Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King is an American author of suspense, horror, sci-fi and fantasy books. He
was born on 21st September 1947 in Portland, Maine. His father Donald King was a sea
merchant and mother Nellie Ruth was a housewife. His father abandoned the family when he
was little. After that the family decided to settle in Stratford, Connecticut but returned to
Maine when he was eleven. According to his family King saw his friend being hit by a train
and dying although he does not recall the incident. But this incident became the ground for
King’s works. Stephen King went to the Durham Elementary School and graduated from
Lisbon Falls High School. He went to the ‘University of Maine’ and received a Bachelor of
Science degree. During his studies here he published a collection of 18 short stories with his
close friend Chris Chesley. It was named ‘People, Places and Things’.

He was interested in horror books and stories and used to read EC’s horror comics. His
writing career started when he started writing articles for his brother’s newspaper although
his real career began when his story of about 6000 words ‘I Was a Teenage Grave Robber’
was published in the magazine ‘Comics Review’ in 1965 a year before his graduation. He
completed his first novel called ‘The Long Walk’ which was badly rejected however he did
make some money with another book ‘The Glass Floor’. King was still struggling with his
writing till 1970 when another one of his attempts ‘The Dark Tower Saga’ failed due to lack
of money. In 1974 he wrote the novel called ‘Carrie’ and in 1975 ‘Salem’s Lot’ was
published.

Kings mother died in 1974 after which King moved to Boulder, Colorado. This was where
King wrote his novel ‘The Shining’. His fourth novel was ‘The Stand’ published in 1978. He
also wrote for comics mainly X-Men and introduction to Batman. His ‘Dark Tower’ saga
book ‘The Gunslinger’ was not very publicized with only a few stores carrying its copies in
their shelves. But slowly this saga carried itself to success with the second and third book
selling successfully. In the early 80’s King published many novels under the pseudonym
‘Richard Bachman’ including ‘Rage’ (1977), ‘The Long Walk’ (1979), ‘Roadwork’ (1981),
‘The Running Man’ (1982) and ‘Thinner’ (1984). He also used the pseudonym ‘John
Swithen’ which was used for his book ‘The Fifth Quarter’.

In June 1999 King went through an accident; he was hit by a vehicle and suffered many
severe injuries and fractures. He underwent five major operations in 10 days and therapy, he
recommenced his work on ‘On Writing’. His hip was broken and it was impossible to write
for more than forty minutes. That was when the pain became really bad. The injuries slowed
King’s pace so much so that in 2002 he announced that he would stop writing. The novels he
wrote before this announcement are ‘The Plant’ which was submitted online. Another e-book
by him is ‘Riding the Bullet’.

With his wife Tabhita King Stephen has two sons that are also writers.

Writings
King has written two novels with horror novelist Peter Straub: The Talisman (1984) and a
sequel, Black House (2001). King has indicated that he and Straub will likely write the third
and concluding book in this series, the tale of Jack Sawyer, but has set no deadline for its
completion.
King produced an artist's book with designer Barbara Kruger, My Pretty Pony (1989),
published in a limited edition of 250 by the Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of
American Art. Alfred A. Knopf released it in a general trade editionand the short story was
later included in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes published in 1993.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red (2001) was a paperback tie-in for the
King-penned miniseries Rose Red (2002). Published under anonymous authorship, the book
was written by Ridley Pearson. The novel is written in the form of a diary by Ellen Rimbauer,
and annotated by the fictional professor of paranormal activity, Joyce Reardon. The novel
also presents a fictional afterword by Ellen Rimbauer's grandson, Steven. Intended to be a
promotional item rather than a stand-alone work, its popularity spawned a 2003 prequel
television miniseries to Rose Red, titled The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer. This spin-off is a rare
occasion of another author's being granted permission to write commercial work using
characters and story elements invented by King. The novel tie-in idea was repeated on
Stephen King's next project, the miniseries Kingdom Hospital. Richard Dooling, King's
collaborator on Kingdom Hospital and writer of several episodes in the miniseries, published
a fictional diary, The Journals of Eleanor Druse, in 2004. Eleanor Druse is a key character in
Kingdom Hospital, much as Dr. Joyce Readon and Ellen Rimbauer are key characters in Rose
Red.
Throttle (2009), a novella written in collaboration with his son Joe Hill, appears in the
anthology He Is Legend: Celebrating Richard Matheson. Their second novella collaboration,
In the Tall Grass (2012), was published in two parts in Esquire.
King and his son Owen King wrote the novel Sleeping Beauties, released in 2017, that is set
in a women's prison.

Writing style

King's formula for learning to write well is: "Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find
the time for that, you can't expect to become a good writer." He sets out each day with a quota of
2000 words and will not stop writing until it is met. He also has a simple definition for talent in
writing: "If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it
didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented."[100]

Shortly after his accident, King wrote the first draft of the book Dreamcatcher with a notebook and a
Waterman fountain pen, which he called "the world's finest word processor".

When asked why he writes, King responds: "The answer to that is fairly simple—there was nothing
else I was made to do. I was made to write stories and I love to write stories. That's why I do it. I
really can't imagine doing anything else and I can't imagine not doing what I do." He is also often
asked why he writes such terrifying stories and he answers with another question: "Why do you
assume I have a choice?" King usually begins the story creation process by imagining a "what if"
scenario, such as what would happen if a writer is kidnapped by a sadistic nurse in Colorado.