important lessons that I applied to the thought process of my everyday life. It taught me just how truly important and powerful the bond of friendship can be and no matter how much the ongoings of life separates you, no matter how long you go without speaking to each other, or even how much the mind forgets, true friendship will love in the heart forever. Since reading It I’ve always made a conscious effort to love my friends like the Losers Club in the sort loved each other.

When I made up my mind about being a writer It played a big role in how I wanted my stories to be effective. I knew I wanted my stories to have the impact on them that It had on me. I learned from it to not just paint a good visual, but to also grip people’s emotions with your story in a way that stops them in their literary tracks and has their minds just going all over the place because of what they just read. More than anything I think the most unique lesson I learned from It is that who we are during our childhoods is the purest form of who we will always be, no matter how old we grow. To this day I look back at my younger self with an understanding that the childhood me is who I will always be at heart.

It’s icing on the cake for me was it’s hidden message that we can’t truly grow up until we finally overcome our fears, otherwise we’re just going in circles and I know this to be true become with every fear I’ve overcome I’ve become a better person every time. For all the lessons It gave me It not only changed me, but helped mold n my evinto who I truly am a N d for that I will always be thankful to Stephen King for this remarkable story.