Biographical Data
— Stephen Edwin King, American writer.
— Born on September 21, 1947.
— Resides in: Portland, Bangor, Fort Wayne, and Stratford. He spends his winters in his ocean-view mansion in Sarasota, Florida. He recently built a house in Connecticut.
— Married to Tabitha King since 1971, a writer by profession.
— Children: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill, and Owen King, all writers by profession.
Hidden Secrets
We begin with his debut work, Carrie.
He originally decided to throw it in the trash, believing it wasn’t good enough. Today, we can count on the novels of the Great Master thanks to his wife, Tabitha; she rescued it and sent it to the publisher that first released his novel.
He wrote this novel as a challenge. He was already writing various stories, most of them populated primarily by male characters. For this reason, when a friend challenged him to write a story with a female protagonist, Carrie was born.
Few people are aware of his financial situation in the early days; he lived in a trailer with his wife, burdened by bills. He wrote on a wooden board placed across his lap. His poverty was such that he could not even afford medicine for one of his children when it was needed. Today, he lives in his luxurious mansion in Sarasota, whose vast garden is sniffed by his canine friend Molly, aka “the thing of evil.” However, he finds it difficult to concentrate there, so his desk faces a blank, pristine wall rather than the window.
The Pseudonym Richard Bachman
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, King wanted to write more than one book per year, but his publishers were concerned about market oversaturation. He also wanted to know if his books were successful solely because he had achieved a certain level of fame—that is, if they were bestsellers simply because they were “the latest Stephen King book.”
Thus, he decided to invent the alter-ego Richard Bachman and wrote four works: Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), and The Running Man (1982). Before being discovered, he also wrote additional titles: Thinner (1984), The Regulators (1996), and Blaze (2007).
Genre Classification
He is difficult to classify, as his work can be found under the banners of thriller, fantasy, fiction, supernatural, mystery, horror, epistolary, Gothic literature, post-apocalyptic, suspense, and detective fiction. Most simply opt to call him the Master of Terror.
He has sold over 350 million copies.
He often arouses envy in his profession due to the sheer volume of books sold; some consider him a purely commercial author and criticize his ease of writing, labeling it as “simple and costumbrista.” Others critique his supposedly “non-literary” style and the excessive length of his works. Conversely, his narrative sense, his vivid and colorful characters, and his ability to play upon the fears of his readers have been met with widespread praise. While the tool of terror prevails in most of his works, he also regularly addresses themes such as childhood, racism, and war, providing a raw portrait of the United States.
Number of Books Written
More than sixty, including novels, essays, short stories, and online publications.
He graduated from the University of Maine in 1970, but his first novel, Carrie, did not sell until 1974. He had already written three others prior to that.
His secret is writing more than six pages every single day.
He is often forced to trim his works, as he tends to give excessive detail to secondary characters, creating parallel lives to the book’s main plot. This is why his earlier books were of such great length, while his current ones are more streamlined.
Influences of Other Authors
He is a great admirer of the writer H.P. Lovecraft and has incorporated several of his techniques (such as Connecting the stories in his books through newspaper clippings, transcripts of evidence, and other documentary materials) as well as the use of fictional towns like Castle Rock and Derry.
He has also declared himself an admirer of the Harry Potter series by author J.K. Rowling, whom he considers a great writer.
Edgar Allan Poe, one of the fathers of contemporary horror, is another clear influence. The novel The Shining is a precise analogue to one of Poe’s short stories. Both authors utilize the Doppelgänger (the use of a ghostly double or an evil double of a living person).
He is a declared admirer of author Shirley Jackson. The novel ‘Salem’s Lot begins with a quote from Jackson’s book The Haunting of Hill House. There are further similarities between characters like Carrie and Eleanor from The Haunting of Hill House. The book Storm of the Century is based on Jackson’s story, “The Lottery.”
Another of his influences is John D. MacDonald. MacDonald was an expert in criminal writing, and King learned from him the art of entering the minds of his characters.
Guinness World Record for Most Film Adaptations
The film adaptation of his novel The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is the one Stephen King hates most. There were various reasons, such as his disagreement with the casting of Jack Nicholson, whom he felt could not properly portray the character of Jack Torrance from the novel; he believed Nicholson was unable to capture the character’s full essence—that is, his complete transformation from the beginning of the novel to the end.
The contract had stipulated that it was an adaptation, and therefore not identical to the book. The first screenplay was written by Stephen King himself, which Kubrick rejected for being too literal an adaptation of the work. Thus, the final screenplay was written by the Director himself and Diane Johnson.
Kubrick would call Stephen King in the early hours of the morning to ask if he believed in God or the afterlife, claiming it was crucial for the film, along with other transcendental questions. The Director did not believe in the afterlife or in any form of mysticism. Nevertheless, his opinion of the book was magnificent, and he stated: “It is the first time I have read a novel sent to me for a possible film adaptation all the way to the end. I was absorbed in the reading, and I felt that its plot, ideas, and structure were more imaginative than usual in the horror genre; I thought a magnificent film could come of it.”
Co-screenwriter Diane Johnson was teaching a seminar on the Gothic novel at the University of California, Berkeley, at the time the script was being written. She looked down upon Stephen King’s literature, stating in a written interview after the release of The Shining: “It is not part of great literature. It’s scary, it’s effective, and it works, and that’s all (…). But, precisely, it is interesting to see how a rather bad book can also be very effective (…) it is quite pretentious. But it’s also true that one has fewer scruples about tearing it apart: one is aware that they are not destroying a great work of art.”
- On October 26, the upcoming animated adaptation The Creepshow Halloween premiered.
- On December 17, the TV series The Stand (Apocalipsis) premiered.
- Overlook, the famous hotel from his books, was slated for a series on HBO.
Hobbies
Stephen King loves to play the electric guitar and had a rock band called the “Rock Bottom Remainders,” made up of other writers and editors such as Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Matt Groening, and Amy Tan, among others.
His favorite rock bands are The Ramones and AC/DC.
He is a devoted fan of the Boston Red Sox professional baseball team.
He is passionate about Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Sins Corrected
He has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. His wife, along with some friends, showed him a trash can filled with everything he had consumed in just that one day; it was then that he became aware of the need to seek help. The author was in such a state that he does not even remember writing The Shining.
Information extracted from various digital and audiovisual media.