Stephen King
Stephen King is a famous author whose work has earned him credit in the world of arts and creativity. He writes stories on fantasy, crime, horror, science-fiction, supernatural action, and crime. He has managed to sell about 350 million copies of books (Hanson, 2020). His work has a massive following, attracting directors and editors of comic books, films, miniseries, and television series. The number of short stories that he has managed to publish is around 200 (Hanson, 2020). He also has several non-fictional books. More so, 61 novels have been added to his name. Among the awards that Stephen King has received are the British Fantasy Society Awards, Fantasy Society Awards (Magistrale, 2019). Others are World Fantasy Awards and the Bram Stoker Awards. He has also been awarded by the National Brook Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mystery Writers of America. Many in the film industry have branded Stephen King the “King of Horror” (Beahm, 2018).
After obtaining a degree in English in 1970, Stephen King ventured into writing short stories that he sold to earn a living (Hanson, 2020). He was qualified to teach but was not lucky enough to secure a chance. Some magazines started depending on him for short stories. Adam and Cavalier were among them (Hanson, 2020). He was still writing while as a student for the university magazine. After his work was accepted by Doubleday publishing house, King wrote Carrie and published it. He says that in writing the novel, he gave up because he ran out of ideas and had nothing much to contribute. Therefore, he tore the first three pages of the story that he had managed to write and trashed them in the garbage can. His wife followed him and got the three pages and encouraged him not to give up (Beahm, 2018). She promised to give him a helping hand with a female perspective. It is this novel, Carrie, which gave Stephen King the courage to continue and launch a career in writing. The story became largely successful in 1976 (Strengell, 2017).
In his approach as a writer, Stephen King argues that a writer must find time for reading and writing (Magistrale, 2019). The recommendation that he gives is up to six hours a day, which gives the writer a good time to sharpen his skills. King says that one cannot end up being a good writer when they lack time for reading and writing. For him, the amount of words that he has apportioned himself to be writing daily is 2, 000 (Hanson, 2020). The definition of a talented writer, according to Stephen King, is controversial. King says that if a writer is paid for his/her work and pays bills with the money, then the writer must have good talent. King argues that he writes because he was made to write stories, and there is nothing else he can do. Although Stephen King has a deep passion for writing stories, he was inspired by Richard Matheson. Regarding horror stories, King says that he has always found himself interested in writing them. He uses the “what if” question to get a story to unfold.
In the political world, Stephen King has been a great supporter of Barrack Obama and his policies (Hanson, 2020). Also, he has been opposing bills meant to outlaw violent games for underage individuals. On the conservative ideas of President Trump, King has come out loud, calling them racists. Nonetheless, the political stand of Stephen King has always been liberal and democratic such that he supports open-minded individuals (Magistrale, 2019). King has been at the forefront condemning acts of racists and calling for unity and good governance.
Some of the awards King has managed to bag are the Edgar Award for the Best Novel, which was won by the novel Mr. Mercedes. Black House and the other five books won him the Horror guild Award. Danse Macabre won the Hugo Award, and Locus Awards was brought by Bag of Stones among four other books (Strengell, 2017). Stephen King also bagged the Mystery Writers of America and National Magazine Awards, among many others.
Stephen King has been largely successful as an author, dealing majorly with Horror stories and novels that have led in the film industry. Also, he has won numerous awards with his works, attracting fans and critics in the same measure. His wife has been a great supporter of his works, and this has given him the courage to write even more. In my opinion, Stephen King is the leading writer in horror stories, movies, comics, and other literary works. He deserves the respect that he has gained over the years. The many awards say much about his work. He has been hailed and honored by many as the father of horror movies and stories. He is also a man of charity, donating an average of $4 million annually for the building and equipping of libraries (Hanson, 2020). More so, he is a man who supports the delivery of social services such as local fire departments and schools.
References
Beahm, G. (2018). Stephen King from A to Z: an encyclopedia of his life and work. Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Hanson, C. (2020). Stephen King: Powers of Horror. In American Horror Fiction (pp. 135-154). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Magistrale, T. (2019). Stephen King: America’s Storyteller. Abc-Clio.
Strengell, H. (2017). Dissecting Stephen King: From the Gothic to Literary Naturalism. Popular Press.