Thoughts About Salem's Lot

So far, for me, the best part of Salem's Lot has been the Introduction by Stephen King explaining his back story on the road to writing Salem's Lot. It's fascinating and he plugs Bram Stoker's Dracula. I have a soft spot for rthat book right now since I am reading it with my kids.  Otherwise I am desperately slogging along. There was a long ass Prologue- it made me glad prologues are relatively out of style these days. This prologue was so long I literally stopped and flipped halfway through the book wondering if I was reading some modern addition. Bro, can I skip this? At this point it seems irrelevant to the rest of the book. 

Maybe once I am further along that prologue will be integral. Maybe when I'm further along all these character introductions will come into relevance as well. Maybe when I'm a little further in I will recognise the writer that thrilled me with Cujo and Pet Cemetary- whose ending I still remember being scary AF even though I can't recall it in vivid detail anymore. Maybe when I'm a little further in I will understand the reason for the format of accounting the hours.

Three chapters in and one of the most fascinating stories told is the one of the widow whose husband slipped into the mill grinder. In a little book I used for the kids horror creative writing class; Write Horror Fiction in 5 Simple Steps, Laura Baskes Litwin tells a little story about Stephen King witnessing a co-worker losing both of his hands up to his elbows in a factory accident. She uses it as an example for using what you know within a story. RL Stine would relegate it the memory floor of his idea factory but for me it spoke to how King could vividly use that experience across stories in various ways.