Author Spotlight: Stephen King

October is here and we are celebrating Fall by examining the works and life of the King of Horror, Stephen King. As of April 2024, King has sold over 350 million copies.

Stephen King was born on September 21, 1947 in Maine. After his parents divorced, King split his time with his father’s family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and with his mother in Stratford Connecticut. When he was 11, his mother Ruth took King and his brother David back to Maine. In college, King studied English and Education at the University of Maine at Orono, and wrote for the school paper. During his time at the university, King became involved in many student organizations including the student protest against Vietnam. Upon graduating, King was supposed to be drafted, but due to injuries he was released. In 1971, King married his College sweetheart, Tabitha.

In 1971, King was able to get a teaching job at a local high school and wrote in his spare time. While trying to find work, King would sell short stories to men’s magazines to help keep them afloat. Between the years of 1971 and 1973, King was working on his first novel. According to King, Tabitha picked up the first few pages from the trash and said “I want to know what happens next. I think you’ve got something here”. This encouragement propelled King to finish the story. The publishing house accepted the newly completed Carrie for publication in the later months of 1973. Also during this time, King wrote and finished Salem’s Lot while caring for his mother during her battle with cancer. King’s editor, Bill Thompson said that King would be able to stop teaching when Carrie would be released in 1974 as a paperback. This past April marked the 50th anniversary of Carrie. After the release and success of Carrie, the Kings moved to Boulder Colorado for a short time in ‘74.

On this trip, Stephen and Tabitha decided to go into the Rocky Mountains and stayed at the Stanley Hotel. Employees at the time said that the couple came during a slow period and had the hotel almost all to themselves. King himself has given versions of his reasons for staying here but it is confirmed that King spent most of his time roaming around the building. In an interview with the Literary Guild, King said

“But when we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the season, and we found ourselves the only guests in the place – with all those long, empty corridors…”Except for our table all the chairs were up on the tables. So the music was echoing down the hall, and, I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book [The Shining] in my mind”

This spur of the moment trip gave way to one of the most recognizable King stories, The Shining. Inspired by the idea of someone being killed in an eerie, remote setting led to one of the greatest horror books ever written. Once The Shining was completed, King had a creative burst and wrote The Stand and The Dead Zone. The Stand is the only book that is closely related to a real city, in this case Boulder, while the Dead Zone is the first book to be set in Castle Rock, Maine.

The 1980s were a hugely successful decade for King but it was also the decade where his addiction struggles were prominent. At this time, King was using cocaine and alcohol which bled into his writing career. King to this day still does not remember writing the majority of Cujo. His family staged an intervention which led to him becoming sober. In the 80s saw the releases of Cujo, Christine, Pet Sematary, Skeleton Crew, Misery and It. Misery and It both went on to win literary prizes including the first Bram Stoker Award. Breaking away from the horror and thriller genre, King wrote The Dark Tower series throughout the 80s. The Dark Tower is a mix of Tolkien’s middle earth and the American Wild West. Parts of the Tower series contain some of King’s best writing.

The ‘90s produced more novellas and his first book after becoming sober. Dolores Claiborne, and Needless Things were his two biggest hits. At the beginning of the 2000s, King released his memoir, On Writing to critical and commercial success. In this period, King returned to some of the themes from his prior works such as From a Buick 8 draws back to Christine. In 2008, Under the Dome was published to success. From the 2010s to today, King has focused on writing a mix of novellas, short stories along with his full length novels. In each new writing venture, he continues to push the limits of what a horror and thriller novel can achieve. Some of his most recent books include Doctor Sleep, Mr. Mercedes, Holly, and 11/22/63.

Author Spotlight: Stephen King

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