Stephen King Success Story

Stephen King is an American bestselling author who specializes in science fiction, fantasy, horror and suspense stories. His books have been adapted into a number of successful Hollywood films like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, ‘Carrie’, ‘Secret Window’ and ‘Hearts in Atlantis’. As of 2013 his books have sold more than 300 million hardbound copies. Stephen has published a total of 50 novels and 200 short stories out of which 90% of them have gone on to be positively appreciated.  

Stephen was born on September 21, 1947 in Portland Maine. He attended Durham Elementary School. Stephen was interested in writing from a very young age. At school he used to contribute articles to the school magazine. He used to write short stories in a similar pattern to the recent films he had seen and sell it to his friends for a few cents. He graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maine in 1970. As he could not find any vacant position as a high school teacher, he began by selling his short stories to various magazines.

In 1971, he got hired as a teacher in Hampden, Maine. In the meantime he was thinking about new ideas and stories that he could work on. Soon he was able to complete writing his full novel called ‘Carrie’. But before he could finish completing the script he was overcome by depression and had thrown away the initial few pages he had written. But his wife’s encouragement helped him overcome his lack of motivation and he persevered to complete the whole book. In 1973, his book ‘Carrie’ was accepted by publishing house ‘Doubleday’. This was a great achievement for this aspiring writer who had been struggling to find an audience for his writings ever since his childhood days. Now Stephen was overcome by a drinking problem which was caused by the immense anxiety and tension he took upon himself in order to write a great story. In 1977, his book ‘The Shining’ got published. After this Stephen’s work began to be recognised and receive mild appreciation. By then he had overcome his drinking problem successfully.