If you love horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels, you must be known American author Stephen King who has been the craze in the world of thriller movies and spooky books. There are so many interesting facts about Stephen King to know that you would be surprised. In this article, I am going to share some of the selected interesting facts about Stephen King that you should be loving.
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”, says Stephen King to the people who want to be a writer.
Interesting facts about Stephen King
1. Birth
Stephen Edwin King was born on Sunday, September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine, USA.
2. Parents
Donald Edwin King, father of Stephen King was a merchant seaman while his mother was Nellie Ruth (née Pillsbury). His brother was David.
3. Influence of Mother
When Stephen King was 2, his father left them and it was his mother who took care of the kids. Life and learning of his mother influenced King’s later life, work, and contribution. He saw his mother doing many hardships in order to run the family.
4. Migration
King, his mother, and brother frequently moved to many places for survival in Chicago; Croton-on-Hudson; West De Pere, Wisconsin; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Malden, Massachusetts; Scarborough; Stratford, Connecticut; Croton-on-Hudson, New York; and Durham, Maine. It also enriched his experience, observation of lifestyle, behavior, and people.
5. Religious faith
He was a believer in Methodist. Stephen King had no longer faith in organized religion while he was in high school. Since he is no longer religious, King says he chooses to set faith upon the existence of God.
6. Education
The beginning was not so kind. Stephen King was forced to retake the first-grade classes because of his frequent absences. King went to Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, in 1966 to equip himself with learning, education, and life philosophies.
It was 1966 when King started studying at the University of Maine and graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
7. Inspiration for writing
Since childhood, King had seen many hardships and distress for survival. This was one of the inspirations for writing he had in the future.
Moreover, he witnessed one of his close friends being struck and killed by a train while they were playing. Some commentators say this incident may have psychologically inspired some of King’s darker works later on. Also, the need for survival and living inspired him to write.
8. Inspiration for writing
King started his writing for fun in childhood, while in school, articles for the newspaper “Dave’s Rag” newspaper published with a mimeograph machine by his brother.
Later, he started selling stories to his friends on movies he had seen in life till then. However, his first independently published story was “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber”.
For his great piece of work, King won the Scholastic Art and Writing Award. Carrie was the first novel he wrote.
9. Welcome to horror movies
The Thing from the Tomb by H.P. Lovecraft was the horror book he along with his brother David found from their old collection kept in the attic. His book rang like the bell in his brain to sparkled out with horror writing.
10. Passion for music
King had a passion for music too and it inspired him to play guitar in the popular literary supergroup band the Rock Bottom Remainders where his co-members were Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, and Barbara Kingsolver.
He listens to hard rock while he writes for refreshment and inspiration. AC/DC and The Ramones are his two favorite bands.
11. Rejection but not left
The initial days of writing were not so easy. In fact, he experienced the cruel reality of rejection and hopelessness.
Yet, he could possess his confidence to stick to the works and eventually received his first grants at the age of 19 for the story named “The Glass Floor”, for which he was paid $35.
12. First job
In order to survive himself and the family, King had to pump gas as his first part-time job. He also cleaned laundry and worked as an English teacher in 1971 to run their living. The teaching rendered him $6,400 annual income and about $40,000 in the year 2017.
13. “Richard Bachman”
It was the anonymous pen name of King, and he wrote 7 novels by the name “Richard Bachman”.
14. Estimated net worth
All past sacrifices, hardships, and experiences are paid off. Around $400 Million is the estimated net worth Stephen King has now.
Now, he leads a solvent life with a beautiful house, luxury cars, his own private jet, and an attractive waterfront vacation home in Florida.
15. Voice Over
A radio station in Maine called Zone Radio, in Bangor, Maine is owned by Stephen King and his wife Tabitha to play mostly rock music they love and wish to disseminate among the fans. The couple also has WKIT-FM, a rock station, WZLO-FM, & WZON-AM which are all under “The Zone Corporation” name.
16. A baseball fan
Stephen King is a great fan of the popular team Boston Red Sox. Interestingly, he also played himself as a Red Sox fan in the popular movie Fever Pitch and indulged himself in writing the story The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon about the life of a Red Sox pitcher.
17. Payback in memory of his past life
King donated money to his childhood town of Bangor, Maine in 1992, in order that the city authority could make the Mansfield Baseball Stadium. In return, the municipality named it as “Stephen King’s Field of Screams.”
18. Accident!
Stephen King had a severe accident in 1999 when he was hit by a van while walking down the street.
The accident damaged his right leg, hip, and rib bones. King also had a punctured lung and a head laceration caused by the accident.
19. Film Appearance
To date, King has over 22 film appearances on IMDB as cameo roles.
20. Fan of Harry Potter
Stephen King is an engrossed fan of Harry Potter movies as it is about facing fears, excavating inner strength, and undergoing what is right in the face of adversity and fear, according to him.
21. Off track
King has a black history of indulging himself with cocaine addiction in some art of early life when his family appeared like an angel to gel him out of it.
22. A prolific writer
Stephen King can write too fast, for example, he completed his 304-page book, The Running Man, in not more than ten days.
It was estimated in his early days that King would be able to write 2,000-3,000 words, equivalent to six pages, in 3-4 hours a day. Currently, King writes 1,000 words every day.
23. Guinness World Record
Stephen King has a virtually unbreakable Guinness World Record for the most motion picture adaptations in the film from a living author with cameo improvisation.
24. Records for most books
It is Stephen King who holds the rare record for the most books on the New York Times Best Seller List at one time. As per statistics, he had four books on the list: Thinner, The Talisman, Skeleton Crew, and The Bachman Books, in 1995.
25. Flying phobia
Still, King is not fond of flying. He used to go to cities and states on biking in his childhood and youth.
26. Work with Next Generation
Stephen King along with Owen King, his second son has collaborated on a book jointly named Sleeping Beauties.
27. Favourite TV shows
Among King’s favorite TV shows, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, and The Americans are some the examples
28. A good collection of books
In his personal library, King has over 17,000 books, and most of them he has read out.
29. $1 Dollar Babies
In his website, King has opened an option for the emerging filmmakers who cherish to make films on any of his short stories from the list by getting rights for only $1. “Dollar Baby Festival” is also a good move to encourage aspirant movie makers.
30. Demise of mother
King’s mother died just after the first novel Carrie was published.
31. Writing device
Method of King’s writing is a Waterman fountain pen, instead of any automated platform like Docs, or Word.
I hope this article on interesting facts about Stephen King was worth reading.
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