Stephen King threw the draft of 'Carrie,' his first hit, into the trash, but his wife rescued it and convinced him to stick with it.

'Carrie' kick-started a wildly successful career

King has published more than 60 novels—along with dozens of novellas, hundreds of short stories, and several collections of nonfiction—and has sold over 400 million books. This 2024 interview finds him reflecting on his debut novel, and breakthrough hit, "Carrie," and the wild success that followed.

Stephen King once shelved his own book

Stephen King's "Rage" follows a high school student who kills a teacher and holds classmates hostage. Originally published in 1977, the book was later linked to several school shootings. In the late '90s, King asked his publisher to pull it from print.

Stephen King is drawn to horror's childish power

This 1986 appearance promoting King's directorial debut finds him reflecting on what makes horror, which he says is its ability to strip away pretense, reducing supposedly sophisticated people to terrified children. He also seems to have already soured on the movie business, calling filmmaking "a primitive way to create," a not-so-subtle dig at Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining," which notoriously disappointed King.

Why Stephen King bought the van that nearly killed him

Back in 1999, writer Stephen King was struck by a vehicle near his home in Bangor, Maine. It's a story he recounts in his memoir "On Writing," though that sober-minded text doesn't reveal a fascinating bit of trivia: King initially bought the van intending to obliterate it with a sledgehammer. King did end up purchasing the vehicle, though he didn't destroy it himself. This article uncovers why.

In 1999, King survived a near-fatal car accident

In 1999, a distracted driver hit writer Stephen King as he walked on the side of the road near his house in Maine. He recounts the event in his famous memoir, "On Writing." This interview with Katie Couric took place five months after the accident and shows King in a fragile state, wondering about the long-term effects on his mind. When Couric asks if he'll try to work the incident into his work, he smiles. "Sooner or later," he says, "everything goes in."

King once shelved his own book

“Rage” was one of King’s earliest novels and the first to be published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. After several school shootings mirrored the book’s plot, in which a troubled student murders several of his teachers, King asked his publisher to discontinue the title, fearing it might have inspired the assailants.

King's 'On Writing' is a classic text about his craft

Stephen King is known first and foremost as a horror writer. However, one of his best-known books happens to be nonfiction. “On Writing,” published in 2000, is part autobiography and part instruction manual. King explains how he came to his craft and offers advice on ways aspiring writers can improve.

David Foster Wallace admired Stephen King's writing

David Foster Wallace was one of the most acclaimed American writers of the 1990s and early 2000s, releasing dense, philosophically informed works of literary fiction. When the syllabus for an undergraduate literature course he taught surfaced through his archives at the University of Texas, many of his fans were surprised to find it included so much supposedly commercial fiction, including Stephen King's "Carrie." Below are his annotations on two pages of the novel.

Stephen King's basement inspired a Ramones classic

The horror writer was a fan of the band and invited them to his home in Maine. While hanging out in the basement, Dee Dee Ramone, the band's bassist, stole away with a copy of King's "Pet Sematary" and wrote a song about it. The song appeared in the film adaptation of the book, which began shooting a month later.

Stephen King doesn't believe writing can be taught

But he does believe it can be learned. He argues that the best writers are "voracious readers" who start their careers by copying the style of the masters before developing their own.

Horror exploded as a commercial literary genre in the late 1960s

Ira Levin’s 1967 novel “Rosemary’s Baby” showed publishers horror was a viable commercial genre. That was proven again in 1971, with William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist” and again in 1974 with Stephen King’s “Carrie.” The books dealt with societal fears (the occult, drugs, sex) during a time of political upheaval.

Joyce Carol Oates praised King's working-class characters

Joyce Carol Oates is a writer who, like Stephen King, has a massive body of work that moves between styles and genres. Unlike King, she was never derided by critics as being overly commercial. Introducing King at Princeton University in 1997 and 2016, she made the case for King as a serious American writer in the Gothic tradition of Edgar Allan Poe.

The first draft of the classic American novel 'Of Mice and Men' was torn to shreds by John Steinbeck's dog.

Carol Steinbeck, John Steinbeck's first wife, played an integral role in producing 'The Grapes of Wrath.'

Legendary director Brian De Palma hated his first viewing of 'Star Wars'

The "Carrie" and "Mission: Impossible" director was invited by his friend George Lucas to watch an early cut of the first "Star Wars," a draft that lacked many of the special effects that would be added later. De Palma was highly critical, telling Lucas that "The Force" was an awful name for the spiritual power Luke Skywalker eventually comes to embrace.

King's books are now taught by college professors

Stephen King’s horror, fantasy, and science fiction were once considered lowbrow and unworthy of serious academic study. That's changed over the last 50 years, with King courses and symposiums taking place at universities around the world.

The 2017 adaptation of King's 'IT' is the most successful horror movie ever

The 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel "IT" wasn't the first adaptation for the screen, but it was the most successful. It broke multiple box-office records, becoming the highest-grossing horror movie in history. This resource breaks down every record it broke in its theatrical release.

Famed director Brian De Palma idolizes 'Vertigo'

Brian De Palma, director of “Carrie,” “Mission: Impossible,” and “Scarface,” discusses the influence of Hitchcock on his career, including how it led him to abandon engineering and pursue a career in filmmaking. He says Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” in particular changed his understanding of “cinematic language.”

King was outed as Bachman by a bookstore clerk

King published several books in the 1970s and '80s under the pen name Richard Bachman, a device that allowed him to publish outside the horror genre. Eventually, Bachman was unmasked when a bookshop clerk noticed similarities between the Bachman novel “Thinner” and some of King’s other titles. A 2024 study in the Journal of Computational Literary Studies used quantitative methods to find similarities between works published under Bachman and King, arguing that genuine literary voices are immutable, despite some authors’ efforts.

Read JK Rowling's original 'Harry Potter' pitch that a dozen publishers rejected

Rowling claims 12 publishing houses rejected the pitch first written in 1995—which contained this letter and the story's first few chapters—before Bloomsbury accepted it.

Stephen King, Octavia Butler, and Anthony Burgess all grew to regret books they'd published

Some, like Butler, regretted writing predictable, trope-heavy books. Others, like King and Burgess, regretted that what they'd intended as satire had been misunderstood as endorsements.

After surging in popularity, King began using a pseudonym

King was a rarity in the '70s: a genre writer with a vast mainstream audience. He was so popular, in fact, that he began releasing books under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, a ploy that allowed him to write outside the horror genre without attracting the displeasure of his massive fan base.

King has published more than 60 novels

Since 1974, the writer has published a staggering number of books, often releasing a title a year (and sometimes more than that). This comprehensive list from King's official website lists everything the man has ever done, including unpublished stories, long-forgotten television specials, and limited edition novels. It's a fascinating look into the artistic life of one of America's most successful writers.

Although not known for horror, a young Tennessee Williams wrote a gothic radio play

The "Streetcar Named Desire" author wrote "The Strangers," a short script, while a student at the University of Iowa in the 1930s. Andrew Gulli, managing editor for the literary magazine that published the unearthed piece, said that it blends classic '30s radio horror with themes Williams would revisit in later, more famous work.

Carole King regrets writing a song excusing domestic violence

While working at the Brill Building, Carole King became one of the architects of the classic girl group sound, penning hits like the Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and the Chiffons' "One Fine Day." One song she regrets writing, though, is the Crystals' "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)," a song she now believes normalizes domestic violence.

What business leaders can learn from Stephen King

Stephen King's "On Writing" is one of the definitive craft books, a subgenre of nonfiction aimed at writers looking to learn from the titans of literature. This podcast explores the book's lessons from a business perspective, gleaning lessons in leadership from King's famous text.

In 1996, King had 6 books on the New York Times bestseller list

Stephen King has been wildly popular for decades, but he was never more visible than in the 1990s—especially for one week in 1996. All six volumes of the serialized novel "The Green Mile" appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Reading the article not only provides some context for King's ubiquity, but also hints at what would become a norm in publishing: a few big-name authors dominating the charts with their popular series. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

King is a major influence on modern genre writers

Stephen King's influence is felt across literature, film, and television—even outside the many books and adaptations that make up his long and storied career. This podcast features interviews with "Lost" showrunner Damon Lindelof and horror novelist Grady Hendrix, two writers who also happen to be King superfans.

Rob Reiner fell in love while working on the romantic comedy 'When Harry Met Sally,' inspiring him to change the movie's ending to make it happier.

Contemporary horror novelists on their favorite scary stories

Ten of horror's best writers name the books that still give them nightmares. From established classics, like Stephen King's "IT" and Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House," to unexpected picks like Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love," this collection of scary stories is a perfect reading list for Halloween.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ in three days, then burned it

Stevenson woke from a dream and instantly got to writing the “fine bogey tale” he’d witnessed in his sleep. He finished a draft three days later and read it to his wife, who suggested it needed revising. Stevenson eventually agreed and threw the manuscript into the fireplace. He got back to work and emerged three more days later with another draft.

King sets many of his stories in Maine

In the process, he has created a few fictional towns. This extensive travelogue by a superfan explores the writer's favorite haunts, pinpointing specific details from and inspirations for King's fiction. Helpfully, it also provides plenty of photos, allowing you to venture through King's haunted version of the state without ever leaving the comfort of your home.

In Iowa, Flannery O'Connor decided to pursue creative writing

O’Connor enrolled in a master’s program in journalism at the University of Iowa, intending to pursue political cartooning, but quickly switched to creative writing. Her thesis was a collection of stories called “The Geranium.” The title story was eventually her first published piece.

'A Christmas Carol' was originally going to be a political pamphlet

Dickens planned to write a treatise on the day's social issues and had a particularly dry working title: "An Appeal to the People of England on behalf of the Poor Man's Child." After a week, though, he decided to rework the ideas into a fictional story, working at a quick pace so it could be released in time for Christmas. It worked: The story was published on December 19, 1843.

Hitchcock's 'Psycho' broke many established rules in film

Hitchcock flouted convention for “Psycho,” which many consider his masterwork. Hitchcock broke new ground with the 1960 film, with risqué imagery and shocking twists. The film was the most commercially successful in his long and illustrious career.

A lost Jack Kerouac story was discovered in the belongings of a gunned-down mob boss

The unpublished "The Holy, Beat, and Crazy Next Thing" was found in the belongings of Paul Castellano, who was murdered in 1985. It's unclear why Castellano had it, though an heir says it was originally in the collection of a "noted San Francisco-based poet...who received it directly from the author."