Setting For Many King Novels example essay topic

Stephen King, unlike any other contemporary author, captures his readers' exclusive attention because of his characters and life that was full of struggle, with which everyone can relate. Even his early life is not that of a typical person's: moving from place to place, watching his mother struggle after his father left his family, and having his own social struggle due to his strange appearance. King began to show his true abilities in college while working at as a dishwasher when he contributed to a school newspaper-a very humble beginning. King believes that writing is simple and refuses to preach to his readers, making his writing all the more appealing.

He also-as strange as it may sound-hopes that his short stories and novels give the reader at least one sleepless night, creating a very strange, yet intimate, event with his reader. King was born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine to Donald and Ruth King. Only three years after King's birth, his father deserted the family, leaving his mother to raise him and his brother alone. His mother took countless low-paying jobs and cared for King's maternal grandparents while taking care of her needy children, as well. In school, King had many problems along with the ones at home, but the main one was his trouble with being accepted due to his strange appearance. King-though seemingly normal-looking now, .".. was oversized and ungainly, with a thick thatch of unruly black hair, buck teeth and thick glasses.

He was the one who was predictably chosen last in sandlot games". Parts of King's childhood were in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, Stratford, Connecticut, and then King, along with his not-so-fairy-tale family, moved back to Maine. While King's mother was forced to look after her parents and her children at same time, the King's openly received many gifts and charities from nearby families. Families helped provide a house and financial support for them.

Soon after his grandparents passed away, King began to become more and more interested in the writing genre of horror. King's true fascination with horror began on October 4, 1957 when he watched "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers". He was "absolutely horrified" by this movie". It was this moment that helped King see exactly the things that scare us really are, and he realized that being scared was a very personal feeling.

King noticed that everyone tried to overcome the fears commenting that, "It [horror] is a combat waged in the secret recess of the heart". When King was around the age of twelve or thirteen, he found many paperback books left by his father. Many of the books were horror stories by authors such as H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. These books were King's "first encounter with serious fantasy-horror". Growing up in the Vietnam Era has affected King's life greatly, as well as his writings. King wanted to write a novel about that part of his childhood for quite a while.

King believes that in the sixties, "there was no 'there' there", meaning that nothing was so important that you could not relax and have fun (King, Bag of Bones 735). King believes that, "It would be easier to swallow a brick than to write about America's first post-World War II generation. School, in any shape or fashion, has been a huge part of King's life, whether he was attending or teaching. In his earlier days, King attended grammar school in Durham, Maine, only to graduate into Lisbon Falls High School in Durham, Maine, as well. King graduated from high school in 1966. King was only able to attend the University of Maine at Orono because of an academic scholarship he received.

Unable to pay for all his needs in college, King became a dish washer and gas station attendant. King took several creative writing courses and contributed to the campus newspaper, and he graduated from UM at Orono with a B.S. degree in English in 1970. King was very active in politics on campus at UMO, and he served as a member of the student senate and supported the anti-war movement on campus. King believed that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional and passionately expressed this at the senate assemblies. Immediately after college, King was unable to find a teaching position, and for sixty dollars a week, he worked at a laundromat. King finally found work from 1971 until 1973 as an instructor at the Hamden Academy, a private school.

He, of course, continued to write stories after college. King has many personal beliefs and ideas on writing. He believes that too much is not good for writing and says that when he is writing, he doesn't think about much. King knew that he wanted to be a writer at a very early age. King began sending many stories to magazines, and all of them were rejected. King finally began getting published in high school.

One of his first published works was a retelling of the movie, "The Pit and the Pendulum". King charged his classmates ten cents per copy. Because King was so extremely introverted, he became interested in horror stories on the radio, and he was addicted to watching science fiction and horror movies as a child. At UMO, one of his teachers read and liked some of his stories, and this helped give him the confidence to continue writing and sending his stories to magazines. When King first started really making it was when he was completely and utterly overburdened with bills that he could not pay. He sold his first novel, Carrie, to Doubleday, and he received paperback right for the book for $400,000.

He was "free from teaching and could devote his life to writing full-time". The Stand is widely known as King's most popular book, followed by It. King is now known as the master of horror. King has many ideas and quotes that have become popular and widely known. On horror, King states, "If I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud".

King has numerous ideas on life and the world's strange ways such as, .".. the most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things that you get ashamed of because words diminish them-words shrink things that seem limitless... ". King is said to be an "excellent thought-provoking writer" (Raws thorne I). King, to say the least, has a very unique style of writing. King's characters are used throughout many novels.

For example, Randall Flagg has appeared in several novels including both The Stand and The Eyes of the Dragon. Several-perhaps even the majority-of King's books have a villain with the initials "R.F". King often begins the novels towards the end of the story and works his way towards the beginning, only to pick up where the actual beginning left off. King has created two fictional towns in Maine where several of his stories are based. Derry and Castle Rock are the setting for many King novels. King has many unique writing techniques, as well.

He would write several manuscripts at once and mail in the manuscripts in intervals to make it appear that he had mailed them in immediately after he wrote them. He did this to avoid "constant writing". King also prefers to use older style writing methods, such as word processors instead of computers. King also enjoys writing nonfiction, too and has written two nonfiction novels, Danse Macabre and On Writing. On Writing is part autobiographical and part "lesson for aspiring novelists".

Danse Macabre is a personal record of the thoughts about horror that King developed and refined as a result of teaching a course at UMO. Richard Bachman is the author of several novels including Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man, and Thinner, and he also happens to be known as Stephen King. Richard Bachman is King's well-known pseudonym. King-oddly enough-has created a false life for Bachman. Bachman's early years are somewhat of a mystery, but he served a four year stint in the Coast Guard and then followed ten years in the merchant marines. He finally settled down in New Hampshire and ran a relatively large dairy farm.

He wrote at night because he suffered chronic insomnia. He and his wife, Claudia Inez Bachman, had one child, a boy, who died in an accident at the age of six: he fell down a well and drowned. In 1982, a brain tumor was discovered in Bachman's brain; tricky surgery removed it. Bachman died suddenly in late 1985 of "cancer of the pseudonym", a rare form of "schizonomia". Bachman's novel, The Regulators, was published after he died. Supposedly, Bachman's suspense novel Misery was written and then plagiarized by King.

Some strange similarities between Bachman and King include The Regulators, Bachman's novel, and Desperation, King's novel, both have the same characters and is written extremely similarly. On Bachman, King said, .".. a nasty man... I'm glad he's dead". King hopes that when one of his novels or short stories is read that they give the reader "at least one sleepless night" (King 733). King says that even if he is scared after writing something, it is just part of the fun.

"If it makes me sick", he exclaimed, "hey, don't call the doctor". King is the epitome of an excellent contemporary author. He creates characters and events, no matter how outrageous, that become very personal to the reader and makes the work all the more interesting. When you look at his life and humble beginnings, one can't help but see his struggle, whether it be washing dishes or pumping gas. King delivers when he pens a novel or short story.

Everyone can relate to his characters and feel their struggle, no matter how disgusting or scary. King, the master of horror, has always been able to scare with ease and a creepy, gory grace.