Blast From the Past

Many wonder how one individual could possibly have the talent to write so many exceptionally successful novels but, the truth is Stephen King didn’t become a bestselling author overnight. King was born in September of 1947 in Portland, Maine. He grew up with just his mother and older brother David after his father left their family at just the age of two. Most of Stephen’s childhood was spent moving from house to house across the US, as his mother struggled to support them financially. But, reading and writing saved him from these overwhelming emotions and it became an outlet for him. To start, Stephen would simply rewrite tales adding in different plot twists and characters but eventually started writing short stories of his own. At the age of 11, King finally settled into his home in Durham, Maine, where he lived in up until University. After High school he attended the University of Maine where he studied English, and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Both in high school and university, King was heavily involved in the school paper and wrote many columns and stories about topics of debate and school news. After graduating from university, Stephen eventually became a teacher at a high school and continued to write short stories and novels on his time off and weekends, in hopes of publishing one of his pieces. Finally, in the summer of 1971, the company Doubleday & Co published Stephen King’s novel “Carrie”, which allowed him to quit his teaching position, and gave him the opportunity to write full time. For King, it almost took a quarter of his life to become a published author and in those 24 years, every day was filled with reading and writing. This allowed him to develop and progress his writing skills, which allowed him to become the writer he is today.