What is the author's style in The Waste Lands by Stephen King?

This story is told from a third person point of view by an omniscient narrator who is not a character in the novel. This point of view is important since many times in the novel the characters are not in the same place or the same time. For instance, in the beginning of the novel, the story deals with Jake, who is not in Roland's world yet, and Roland and his group, who are in Roland's world. The story would not be as effective if it were told from the point of view of one character in particular. Even though the characters do seem to communicate with each other telepathically, these telepathic thoughts would not be adequate to let the reader know the events and circumstances of each character's experience if there were only one character who narrated the novel.

The story is told through both dialogue and exposition. Although a great deal is learned about each character through their dialogue with the other characters, almost as much is learned through the things that are not said. King has a way of capturing not only the voiced thoughts of each character, but also their thoughts. In addition, King describes the scenery and settings of each part of the story with careful detail. Sometimes these settings tell as much about the story as the dialogue does. For instance, King's description of Lud lets the reader know how backward the people of Lud have become without actually having to tell the reader in words.