If I told you that I had just read a book which involved an obsessive fan of an author's work, who discovered that the author had killed off, or fundamentally affected the life of the author's principal character and it caused the fan to become so upset that the fan had to confront the author, take the author hostage and demand an explanation before violently assaulting the author... could you guess which book I had read?
Some spoilers follow if you're trying to guess.
What if I added that the protagonist used his knowledge of how the character's story arc turned out in the yet unpublished novel to taunt the antagonist, and at a crucial moment, set the author's manuscript on fire, causing the antagonist to attempt to put out the fire with their bare hands, eventually burning to death in the conflagration?
Would you think perhaps that the book was ripping off Misery by Stephen King? Those exact things happen in Finders Keepers by Stephen King. So is it self-plagiarism? I said before that I liked the book, and I do. I see it as a reference to Misery without being a retread. I haven't re-read Misery in some time, so I can't really say whether Finders Keepers has something different to say about creators and their relationships with or obligations to their fans... though my impression is that Mr. King's views as expressed in Finders Keepers seemed pretty consistent with his views on those matters as I had recalled from his earlier works, whether from Misery or The Dark Tower or others.
And while those events happen, and unquestionably a key element of the novel is the question of the relationship between readers and authors, as I indicated in my earlier post, to me the novel shows the ways in which love for a novel can lead to good while also having the potential to lead to something worse, but in either case if it speaks truth about character, then it can speak to vastly disparate people and find elements to unite them.
Read While Walking: Finders Keepers by Stephen King
If Finders Keepers had been written by another author, I probably would have felt the author was plagiarizing Stephen King. As it is, it seems more like Mr. King is deliberately referencing his earlier work for the enjoyment of his fans. I had some of the sense of Misery at the beginning of the novel, but it subtly built up, increasing the anticipation that the protagonist would pull out a lighter and threaten the manuscripts, because it was so clear that must happen in the worlds of Mr. King. When he did, it felt earned, appropriate, and a treat for longtime fans.
I'm reminded of the Spartacus television series on Starz. The series built the anticipation for the viewer to hear the phrase "I am Spartacus" and built, and built, to the point it started to seem funny, then almost forgotten, and finally rewarded the viewers so desperate for that phrase. Spartacus did it better, but Finders Keepers was trading on that same need for its knowledgeable fans to feel as though they know something more than the immediate text would indicate and will be rewarded for their knowledge and loyalty.
I like that type of external reference as a treat to reward the loyal fan, but only when it's done in such a way that doesn't detract from the work itself, nor cause those unfamiliar with the reference to feel as though they have been left out or are missing something. I thought both Finders Keepers and Spartacus handled that type of reward about as well as it's possible to do.
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