Stephen King

Background

Dubbed, rightfully so, “THE KING OF HORROR” Stephen King has been the author of horror, supernatural, crime fiction, science fiction, and suspense books for over 50 years and has become a household name. He was born in Portland, Maine, on September the 21st, 1947, to a middle-class family of four that became a family of three as his father abandoned him, his mother, and his older brother.

He began writing during high school when he and his older brother David opened up a newsletter called Dave’s Rag and sold each issue for five cents.

From early on, he exhibited an interest in the horror genre. In his own words, he said, “… from a very early age, I wanted to be scared. I just did…”. Although he has no recollection, it is said that as a child, he witnessed the death of his friend hit by a train. King’s mother had told him that on that day, he came back home after playing with his friend, who lived near the railways, ghostlike and speechless. Some critics attribute his darker works to this event.

King graduated from the University of Maine in 1967 with a degree in English literature. In 1971, he married a fellow student. Tabatha and Stephen had two sons and a daughter. King was working as an English teacher while doing writing on the side. He would write short stories, selling them to men’s magazines.

In 1965, he had a story published in Comics Review called, I Was a Teen-Age Grave Robber. He didn’t get paid for that, so the first professional short story he sold was actually in 1967, called The Glass Floor, sold to Startling Mystery Stories.

He worked several jobs at once to make more money. Despite those hard times, King always made time for his writing.

His goal was to write a minimum of 2000 words per day. The most important aspect of writing for him is the story. The story takes precedence before the setting, dialogue, and character development. He is an expert storyteller, as much, if not more than he is a writer. His insight on human nature is abundant, which makes his writing simple as well as believable, even in unbelievable situations. 

Carrie Saved from the Bin

The first few pages of Carrie, which was about a girl with telekinetic powers who would take revenge on her bullying schoolmates, wound up in King’s trash can. It was Tabatha who picked up those papers from the bin, saw its potential, and encouraged her husband to continue and finish it, which he did.

Carrie became a best-seller in 1974 despite being rejected 30 times before Doubleday Publishing took it. It was adapted into a movie in ’76 and again after that. King had said that the inspiration for this story came from two classmates. He had also read an article in Life Magazine on how young people, adolescent girls, in particular, could produce telekinetic power.

These factors put together produced the book’s idea. When Carrie became a paperback, it sold over a million copies its first year. Why? Because the story of Carrie resonates with almost anyone who has been bullied in high school or has been the bully.

But when asked which three books he would save if he had to, his answer was: “Dumb question, but I’ll play. Lisey’s Story, The Stand, and Misery.”

There are at least 50 film and TV adaptations out of his books. Some have been adapted more than once, like Carrie and It, the child-eating clown who lives in a sewer. His personal favorite adaptations are Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Mist.