Stephen King often called; “Master of Horror” is a well-known author for his horror stories, and science fiction novels. He had many influences on how has written his books. King has also faced many hardships within his life.
King was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947 to Nellie Ruth King and Donald Edwin King at the Maine General Hospital. Stephen was the only natural born child in the family, as his brother David was adopted at birth in 1945.
The Kings were your average family until one night when his father Donald said he was going out for a pack of cigarettes, and never returned home. Stephen at the time was only three years old. His father had a large collection of science fiction novels in which Stephen read growing up. By the time Stephen was seven years old, he wrote his first short story. He also was a fan of the 50’s horror movies, which inspired him to write in the science fiction field. Stephen’s stories were also influenced by the nineteenth century gothic tradition, especially the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. King as a teenager, joined the football team, played in a rock band, yet still had two of his short stories published.
King started his actually writing career in January of 1959 when he and his brother David decided to publish their own local newspaper. So David bought a mimeograph and they called their paper Dave’s Rag, and it sold for 5 cents and issue.
King attended high school in Lisbon, Maine at Lisbon High School in 1962. Him and his best friend Chris Chesley published a collection of 18 short stories called People, Places, and Things-Volume I. A year later King and Gaslight Books published a two part book titled “The Star Invaders.”
King made his first published appearance in 1965. His story, “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber”, which was only about 6000 words in length. The story was published in a magazine named Comics Review.
In 1966, King graduated from high school and took his scholarship from the University of Maine at Orono. He received a bachelor’s degree in English and a certificate to teach high school in June 1970. He then married Tabitha Jane Spruce on January 2, 1971.King accepted a teaching job at Hampden Academy as an English teacher, and so they moved to Hermon.
King started to write and submit novels to publishing companies, but had not luck.
King, who has explored almost every terror-producing theme imaginable, from vampires, rabid dogs, deranged killers, pyromaniac ghosts, to telekinesis, biological warfare and even a malevolent automobile was known for his horror stories, and strange deaths.
Walk." He sent the novel to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. King took the rejection and filed the book away. Stephen King made his first small sale with his story "The Glass Floor" for the amount of thirty-five dollars.
Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
King was greatly influenced by the factors that affected his childhood that led him to develop the thinking to stand up against the issues mainly because he grew up in the city of Atlanta where he very specifically faced racial segregation. He belonged to a middle class family and even though getting a prestigious education he faced discrimination amongst from the very start. At a very early age of 6 years he was first rejected by his close friend because of his color. During his early teenage he suffered from depression and even attempted suicide with mixed racial feelings of being a fully capable
In his teens King moved back to the Delta and one of his employers loaned him money so he can purchase his first guitar. He continued to teach himself by using mail-order instruction books. King was eventually able to land a skilled job at the time as a tractor driver. When he wasn't working he was a street performer "he sang for small change on street corners in the nearby towns, sometimes visiting as many as four towns in a single evening". (Academy of Achievement)
King was born on January 15, 1929. He was the second child of Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia. King entered public school at age 5 in May 1936. At age 12 King lost his grandmother to a heart attack, which cause him to try to commit suicide by jumping out of the second story window of his house. King attended Booker T. Washington high school where he skipped both the 9th and 11th grade. King started Morehouse College in Atlanta at the age of 15, in 1944. In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. earned his sociology degree. He then attended
Stephen King was born in Maine in 1947. His father abandoned him when he was 2 years old. His mother and brother was all he ever knew. Him and his brother were raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana where his father lived at the time. He was also raised in Connecticut too. His mother decided to move them back to Maine for their own good. There he got a job at Kitchens of Pineland. A kitchen of Pineland was by a mentally challenged hospital. He went to a Durham grammar school then attended Libson High School. In 1966, He graduated. At University of Maine of Orana, he was a sophomore that wrote for The Maine Campus, the school’s newspaper. He became a member of the Student Senate in Student politician. He also attended an Anti-war movement. In 1970, he graduated. His examination was a 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. From his examinations, he got a diploma to be a full time teacher.
His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. King attended segregated local public grammar schools in Georgia and graduated from high school at the age of fifteen after being skipped two grade levels. King then enrolled at Morehouse University in 1944 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He furthered his education after Morehouse at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania and at Boston University, earning his doctorate. X attended reform school in Michigan after the death of his father.
evidence of Stephen King being very interest in horror showed in his work in his early
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.
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...
King never got to see this. He was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. In 1983
King entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and graduated four years later. 4. He was the third generation to attend this academic institution.... ... middle of paper ...
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.