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     Because it was published as a novel, The Shining’s mode is text based and its media is print. It appeals primarily to horror fans, as well as followers of thrillers, ghost stories, and any who love Stephen King. The composition provides its scares through Jack’s story, so its genre is narrative.

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     The writing is suspenseful. The story begins as almost a family vacation, and then slowly builds into a fight against the elements and the evil forces on the mountain. Readers can feel the threats closing in as more and more ghosts appear in the hotel and Jack begins to lose his mind. King introduces these characters slowly at first, but as the novel approaches its climax more and more evil spirits begin to torment Jack. By increasing the ghosts’ presence and aggressiveness at the end of the novel King transforms the ghosts from spooky into a dire threat.

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     King establishes a grim tone early on through the description of the vast, empty hotel that the Torrance’s are inhabiting. Despite its emptiness, the hotel still feels threatening, especially as Danny wanders through its twisting hallways alone. King’s writing twists and turns like the hotel’s corridors do. The perspective frequently jumps between characters and locations, following Jack, Wendy, and Danny around the hotel. The narrative occasionally switches to a flashback that is seemingly unrelated to the surrounding material. By structuring his story as a non-linear narrative King prevents the reader from ever feeling at home in the Overlook. This jumping causes the reader to feel out of place the same way the characters do.

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     King’s writing is also characterized by a combination of natural and supernatural threats. The characters must combat both blizzards and isolation in the hotel, and the ghosts that reside within it. This variety of conflict is where King’s characters show off their depth. In The Shining characters do not simply have to kill a monster to survive. They must fight off the ever-present evil within the hotel, the storm raging outside, their own fears, and eventually each other.

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     Including real-world conflicts in this supernatural horror story makes the threat more relatable for the readers. Although most people cannot relate to the supernatural harassment Jack faces, many can relate to the stress put on their relationship and Jack’s struggle with alcoholism. These tangible threats actualize the family’s fear for the audience and shows them the incredible stress the characters are feeling.

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     The Shining conforms to horror conventions by creating a tense atmosphere in an unsettling location. It features supernatural threats like ghosts come to haunt the characters from the past. It subverts many other conventions when Jack becomes the main antagonist of the story. King turns the typical father archetype on its head by making Jack become the main threat to his family. The novel also presents the characters with more than just supernatural threats, which is not typical for a work of horror.

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     The cover of The Shining helps the composition stand out on the shelf. The cover’s mode is visual and its media print, and it is a hybrid genre of informative/persuasive. It appeals to audiences such as horror fans, thriller fans, Stephen King fans, book fans, and people who like to window shop and browse book stores.

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     The book cover features an unsettling arrangement of pictures of the characters placed over a photo of the Overlook hotel. These are no happy family photos. The characters look like corpses, each pale and standing alone. The Overlook itself appears no more inviting. The hotel stands alone on a mountain, the only sign of life in sight.

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     The cover establishes the foreboding atmosphere of the novel and shows off the setting. These actions clue the audience in to what type of work The Shining is and lets readers know if they will be interested or not. The cover works as a supporting composition by appealing to ethos. The cover’s straightforward design tells the audience that they can expect a classic horror novel and ensures that the book does not waste their time. It is a conventional horror book cover, showcasing the spooky setting and interesting characters in the novel. The cover’s aesthetically pleasing arrangement of photographs is also very conventional for a book cover.

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     Stephen King gave an interview which takes readers behind the scenes of The Shining. The interview is presented typed on a website, so it is text based in mode and digital in media. Its genre is an informative/narrative hybrid. The work has an audience of Stephen King fans, as well as horror novel fans.

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     The interview is a formal presentation of an honest conversation between Stephen King and the interviewer. The conversation focuses on King’s thoughts while writing The Shining and its sequel, Doctor Sleep. King describes how the novels relate to his own life, particularly his alcoholism. He uses his personal fears to make his writing even more terrifying. King realizes that while ghosts and monsters are scary, some things people face in the real world are even scarier.

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     The interview is presented with an easily readable font that allows the reader to focus on the content of the interview. It also has several images related to Stephen King and his works. The interview’s simple design keeps the composition’s focus on Stephen King’s story rather than the interviewer or the website it is hosted on. This design supports the interview’s presentation as an honest look at Stephen King’s life and writing style.

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     The interview generally conforms to an interview’s typical style. It focuses attention on the subject’s story and language, minimizing distracting images or sidetracking. The steady pace of the interview is occasionally broken up by Stephen King’s witty remarks and comments, which make the interview more engaging and more representative of King’s personality.

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     Stephen King demystified his writing process a little more through a blog post he made on his website. The blog post’s mode is text based and its media is digital. Its audience includes fans of Stephen King and his works. Because the blog post informs the reader about how King’s mind works by telling a story, its genre is narrative/informative.

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     The blog post describes the event that inspired King to start writing The Shining. He was staying in a hotel with his family and had a nightmare of his son running through the hallway while being chased by a firehose. King shared this story on his blog because he knows that his audience wants to connect with him. By sharing this personal story he appeals to pathos and strengthens his connection to his audience. An interesting aspect of King’s inspiration is how ordinary it was. He started with a nightmare and built a story around it. This further supports what the interview revealed about King: his horror novels are based on his own fears.  

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     The composition’s design is simple. The text is a single paragraph and there are no images. This simple design supports the informative composition by directing focus to the content of the paragraph.

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     Stephen King’s writings generally conform to the conventions of the horror genre. He builds a suspenseful, tense atmosphere through a setting that the characters do not feel safe in. The characters also face a supernatural threat typical in a horror story.

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     Where Stephen King’s writing differs from most other horror stories is the threats the characters face. They must combat the elements, loneliness, and evil spirits. King’s writing becomes less conventional near the climax. Jack, who was once the story’s protagonist, becomes the antagonist. This horrifying turn of events sets The Shining apart from more conventional horror stories, as well as drawing on pathos due to the emotion one feels when witnessing a father turn on his family.

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     All horror writers can learn from King’s work. The attention he pays to character development makes his stories come to life and be terrifying in a more meaningful way. King’s realistic characters have much more believable fear than a flat character would. He also took many risks when writing The Shining, including having Jack turn on his family. The result of Stephen King’s risky writing is a unique horror story that scares in ways that other stories cannot. Other horror writers should look to King as a role model for inventive writing. His work is proof that taking risks can produce amazing results.