Stephen King: Not Just an Author of Horror

1774 Words4 Pages

Stephen King is best known for his graphic horror stories, whether they be novels or short stories. Many say that he is not one of the greatest authors of all time even though he has a fan base spanning from three generations and has written over fifty books. Although he is best known for his novels, he also has many bestselling short stories and numerous movies. King does not necessarily have to use gore and horror to get people to buy his works. His short stories in “Everything’s Eventual” is a good example of this. He uses his word choices and characters to take the simplest of stories and turn them into a complex and multi-level story. However, his writing style has changed over time and as he has gotten older he has veered away from all the dark horror stories. He has many components that make these stories the way they are that does not include horror. He uses obsessions, depression, and hell as themes. He still uses eerie atmospheres that make these stories still just as dark.
King was born in September 1947 in Portland, Maine. He grew up without his father in his life and he and his mother moved around numerous times trying to make-do on low income jobs. Finally, landing in Durham, Maine where his grandparents lived. As a young boy he was not a fan of sports and wore big thick glasses. He enjoyed reading and listening to the radio about horror stories. He began writing in high school and sent many of them to sci-fi magazines and won first place in an essay contest. During this time he began playing football and joined a rock band as the guitarist.
When he graduated from high school he received a scholarship to the University of Maine where he studied English. He married Tabitha Spruce in 1971 and he still is married to ...

... middle of paper ...

...ything’s Eventual By Stephen King”. 2 Dec. 2008. http://thesketchydetails.net/book-rec/
Haley, Lips. "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" by Stephen King." 16 Apr. 2009. http://readingrr.blogspot.com/2009/04/all-that-you-love-will-be-carried-away.html
King, Stephen. Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales. New York: Pocket Books, 2002.
McCracken, Kenn. "Everything's Eventual: Review." Tough Love for Sci-Fi. 30 Apr. 2003. http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=1021
Quigley, Kevin. "A Collection Critique." 2010. http://charnelhouse.tripod.com/everythingseventual.html Scott, Brian. “The Writing Style of Stephen King”. 2000. http://www.freelancewriting.com/articles/WS-the-writing-style-of-stephen-king.php
Wilson, Staci L. "Blood and Smoke by Stephen King - Audio Book Review." 25 Dec. 2011. http://bestsellers.about.com/od/fictionreviews/gr/blood_smoke.htm

Show More
Related

  • Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Movies Essay

    1416 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” a quote that sums up humanity’s unchanged love for horror movies. Over the years, as millions of people have watched horror movies the graphics, special effects, and sounds have changed for the better. While scenes have intensified yet remained the same someone gets stabbed, butchered or killed violently. It’s hard to imagine how anyone in their right mind could choose to see such violent acts. Which is the reason why Stephen Kings say’s “I think we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better- and maybe not all that much better after all” (405). That sentence provides us with his twisted example of “Why we crave Horror Movies” claiming it’s mainly a matter of our mental state. King includes examples of reasons people continue to go, he says it’s to have fun, to dare the nightmare, and to re-establish our sense of normalcy. Kings arguments within this essay are strong enough to prove his thesis making this a well written essay. He easily convinces normal people that they are mentally ill, with his use of analogy’s, comparisons, and logos. Stephen King’s use of practical wisdom leads his audience to believe that without horror films, humans are all emotional ticking time bombs waiting to explode.

    Read More

  • Stephen King Dies

    428 Words  | 1 Pages

    What many people don’t know about King is his how he was as a person, not a writer. People may think that he is a very violent and mysterious person, but Stephen King is not like that at all, said an ex-student of Kings. Arthur Norton said in an interview with King, “There is this genial childlike quality about King… He is an average guy.” King says in the same interview, “I am a very credulous person. I will believe what I am told.”

    Read More

  • Stephen Kings Influence On American Literature

    1632 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stephen King is one of the most influential authors of today. His award-winning novels and short stories are known world-wide. His many awards and nominations have created a space for him in the literary world. King is a true “Horror King”, for his books, turned movies, have scared millions worldwide. Stephen King has helped bring America to prominence through his many books, essays, and short stories.

    Read More

  • Stephen King

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

    Read More

  • bb king

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    King launched his career as a professional musician on the streets of Memphis during the 1940s. He played gospel and blues on street corners for tips. Standing in-between blues and gospel, King took the path offering the promise of more financial rewards.

    Read More

  • Misery, by Stephen King - Annie Wilkes

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    What does it take to frighten an author of best-selling horror novels?  In Misery, Stephen King embodies a writer's fears about himself as a writer and about the continuation of his creativity in a richly elaborated and horrifi-cally psychotic woman, Annie Wilkes.  In the novel, Annie represents a mother figure, a goddess, and a "constant reader".  In reality, however, An-nie merely represents a creative part of King's mind.

    Read More

  • Blues Boy King

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Riley B. King better known as B.B. King was born on September 16th 1925 to a family of sharecropping farmers near a small town named Itta Bena in the Mississippi Delta. King's parents Albert and Nora Ella King separated when he was five years old and shortly after his mother moved to Kilmicheal Mississippi where Riley spent most of his time living with is grandmother. By age seven King was now working the field like a grown man. A couple of years later at the age of nine his mother died. King continued to live with his grandmother after his mother had past away. His grandmother was very religious and he attended church services with her. It was in the church where King begins to take an interest in music. He had dreams of becoming a gospel singer and learned how to play basic notes on the guitar from his preacher. In 1940 King's grandmother died and he had trouble making ends meet and eventually went to live with his father. (The King of Blues)

    Read More

  • Analysis of Why We Crave Horror Movies by Stephen King

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    sample, but it also appeals to population and emotion. To further explain why we crave

    Read More

  • Stephen King

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Spignesi, Stephen J. The Essential Stephen King : A Ranking Of The Greatest Novels, Short

    Read More

  • Stephen King’s Biography

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    evidence of Stephen King being very interest in horror showed in his work in his early

    Read More

  • Stephen King Using Gothic Literature

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    King owes his success to his ability to take what he says are “real fears” (The Stephen King Story, 47) and turn them into a horror story. When he says “real fears” they are things we have all thought of such as a monster under the bed or even a child kidnapping and he is making them a reality in his story. King looks at “horror fiction...as a metaphor” (46) for everything that goes wrong in our lives. His mind and writing seems to dwell in the depths of the American people’s fears and nightmares and this is what causes his writing to reach so many people and cause the terror he writes about to be instilled in his reader.

    Read More

  • Stephen King

    2354 Words  | 5 Pages

    In 1958, when King was eleven years old, the family moved to Durham, Maine. This was where King discovered that he had something in common with his father. In the attic of his aunt and uncle’s garage he discovered an old trunk that contained a box of his father’s books, including some by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, and some of his father’s attempts as writing short stories. King’s teachers reported that one of his greatest passions was writing stories of his own, which he started doing at age six (Hoppenstand 8; Stephen King). Stephen King’s life has influenced his works and served as an important source of inspiration, which is evident in his education and early writing experiences, his pseudonym Richard Bachman, and his near-fatal acc...

    Read More

  • Stephen King Why We Crave Horror Movies Summary

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    We all have cravings, be it for snacks or sweets, there is always something we desire. We crave horror in the same way. In Stephen King’s essay, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,” he argues that people need to watch horror films in order to release the negative emotions within us. King believes that people feel enjoyment while watching others be terrorized or killed in horror movies. King’s argument has elements that are both agreeable and disagreeable. On one hand he is acceptable when claiming we like the thrill and excitement that comes from watching horror movies; however, his views regarding that the fun comes from seeing others suffer cannot be agreed with because the human condition is not as immoral as he claims it to be.

    Read More

  • The Shining King Analysis

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Writers have changed the lives of many people over the years. In times of situation that people do not want to be in, times of wars, poverty, near death experience causing one to be immobile, or even just to get out of this world the works they create gives people those opportunities to do so. Stephen King is a big contributor of his published works to people in every on every continent. He is a writer of both novels and short stories, a film director, actor and even screen writer of most of his novels that turn into movies, but is he mainly known because of his works in the genre of horror. Going from his first published novel, Carrie and one of his famous selling The Shining King have made history as the king of

    Read More

  • Stephen King is the King Of Horror

    1267 Words  | 3 Pages

    For such a successful writer, Stephen King really had no secret to his writing style. King has credited free writing for his best ideas. He also has a very down to earth way of looking at his fame. Stephen King would read for four hours, and then he would write for four hours or until he reached 2,000 words. In a Time magazine interview, King called this his nine to five approach and that he, “worked until beer o’ clock.” When asked where his ideas came from, King would often reply, “I have the heart of a small boy. . . And I keep it in a jar on my desk.” Also, he does not have just one particular way of writing horror, and what often sets off the terror in his readers most was the vast amount of detail portrayed.

    Read More

More about Stephen King: Not Just an Author of Horror

Open Document