Days before Halloween in 1979, my wife, Dallas Morning News reporter Judy Williamson, met famed author Stephen King at Dallas Love Field. It is one of the few interviews he has ever granted.
King met her on a layover while promoting his fifth book, The Dead Zone.
What Judy learned was more shocking than the plot twists in his scary novels.
King directly and indirectly suggested four charms for a successful career and, believe it or not, a cheery life.
Charm #1: Work your imagination
Against a rain-splashed window in the only restaurant available at Dallas Love Field, a small coffee shop, Stephen King shared a hint about writing success.
“I write my nightmares out. I am here to scare you.” Stephen King/Judy Williamson/Dallas Morning News, October 1979
Writing, for King, is a creative act of working out your fears and nightmares.
Judy summarized King’s rough childhood since his father left him and his family when he was two.
His mother worked as a caregiver for the mentally challenged.
While his early education was rough in a 1-room schoolhouse, he earned a degree in English at the University of Maine.
But, his mother lit a spark when young Stephen showed her a comic book. “I bet you can do better,” she said. “Write one of your own.”
He remembers . . .
” . . . an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had been ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given the key to open any I liked.” Stephen King/On Writing: A Memoir of the Ceaft. p. 28
Charm #2: Work with perseverance
Early in his marriage with two young children, King worked two jobs as a high school teacher and 12-hour shifts in a commercial laundry.
In between work and family, he wrote late into the evenings . . .
” . . . with an elementary grade desk propped on his knees, in a dimly lit furnace room.” Judy Williamson/Dallas Morning News/October 1979
Even after great success with Carrie, The Shining, Salem’s Lot, and The Stand, Stephen King told Judy that he prefers a low profile.
He also said he only takes off two days a year from writing: Christmas and his birthday. Why not Halloween?
That was his habit in 1979. It still is 45 years later.
“I have to work every day because I have to keep it fresh. If you take a few days off, it all starts to look kind of tacky–like an old campaign poster that’s running in the rain.” Esquire Magazine/Summer 2024/p. 70.
Charm #3: Work through pain
On June 19, 1999, Stephen King was run over by a van while walking in the country.
He suffered . . .
- multiple fractures
- a collapsed lung
- a broken hip
He said it took five years to get back to 90%.
When asked in interviews how he endured, he said, quite simply, “writing.”
“Writing helped me because it took me away. That’s probably a healthy thing. You don’t want to live your life in a defensive crouch.” Esquire Magazine/Summer 2024/p. 70
Play through the pain because the next moment could be a breakthrough if you persevere.
Charm #4: Work for a cheery ending
King says he’d like to be known as someone who dies cheery.
How does that work for a horror novelist?
Stay away from booze (King is an alcoholic) and work your imagination.
Express yourself in writing, music, building, or charity.
The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation donates millions and more through other causes.
Despite his fame and fortune, he insists that his “cheery” path is weaving tall tales.
Creativity, perseverance, longsuffering, and joyful work are the charms King carries.
What charms are you carrying this Halloween season?