Do you love reading Novels, or specifically horror Novels? If your answer is yes! Then we will not make you wait anymore! Because today you are going to know about a man who celebrated as a ‘king of horror’ and he quoted many times in public appearance–
“People think that I must be a very strange person. This is not correct. I have the heart of a small boy. It is in a glass jar on my desk.” — Stephen King.
Feeling thrilled! Why not, this is the temperament of the renowned novelist Stephen king!
Stephen king done and doing to much for English literature and it is not possible for any one to conclude his all work in one sentence still we tried to write a brief intro of his.
Stephen King is an inventive and creatively productive American author! He generally wrote in the genre of suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy, and mystery. But primarily he wrote in horror! In his entire writing career Stephen King wrote at least 99 Novels and Novellas including under the pen name of ‘Richard Bachman’. 100th will be coming this year. He has written 5 non- fiction books (if you are an aspiring writer then ‘A Writing Memoir’ is a must read. He gave some exclusive tips in this book. Tip: read it like a writing tool), Stephen king has written approximately 200 short stories which are mostly published in collections. Also, some of his popular books turned out as a series and as movies!
Examples : ‘The Dead Zone’, ‘Pet Sematary’, ‘The Shining’, ‘Gerald’s Game’, ‘The Running Man’, ‘Firestarter’, ‘Carrie’, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and many more!
Do you believe the King of horror, the master at his craft, Stephen king what says about his school life –
“my high school career was totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of my class, nor at the bottom.”
Hard to believe, right! But so many of us don’t know that A 77 year old(he doesn’t think so) Successful American Novelist who sold approximately 400 million copies. A well-celebrated writer with a net worth of $500 million — spent a very difficult childhood!
Let’s delve into the childhood of Stephen King!
Stephen King : Story of his childhood
Stephen Edwin King, born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947. Everything was going good until a dark night came for the King’s family. (From some sources)
‘When Stephen King was around two years old his father abandoned his family without any explanation. Actually one night his father went to buy some cigarettes and never returned.’
After this implausible and disheartening incident Nellie Ruth; Mother of Stephen king and David king(Adopted son) raised her two sons as a single parent. For their livelihood, the King family moved to Wisconsin, Indiana, and Connecticut before finally settling down in Durham, Maine.
Stephen King's Education : His School and College Journey
Stephen attended Lisbon High School in Lisbon, graduating in 1966. He then received a scholarship to study at the University of Maine. Reflecting on his high school years, King described his academic performance as average—neither at the top nor the bottom of his class. In June 1970, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in English, along with a teaching certificate. The following year, he began teaching at Hampden Academy with a salary of $6,400. Shortly after, he and his family moved to Hermon, a small town west of Bangor.
Stephen King's Writing Journey : From Struggles to Success
Stephen King’s writing journey started in 1959 when he and his brother David decided to make their own local newspaper, ‘Dave’s Rag.’ David King got a mimeograph machine, and together they put out a paper, selling each issue for five cents.
Then a few years later, in 1963, Stephen teamed up with his best friend, Chris Chesley, to publish a collection of 18 short stories named “People, Places, and Things—Volume I”. Some of Stephen’s stories in the collection had spooky titles like ‘The Thing at the Bottom of the Well’ and ‘The Other Side of the Fog.’
In 1964, he took things a step further by releasing a two-part book called The Star Invaders through his own small press, Triad and Gaslight Books. His first real published story came in 1965 when Comics Review printed ‘I Was a Teenage Grave Robber’, a 6,000-word piece. That same summer, he started writing a novel called ‘Getting It On’, about students who take over their classroom but fail to stop the National Guard.
During his first year of college, Stephen finished his first full-length novel, ‘The Long Walk’, and sent it to a publisher. But when it got rejected, he was so discouraged that he put it away. Then after graduating, he finally made his first sale—earning $35 for his short story ‘The Glass Floor’.
At one point, he was inspired by a poem, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, and started working on what would later become The Dark Tower series. But initially, money was tight, so he had to put that project on hold too. To get by, he took a job at a gas station, earning $1.25 an hour and started submitting short stories to men’s magazines like Cavalier for extra cash.
That was the whole story before he graduated!
But after graduation his life became a little better. Then another night came that turned Stephen King’s life upside down! No..No.. not in a bad way but for a good!
Actually Stephen king was married on 2 January 1971, until this time he completed his graduation and got a teaching job in Hampden university at $6400 per annum! (as we already discussed). Where, Stephen taught in a day and wrote short stories during the rest of his time. He generally wrote for magazines! While doing so, one night he wrote three pages of a story and threw it in the dustbin. Stephen’s inner-critic resisted him to work further on that story, because he knew how badly his three Novels were rejected earlier! That’s why he wasn’t able to write further and thought it better to leave that idea behind!
But God had other plans for Stephen King this time. Fortunately, Tabitha (Stephen’ wife) accidentally rescued those pages from the dustbin. Tabitha shook off the cigarette ashes from the pages and read it and surprisingly she found that story amazing!
Later, she convinced Stephen to continue that story further and must finish it. Only for Tabitha’s belief Stephen finished that story and later it turned into a great success in the name of ‘Carrie’. This Novel changed the king’s family’s entire lives. Also, the Novel turned out to be a movie also with the same name in 1976!
Stephen King always feels grateful for Tabitha for encouraging him to write ‘Carrie’ and he quoted as well-
“Writing is a lonely job. Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference. They don’t have to make speeches. Just believing is usually enough.” – Stephen King
After the success of ‘Carrie’ Stephen King never looked back and he continued publishing the successful Novels and Novellas one by one. When people ask him how he writes so fast and how he maintained the quality of his writing while doing so? then Stephen politely answered to them –
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” — Stephen King
Stephen had a specific writing routine and he won the hearts of his readers with his engaging writing style. Stephen engraved his name on various awards which are listed below.
Stephen King’s Awards: A Look at His Prestigious Honors
University of Maine, World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award,Spokane Public Library,World Horror Convention,Fangoria,Bram Stoker Award,International Horror Guild Award,National Book Foundation,World Fantasy Award,Canadian Booksellers Association,Edgar Award,Los Angeles Public Lib,Audie Award
If you want to know all Novels and Novellas names that he has written so you can simply go through this table “Stephen King Books Complete List”
Stephen King is such an legend whose writing, writing routine and writing discipline will inspired us to ages!
