Biography Information Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in He made his first professional short story sale in 1967 to Startling Mystery Stories. In the fall of 1973, he began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels. In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co., accepted the novel Carrie for publication, providing him the means to leave teaching and write full-time. He has since published over 40 books and has become one of the world's most successful writers. Stephen lives in Maine and Florida with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

King Interview…

King’s House

What Makes Stephen King’s Fiction Worthy of Study? Stephen King is, first and foremost, a good storyteller. He uses terror, horror, and “gross” techniques to captivate his readers. He cleverly creates the unexpected. Youthful and elderly characters are important in his stories. He provides insights into the dark side of humanity.

Continued… The forces of good and evil are often equal combatants. The fragility of life is a major theme. Characters often harbor evil and/or vengeful feelings that compel their actions. He is not a moralist; his stories unfold naturally.

“Even if you’re not a fan of Stephen King’s fiction…” King provides insightful advice on the craft of writing. The Publicity Loves His Writing

Get the first draft done quickly… “I believe the first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months…Any longer and—for me, at least—the story begins to take on an odd foreign feel…”

On rewriting… Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open. Your stuff starts out being just for you, in other words, but then it goes out. Once you know what the story is and get it right—as right as you can, anyway—it belongs to anyone who wants to read it. Or criticize it.”

What scares the master of fear… “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

Thirteen Lessons from King 1. Just start it. Whatever you plan or wish to do, just start doing it. Take the first step. Start chasing your dream. When you’re brave enough to start, you will be able to succeed and you will make it happen.

Lesson #2 Follow your passion. No matter what people say, always do what you like to do. Stephen King’s family, teachers, etc. all said that he was wasting his time writing, but he kept going on as he believed in it himself.

Lesson #3 Do it for joy. If there is no joy in it, it’s just no good.

Lesson #4 Stick to it. Never give up on your dream. No matter how hard it seems. Good writing is the result of thousands of hours that the writer has spent composing and the tens of thousands of hours spent reading compositions of others.

Lesson #5 Don’t be afraid of rejection.

Lesson #6 Find your own writing space. When writing, get rid of the whole world. Find your own writing space, close the door, and concentrate. Eliminate all the distractions.

Lesson #7 Make it unique. Blend in your own personal knowledge in your writing. What you know makes you unique.

Lesson #8 Make your writing reader-friendly. Use lots of short paragraphs and a lot of white space.

Lesson #9 Edit yourself. Write a first draft, get away from it for a bit and do something else. Then come back and read it over. Fix the spelling mistakes, and pick up inconsistencies. You need to revise for length. Omit needless words. Cut the fluff from your writing. 1 st draft – 10% = 2 nd draft.

Lesson #10 You cannot please everyone. You can’t please all the readers all the time, you can’t even please some of the readers all the time, but you should always try to please some of the readers some of the time.

Lesson #11 Teach yourself. Forget the classes, the lessons, the seminars…you learn your trade best by putting the effort into it and doing it. The most valuable lessons of all are the ones you teach yourself.

Lesson #12 Write a lot. Don’t talk about it, just do it. Your time is valuable and you need to understand that the hours you spend talking about writing is the time you don’t spend actually doing it.

Lesson #13 Read a lot. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time or tools to write either. Everything you read has its own lessons. Reading good stuff helps you aim higher & work harder. Reading bad stuff helps you recognize bad things and helps you steer clear of them in your own work.

….and finally Learning from the best is a good thing! Learning from the best is a good thing!