Stephen King Fear, Fame, and Fortune (A&E Biography)

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Stephen King Fear, Fame, and Fortune (A&E Biography) Name: ______

Answer the following questions while viewing the video presentation of Biography: Stephen King. 1. What hardships did Stephen King face as a young boy? ______

2. List three things King is afraid of: ______

______

3. Why didn’t his father become a famous writer? ______

______4. What job did King have that inspired him to write his first published short story? ______

______

5. As a junior in college, King had already written ______novels.

6. Which story-turned-into-novel was King’s first published novel? ______

7. Why was this novel almost NOT published? ______

8. King made $______as advance payment for publishing this novel. Then New

American Library bought the paperback rights for $______, in which he made

$______.

9. What is Stephen King’s pseudonym (pen/fictional name)? ______10. Why did King allow Rage to go out of print (what event triggered this)? ______

______

11. Write down three facts about Stephen King that you found interesting: ______

______

Answer the following questions while viewing the video presentation of Biography: Stephen King. 1. What hardships did Stephen King face as a young boy? Answers will vary. Possibilities include: poor; father left them when he was young; mother had to work & leave he & his older brother home alone at a young age. 2. List three things King is afraid of: Answers may include: spiders, bats, the dark, funerals, closed spaces, sewers, the number 13. 3. Why didn’t his father become a famous writer? He lacked persistence. 4. What job did King have that inspired him to write his first published short story? He worked as a grave digger, which inspired the story “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber”. 5. As a junior in college, King had already written five novels. 6. Which story-turned-into-novel was King’s first published novel? Carrie 7. Why was this novel almost NOT published? King threw it in the trash and his wife, Tabitha, took it out & encouraged him to continue working on it. 8. King made $2,500 as advance payment for publishing this novel. Then New American Library bought the paperback rights for $400,000, in which he made $200,000. 9. What is Stephen King’s pseudonym (pen/fictional name)? Richard Bachman 10. Why did King allow Rage to go out of print (what event triggered this)? The Columbine school shootings (or the school shootings in Kentucky). 11. Write down three facts about Stephen King that you found interesting: Answers will vary. Some interesting facts: first car he wanted was a pink Cadillac, but he bought a red, white, and blue one instead; he met his wife in the book stacks at the school library in which they both worked; they had their first child before they were married (“Because sometimes that’s how it was done in the ‘60s.”); King almost died in a car accident in 1999; he earned $4,600 per year teaching English (he would have to work for over 43 years at that salary to earn what he did on the paperback rights to Carrie); has three children.

1. Name at least THREE things Stephen King is afraid of: ______

______

2. What was Kingʼs ﬁrst PUBLISHED novel? ______

3. Why was this novel almost NOT published? ______

______

4. What is Kingʼs pseudonym (pen or ﬁctional name)? ______

5. What event led to King allowing Rage to go out of print? ______

______

6. Extra Credit: According to his mother, what was his father lacking in order to become a

famous writer? ______

Stephen King Biography - Quiz Name: ______

1. Name at least THREE things Stephen King is afraid of: ______

______

2. What was Kingʼs ﬁrst PUBLISHED novel? ______

3. Why was this novel almost NOT published? ______

______

4. What is Kingʼs pseudonym (pen or ﬁctional name)? ______

5. What event led to King allowing Rage to go out of print? ______

______

6. Extra Credit: According to his mother, what was his father lacking in order to become

famous writer? ______

1. Name at least THREE things Stephen King is afraid of: spiders, bats, sewers, the dark, funerals, closed spaces, the number 13 2. What was Kingʼs ﬁrst PUBLISHED novel? Carrie 3. Why was this novel almost NOT published? He threw it in the garbage; his wife, Tabitha, took it out & encouraged him to submit it for publication. 4. What is Kingʼs pseudonym (pen or ﬁctional name)? Richard Bachman 5. What event led to King allowing Rage to go out of print? The Columbine High School school shooting tragedy (or if they said the school shootings in America - or Kentucky - that is

OK. 6. Extra Credit: According to his mother, what was his father lacking in order to become a

famous writer? persistence

Birth Name: Stephen Edwin King Nickname: The King; The King of horror Height: 6' 4" (1.93 m) Spouse: Tabitha King (2 January 1971 - present) Children: Naomi Rachel (b. 1970), Joseph Hillstrom (b. June 4, 1972) and Owen Phillip (b. February 21, 1977). Trade Marks: Usually sets stories in Maine; Most of his lead male characters are writers; Almost always has a cameo in the movies or mini-series based on his novels; Makes references to his previous novels in his books; Horror and fantasy themes.

Mini Biography Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged. Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums. He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines. Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies. In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. 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. On Mother's Day of that year, Stephen learned from his new editor at Doubleday, Bill Thompson, that a major paperback sale would provide him with the means to leave teaching and write full-time.

Copyright©2010, T.Orman At the end of the summer of 1973, the Kings moved their growing family to southern Maine because of Stephen's mother's failing health. Renting a summer home on Sebago Lake in North Windham for the winter, Stephen wrote his next-published novel, originally titled Second Coming and then Jerusalem's Lot, before it became 'Salem's Lot, in a small room in the garage. During this period, Stephen's mother died of cancer, at the age of 59. Carrie was published in the spring of 1974. That same fall, the Kings left Maine for Boulder, Colorado. They lived there for a little less than a year, during which Stephen wrote The Shining, set in Colorado. Returning to Maine in the summer of 1975, the Kings purchased a home in the Lakes Region of western Maine. At that house, Stephen finished writing The Stand, much of which also is set in Boulder. The Dead Zone was also written in Bridgton. In 1977, the Kings spent three months of a projected year- long stay in England, cut the sojourn short and returned home in mid-December, purchasing a new home in Center Lovell, Maine. After living there one summer, the Kings moved north to Orrington, near Bangor, so that Stephen could teach creative writing at the University of Maine at Orono. The Kings returned to Center Lovell in the spring of 1979. In 1980, the Kings purchased a second home in Bangor, retaining the Center Lovell house as a summer home. Stephen and Tabitha now spend winters in Florida and the remainder of the year at their Bangor and Center Lovell homes. The Kings have three children: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill and Owen Phillip, and three grandchildren. Stephen is of Scots-Irish ancestry, stands 6'4" and weighs about 200 pounds. He is blue-eyed, fair- skinned, and has thick, black hair, with a frost of white most noticeable in his beard, which he sometimes wears between the end of the World Series and the opening of baseball spring training in Florida. Occasionally he wears a moustache in other seasons. He has worn glasses since he was a child. He has put some of his college dramatic society experience to use doing cameos in several of the film adaptations of his works as well as a bit part in a George Romero picture, Knightriders. Joe Hill King also appeared in Creepshow, which was released in 1982. Stephen made his directorial debut, as well as writing the screenplay, for the movie Maximum Overdrive (an adaptation of his short story "Trucks") in 1985. Stephen and Tabitha provide scholarships for local high school students and contribute to many other local and national charities. Stephen is the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Originally written by Tabitha King, updated by Marsha DeFilippo. StephenKing.com - About the Author

Trivia (Information from: Stephen King (I) - Biography) • Newspapers reported that he has bought the van that hit him on June; he plans to hammer it to pieces on the anniversary of the accident. [September 1999]

• King was accidentally hit in the back by a minivan while walking on Route 5 near North Lovell, Maine. He suffered a broken leg, a bruised lung and a head laceration. The driver of the van was distracted by his dog. King was found lying in a depression about 14 feet off the road and appeared to have been thrown by the collision. The van's windshield was broken and the right front corner of the car was crunched in from the impact of striking King. [19 June 1999]

• Revealed that he is suffering from macular degeneration, a currently incurable condition which will most likely lead to blindness. [May 1999]

• Estimated annual salary is $40 million. [May 1999]

• HBO paid $1.5 million for the rights to the novel "Rose Madder". [October 1996]

• King has never censored his own work. The death scene of the doctor in novel "'Salem's Lot" was cut due to the demands of the editor at Doubleday.

• King published seven novels ("Rage", "The Long Walk", "Roadwork", "The Running Man", "Thinner", "The Regulators" and "Blaze") under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.

• Portions of King's writings from when he was 9 years old appears in the 1993 book, "First Words", edited by Paul Mandelbaum, available from Algonquin books.

• Supposedly created his pseudonym Richard Bachman by reading a novel by Donald E. Westlake, whose pseudonym is Richard Stark, while listening to Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

• It is falsely rumored that he will not sign autographs because of superstition. Actually, he doesn't sign them because he hates the idolatry of celebrities (he also will not endorse an official fan club for the same reason). He will sign autographs now only at book signings, according to his official website.

• Met his wife Tabitha King while the two were working at the Fogler Library as students at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.

• Used to work for a dry cleaner before publishing his first novel.

• His daughter Naomi wed her 54 year old lesbian partner Thandeka (who is a theological school teacher) in Nashville, Tennessee. [June 2000]

• Bryan Smith, the driver of the van that hit King, dies. King said in a statement, "I was very sorry to hear of the passing of Bryan Smith. The death of a 43-year-old man can only be termed untimely.". [26 September 2000]

• Scored in the 1300s on the SAT.

• Wrote "The Running Man", a 304-page novel, in only ten days.

• Owns three radio stations in Maine (one has been named AP Station of the Year more than once) Online at zoneradio.com

• Certified by Guinness Superlatives (the "Book of World Records" group) as having the most number of motion picture adaptations by a living author.

• In 1992 he and wife Tabitha King gave a donation to build Mansfield Stadium in Bangor, Maine. In August of 2002 he threw the first pitch at the opening of the Senior League Baseball World Series. The Kings were honored for their generosity with an inscribed stone monument shaped like a home plate.

• Contributed a short monologue to two versions of the Blue Öyster Cult song "Astronomy" (from the out-of-print "Imaginos" album) on a promotional CD single.

• Underwent surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid from his lungs from a bout of pneumonia. [25 November 2003]

• Owns a house on Sanibel Island, Florida

• Once said that his favorite personal horror movie was “Tourist Trap” (1979), and his favorite film is “Of Unknown Origin” (1983).

• Dogs are often described as monsters or the opposite--victims--in his books and films (like Cujo (1983) or Pet Sematary (1989)).

• He is an avid Red Sox fan. Before the Sox won the 2004 World Series, he said he wanted his tombstone epitaph to be a single sock and the line "Not In My Lifetime, Not In Yours, Either."

• He is the most successful American writer in history.

• Often listens to hard rock music during the time he writes to get inspired. He also plays in a rock band himself.

• A recovering alcoholic, King noted in his book "On Writing" that he was drunk virtually the whole time of writing the book "Cujo" and to this day barely remembers writing any of it.

• In the 1980s he was battling a cocaine addiction. At one time his wife organized a group of family and friends and confronted him. She dumped onto the floor his trashcan, which included beer cans, cigarette butts, cough and cold medicines and various drug paraphernalia. Her message to him was: "Get help or get out. We love you, but we don't want to witness your suicide." He got help and was able to become clean and sober.

• Is good friends with horror director George A. Romero.

• He belongs to a an all-writer rock band called "Rock Bottom Remainders" with other such writers as Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Scott Turow, Roy Blount Jr. and James McBride. Their motto is, according to Barry, "We play music as well as Metallica writes novels.".

• A huge fan of Ramones, King penned the liner notes to the 2002 Ramones tribute album, "We're A Happy Family.".

• Writes reviews of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series for Entertainment Weekly magazine.

• Is an avid AC/DC fan.

• The fictional town of Castle Rock is located in Maine. Stand by Me (1986), the first film to be set in that town, accidentally set it in Oregon. This is because the original story, "The Body", only mentions that Castle Rock is near Portland, without identifying which state. It is only identified as being in Maine in his other stories. The only clues in "The Body" that it takes place in Maine is the fact that the local radio stations begin with W, which, with only a few exceptions, applies only to stations east of the Mississippi River.

• Many of his stories take place in or near the fictional small town of Castle Rock, Maine. The first film to be based on a Castle Rock story was Stand by Me (1986). Director Rob Reiner subsequently named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment.

• Is a member of a band called the Rock Bottom Remainders, which is composed of other writers. Besides King the members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Matt Groening, Kathi Kamen Goldmark and Greg Iles. A "remainder" is a book that has not sold well and has been drastically reduced in price to ensure a quick sale.

• In 1988 he was offered the chance to write and direct “A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child” (1989).

• Was such a fan of the film “28 Days Later…” (2002), he bought out an entire showing of the film in New York City.

• Son Joseph Hillstrom King is also a novelist. He spent the past several years writing under the pen name Joe Hill, the name of a labor leader who is also his namesake.

• Cites Sir William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies as a major influence on him. One of the chapters in that book was "Castle Rock," which later became the name of a fictional town in several of King's stories.

• Worked as an English teacher before becoming a professional writer. Many of his characters are also teachers.

• In his book "On Writing", he states that as punishment for making fun of Ellen Margitan, the vice principal of Lisbon High, he is sent to the offices of the Lisbon Enterprise to work with the editor, John Gould which he states is not "the" John Gould. In fact, it was "the" John Gould, famous Maine humorist and it was John Gould that helped King develop into a writer that people wanted to read.

• He's a huge fan of the hit ABC TV show "_Lost (2004)_", which often makes references to his books. He's even trusting J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof to adapt the "Dark Tower" series into a film series.

• After watching the first cut of Rob Reiner 's Stand by Me (1986), he was said to be crying and stated it was the closest adaptation to one of his novels he'd ever seen.

• A fan of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter novels.

• Controversially, King once wrote a complimentary "Blurb" for the back cover of L. Ron Hubbard's book Fear.

• When it was discovered in 1985 that he and Richard Bachman were one and the same, he retired the use of that name. He resurrected Bachman about a decade later, using the name as the author of The Regulators, a companion piece to his own novel Desperation. Since then, he has issued other new novels using the name Bachman, with the dust jackets jokingly claiming the books to have been a posthumous discovery by Bachman's widow. Bachman is said to have died in 1985 from "Cancer of the Pseudonym."

• Adaptations of his work have featured two generations of Sheens and Sutherlands. Kiefer Sutherland appeared in “Stand by Me” (1986), while Donald Sutherland appeared in "Salem's Lot (2004)(TV)'. Martin Sheen and Ramon Estevez both appeared in “The Dead Zone” (1983), and Emilio Estevez appeared in “Maximum Overdrive” (1986). Personal Quotes

“I've killed enough of the world's trees.”

“I'm a salami writer. I try to write good salami, but salami is salami.”

“Each life makes its own imitation of immortality.”

“When asked, ‘How do you write?’, I invariably answer, ‘One word at a time’.”

“I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.”

“I am the literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries.”

“For every six crappy poems you read, you'll actually find one or two good ones. And that, believe me, is a very acceptable ratio of trash to treasure.”

“People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy... and I keep it in a jar on my desk.”

[asked why he hasn't personally directed more movies] “Just watch Maximum Overdrive.” (1986).

[on playing the role of Jordy Verrill in “Creepshow” (1982)] “If I had written it for myself, I would have put in at least one sex scene!”

“Rob Reiner, who made ‘Stand by Me’ (1986), is one of the bravest, smartest filmmakers I have ever met, and I'm proud of my association with him. I am also mused to note that the company Mr. Reiner formed following the success of ‘Stand By Me’ is Castle Rock Productions . . . a name with which many of my longtime readers will be familiar.”

“Like anything else that happens on its own, the act of writing is beyond currency. Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process.”

“I love the movies, and when I go to see a movie that's been made from one of my books, I know that it isn't going to be exactly like my novel because a lot of other people have interpreted it. But I also know it has an idea that I'll like because that idea occurred to me, and I spent a year, or a year and a half of my life working on it.”

“I know writers who claim not to read their notices, or not to be hurt by the bad ones if they do, and I actually believe two of these individuals. I'm one of the other kind - I obsess over the possibility of bad reviews and brood over them when they come. But they don't get me down for long; I just kill a few children and old ladies, and then I'm right as a trivet again.”

“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a check, if you cashed the check and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

“I've had a deal for years with Castle Rock Entertainment that goes back to ‘Stand by M’e (1986). I have told them that you can have my work for a buck. What I want from you is script approval, director approval, cast approval, and I want to have the authority to push the stop button at any point regardless of how much money you [the production company] have invested, because none of the money you have put in has gone into my pocket. What I get on the back end, if things work out, is 5% from dollar one.”

“Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit but taste completely different.”

[on directing “Maximum Overdrive” (1986)] “I didn't get the job because I went to film school. I got the job because I'm Stephen King. If you become famous enough, they'll let you hang yourself in Times Square with live TV coverage.”

[on film adaptations of his work] “I don't feel any urge to control after I sign a piece of paper. I say, ‘See you later. You have what you need and I have what I want. As long as the check doesn't bounce, you and I are quits.’”

[from his acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, 2003] “I salute the National Book Foundation Board, who took a huge risk in giving this award to a man many people see as a rich hack.”

“I know a few writers who claim not to read reviews, and I actually believe one of these individuals. I am the opposite: I anticipate bad reviews and brood over them when they come. But then I just kill a few children and old ladies and I'm right as a trivet again.”

[on the death of Michael Jackson] “Strange man. Lost man. And not unique in his passing. Like James Dean, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Heath Ledger, and a dozen others we could name, he just left the building far too soon. Because, man oh man, that guy could dance.” Where Are They Now (2002) Has declared that this will be his last year of writing novels. His books will be published for the next few years, but he has vowed to quit the job in numerous publications on numerous occasions.

(March 2005) Has denied rumors of retirement saying that "The Dark Tower" series made him want to retire but he loves writing and cannot retire. Is preparing to release a new novel "The Colorado Kid" in October 2005.

(January 2006) Teaches a course as part of the Writers in Paradise Winter Term at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida.

(July 2003 - present) Writing a column for the back page of Entertainment Weekly magazine called "The Pop of King".