Authors Life Information

Alexander Payne 

Mrs Oberdieck 

Honors American Lit 

11/18/2024 

Stephen King: A Life Story 

Stephen King is one of the most popular authors in the horror genre, and his novels have grossed over 500 million dollars. He came from humble beginnings and went through many difficult things during childhood. Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947. His parents, Donald and Nellie King, separated when he was a toddler, and his father left the house one night and never returned, not even to visit. Steven and his brother were raised by their single mother, who worked hard to support her family, but they lived paycheck to paycheck. When Stephen was 11, his family moved to Durham, Maine, and set down roots. In 1962, Steven went to Lisbon Falls High School and got a fascinating part-time job as a grave digger. Surprising, but not unexpected! His career may have inspired his first major story, "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber.” He wrote it at 17 and published it in the Comic Review. He graduated from high school in 1966 and attended Maine University. In college, he wrote short stories like "The Long Walk” and wrote for the school newspaper to protest the ongoing Vietnam War. Ultimately, he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. in English and a teaching certificate. 

After college, Stephen married and started a family, all while continuing to pursue his writing career. In 1971, King began teaching at Hampden Academy. That same year, he married a fellow writer, Tabitha Spruce. They had three children together: Naomi, Joe, and later Owen. By his account, he was a happy family man. While working at Hampden in 1973, Stephen King started working on his first novel, "Carrie.” The book is about a teen girl getting revenge on her bullies. It was later released in 1974, becoming an instant success, and Stephen King became famous worldwide. With this success, Steven could now support his family through his writing. In 1976, “Carrie” was adapted into a movie and became an even more significant success, earning almost 15 million dollars. King continued to write more horror novels, including one of his most popular ever, "The Shining." This book was unique because it was inspired by King’s one-night stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. During his stay that night, he had a terrible dream that his child was in danger. The dream was so life-like that he awoke thinking his child was in danger. “The Shining” is about a family who are caretakers of a hotel in the off-season, isolated by the snow and with nowhere else to go. The isolation soon drives them crazy, and it’s an action-packed story of the attempted murder of a child and his mother.

With another success under King’s belt, his books became so popular that by the 1980s, everyone knew the name of Stephen King, and the film studios were after the rights to all of his books. Some of the film adaptations that became cult classics are "Firestarter,” “Cujo,” “Thinner,” and “It." Arguably, “It” is one of the best he has ever made. King's childhood fear of clowns inspired the book, and he wanted to capitalize on this fear by making "It." By the 1990s, King had sold over 100 million copies, making him one of the greatest novelists ever. But more was yet to come! In 19994, the movie Shawshank Redemption was produced based on one of King’s short stories. Currently, The Shawshank Redemption is considered one of the best movies ever made. King also wrote The Green Mile, which was turned into a hugely successful movie in 1999. King’s career was on fire. However, on June 19, 1999, King was struck by a van driven by a distracted driver and was in the hospital for a month with serious injuries that almost killed him. Despite this horrible accident, King refused to give up or retire. He got better and continued to write. After his accident, King went on to write 25 more novels. This is amazing, considering he almost died! In 2017 and 2019, the movie adaptations of "It" and "It Chapter Two" were released and became wildly popular. Both movies have become the most significant horror movies ever, making King known to a newer and younger audience. 

To this day, Stephen King is still writing books! His latest release was "You Still Like It Darker" on May 21, 2024. Additionally, a film adaption of his short story, "The Monkey," will hit theaters in 2025. With all these successes and novels, putting fame and money first would be easy. But King is a devout Christian who puts God first before anything else. King has no plans to retire, yet I suspect he will listen to God to determine his next steps. The central theme that Stephen King tries to convey in his novels is that there will always be a battle between good and evil, but it is our job to stand up and protect those we love against destruction. Stephen King is a brilliant horror author; the horror genre would not be the same without him.

Work Cited 

Wade, Chris. "Stephen King: The Near-Fatal Accident That Changed His Life Forever." Screen Rant, 18 June 2019, 

https://screenrant.com/stephen-king-near-fatal-accident-20-years-ago/#:~:text=On%20the%20aft ernoon%20of%20June%2019%2C%201999%2C%20King,remained%20in%20the%20hospital %20for%20nearly%20a%20month. 

Banks, Adelle M. “Stephen King on Faith in God, Intelligent Design, and What Scares Him.” The Christian Post, 4 Nov. 2014, 

https://www.christianpost.com/news/stephen-king-on-faith-in-god-intelligent-design-and-what-sc ares-him.html. 

“Stephen King.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 27 Sept. 2019, https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/stephen-king. 

Cowan, Douglas E. “Stephen King: America’s Dark Theologian.” Christianity Today, 27 June 2018, 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/2018/06/stephen-king-douglas-cowan-americas-dark-theologi an/. 

McCall, Kevin. “Stephen King’s 2000s Novels Ranked.” Collider, 

https://collider.com/stephen-king-2000s-novels-ranked/#:~:text=From%202001%20to%202009 %2C%20King%20published%2012%20novels%3B,by%20a%20van%20in%20the%20summer %20of%201999.