Stephen King's
Biography
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On Writing |
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 Stephen
Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 at the
Maine General Hospital in Portland Maine. His
parents were Donald Edwin King and Ruth
Pillsbury King. Stephen being the only natural
born child in the family and his older brother
David having been adopted at birth two years
earlier.
The Kings were the typical family until one
night when Donald King said he was stepping out
for cigarettes and was never heard from again.
At this point Ruth took over raising the family
with help from other relatives of the family.
They traveled throughout many states over
several years finally moving back to Durham,
Maine in 1958.
Stephen King began his actual writing career in
January of 1959 when David King and Stephen
decided to publish their own local town
newspaper named Dave's Rag. David bought a
mimeograph and they created a paper that sold
for five cents an issue.
Stephen King attended Lisbon High School, in
Lisbon, Maine in 1962. Collaborating with his
best friend Chris Chesley, in 1963 they
published a collection of 18 short stories
called People, Places, and Things-Volume I.
King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the
Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", "The Dimension
Warp", "The Thing at the Bottom of the Well",
"The Stranger", "I'm Falling", "The Cursed
Expedition", and "The Other Side of the Fog."
A year later King's amateur press Triad and
Gaslight Books, published a two part book titled
"The Star Invaders".
Stephen King made is first actual published
appearance in 1965 in the magazine Comics Review
with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber."
The story ran about 6,000 words in length.
In 1966, Stephen King graduated from high school
and took a scholarship to attend the University
of Maine. Looking back on his high school days,
King recalled that "my high school career was
totally undistinguished. I was not at the top of
my class, nor at the bottom."
Later that summer King began working on a novel
called "Getting It On", about some kids who take
over a classroom and try unsuccessfully to ward
off the National Guard. During his first year at
college, King completed his first full length
novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted the novel
to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it
rejected. King took the rejection bad 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.
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Stephen
King from A to Z |
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In June 1970, Stephen King graduated from the
University of Maine with a Bachelor of Science
degree in English and a certificate to teach
high school.
King's next idea came from the poem by Robert
Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower
Came." He found bright colored green paper in
the library and began work on The Dark Tower
saga. But due to his lack of income he was
unable to further pursue the novel at great
length and it too was filed away. King took a
measly job of pumping gas earning $1.25 an hour.
Stephen King then began to earn money for his
writings by submitting his short stories do
men's magazines such as Cavalier.
On January 2, 1971, Tabitha Jane Spruce and
Stephen King were married. And in the fall of
1971, King took a teaching job at Hampden
Academy earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then
moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor, Maine.
Stephen King than began work on a short story
about a teenage girl named Carietta White. After
a completing a few pages, King decided it was
not a worthy story and crumpled the pages up and
tossed them into the trash. Fortunately for
Stephen, his wife Tabitha took the pages out and
read them. She encouraged her husband to
continue the story. He did. In January 1973,
King submitted Carrie to Doubleday. In March,
Doubleday bought the book. On May 12, Doubleday
sold the paperback rights of Carrie to New
American Library for $400,000. Based on the book
contract, Stephen King would get half of that.
King quit his teaching job to pursue writing
full time. And the rest, as they say, is
history.
Since then, King has had numerous short stories
and novels published and movies created from his
work. Stephen King is called the "Master of
Horror". His books have been translated into 33
different languages, published in over 35
different countries. There are over 300 million
copies of his novels in publication. He
continues to live in Bangor, Maine with his wife
where he writes out of his home.
In June 1999 Stephen King was severely injured
in an accident that left him in critical
condition with injuries to his lung, broken
ribs, a broken leg and a severely fractured hip.
After three weeks of operations he was released
from the Central Maine Medical Center in Bangor,
Maine. Stephen continues to be bedridden and
requires intensive rehabilitation over the
remainder of this year. He is expected to be
able to walk about 9-12 months after the
accident. Due to Stephen King's injuries his
current projects that he was working on have
been hampered and will be delayed at least a
year.
 Stephen King
as Actor
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Stephen King has played roles in some of the
movies based on his stories. His roles have
been:
Band Leader - Stephen King's The Shinning (May
1997)
Dr. Bangor-Pharmacist - THINNER (1996)
Tom Holby-Head Chairman of the Board - THE
LANGOLIERS (1995)
Teddy Weizak-Boarder guard/Nadine's ride - THE
STAND (1994)
Cematary Caretaker - SLEEPWALKERS (1992)
Bus Driver - GOLDEN YEARS (1991)
The Priest - PET SEMATARY (1989)
Truck Driver - CREEPSHOW II (1987)
Guy swearing at ATM - MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (1986)
Jordy Verril/Truck Driver - CREEPSHOW (1982)
Hoagie Man - KNIGHTRIDERS (Directed by George
Romero) (1981) |
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