|
Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine. His father Donald Edwin King deserted
them when Stephen was two year old. This left his mother Nellie Ruth Pillsbury
"Ruth" to raise King and his older brother David. Kings family suffered from
financial strain and moved around from Durham, Maine to Fort Wayne, Indiana and
then to Union, Connecticut.
Kings first attempt at being author came at a very early age when he wrote stories
based on movies and sold them to his classmates and friends. David, Kings
brother self-published "Dave's Rag" a local events type paper that King would also
contribute to. When king was about thirteen he found a box of his father's old
books. The books were mainly horror and science fiction paperbacks. He loved
them!
In 1966 he studied English at the University of Maine at Orono. He wrote a column
for the university magazine called "King's Garbage Truck". While attending the
university he meet his soon to be wife Tabitha Spruce and they married in 1971.
When King finished college with a Bachelor of Arts in English he took a job as a
teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine.
Poverty revisited King at this time in his life. He lived in a trailer and barely got by.
He started writing for men's magazines and made some extra money on the side
to help. He also developed a drinking problem during this time. He was
consistently drunk and suffered heavily with alcoholism. He also started a handful
of novels including Carrie. Carrie was published by Doubleday and launched King's
writing career. His mother would never see the book published as she died from
uterine cancer in 1973.
King also became addicted to cocaine and other drugs that consumed him until the
late 80's when he final got help for his addictions. Many of King's characters would
come from his experiences in this time in his life. |
|