Stephen King

Stephen King has been married to novelist Tabitha King since January 1971. They met while working in the library at the University of Maine and have three children, Naomi, Joe, and Owen. Joe writes under the name Joe Hill, while Owen is also a writer.

King struggled with alcohol and drug addiction for more than a decade. In the late 1980s, his family and friends staged an intervention, after which he sought help and stopped using drugs and alcohol.

In June 1999, King was struck by a van while walking in Maine. He suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, a fractured hip, and multiple fractures to his leg. After leaving the hospital, he returned to writing with Tabitha's help, using a makeshift desk at home while recovering.

King began creating stories as a child, copying comic-book panels and inventing narratives to accompany them. He and his older brother, David, produced a local newspaper called Dave's Rag, and King later collaborated with Chris Chesley on a collection of short stories titled People, Places, and Things. Volume I.

He attended the University of Maine at Orono, where he studied English, wrote a newspaper column titled “King's Garbage Truck,” worked in the student library, and participated in student government and campus protests against the Vietnam War. He graduated in 1970 with a degree in English and a certificate to teach high school.

King worked a series of jobs, including positions at an industrial laundry, a filling station, and a school. He taught English at Hampden Academy beginning in 1971 while continuing to write short stories. His first published short story, “The Glass Door,” appeared in Startling Mystery Stories in 1967.

King began writing Carrie while he was teaching high school and living with Tabitha in a trailer. The novel centers on a bullied teenage girl with telekinetic abilities. King abandoned the early draft and threw its pages away, but Tabitha retrieved them, read them, and encouraged him to continue.

Doubleday accepted Carrie in 1973, and the novel was published in 1974. Its success enabled King to leave teaching and write full-time. The book's opening was partly inspired by King's experience cleaning a school locker room, while the story's supernatural element came from his interest in telekinesis.

King followed Carrie with Salem's Lot in 1975, The Shining in 1977, and The Stand in 1978. The idea for Salem's Lot grew from teaching Bram Stoker's Dracula, while The Shining was inspired by a nightmare King had during a stay at a hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

King's fiction spans horror, fantasy, science fiction, crime, and suspense. Among his major novels are The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Cujo, Pet Sematary, It, Misery, The Green Mile, 11/22/63, Doctor Sleep, Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider, The Institute, Fairy Tale, Holly, and Never Flinch.

He published several novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, including The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man, and Thinner. King used the pseudonym partly because he worried that readers would not accept more than one book from him in a year. He confirmed that Bachman was his identity in 1985 after a reader noticed similarities in the writing.

King also wrote nonfiction about literature and the craft of writing. His books include Danse Macabre, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and Faithful, which he wrote with Stewart O'Nan. On Writing combines memoir with advice on developing a writing practice.

King has described fear, chaos, outsiders, and change as recurring subjects in his fiction. He has also written extensively about writing, arguing that ideas are developed through sustained work rather than passive waiting for inspiration.

When writing a novel, King sets a daily goal of 2,000 words and aims to complete a first draft in about three months. He then allows a period of recovery before revising. His revision method includes cutting roughly 10 percent from a first draft to remove unnecessary material.

His 2000 memoir On Writing won the Bram Stoker Award and the Locus Award for nonfiction. King has also received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the National Medal of Arts.

King's work began reaching the screen with the 1976 film adaptation of Carrie. Other prominent adaptations include The Shining, The Running Man, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, It, Doctor Sleep, The Stand, Mr. Mercedes, The Outsider, and Lisey's Story.

The 1990 film Misery starred Kathy Bates and James Caan, with Bates winning an Academy Award for playing Annie Wilkes. The Shawshank Redemption, based on a story from King's collection Different Seasons, starred Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman and received multiple Academy Award nominations.

King has also written for and produced screen projects. He wrote and directed the 1986 film Maximum Overdrive, wrote the screenplay for Creepshow, and worked with his son Owen on the novel Sleeping Beauties, which was published in 2017.

Outside literature, King sang and played guitar in the author band Rock Bottom Remainders. The group included writers Dave Barry, Barbara Kingsolver, and Amy Tan, among others.

The band performed from 1992 to 2012 at venues including the Miami Book Fair and Webster Hall in New York City. It also appeared at charity events and was associated with the book Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude.