We all have heroes, icons, people who we look up to and who inspire us. One of my personal biggest heroes is Stephen King. Not only is King the ‘King’ of horror, but he’s also been one of the Kings of my reading life since I was eleven. Stephen King has been one of the biggest influences on my own work, but his fortitude and personality have also made him one of my biggest heroes.
One of the main reasons Stephen King is one of my biggest heroes is because he, like most people who work towards their passions, has experienced rejection/failure. In his memoir On Writing, King mentions having hundreds of rejections, and reading and knowing that one of my heroes has experienced rejection like this is nothing but encouraging whenever I worry about getting those emails that don’t end in publication.
An obvious reason Stephen King is one of my heroes is because he, like myself, primarily deals with horror and darker themes in his work. The way that King can balance character and plot is something I strive for in everything I write (whether I can do this well is a different matter), but it makes his work readable AND enjoyable. His books are like old friends, and that makes him one of my biggest heroes.
King’s characters are another part of his content that I admire so much and get a lot from. In all of his books, no matter how I feel about the overall piece, I’ll always like and care about his characters. Since he’s been writing for over half a century and still manages to make me care about his work, his characters are a big part of that, and this contributes to Stephen King being a personal hero.
Every year, I’ll read at least two Stephen King Books (I’m on my third this year already), and this is another reason why King is one of my heroes. It might sound stupid to some people, but King is reliable, and I can always count on him to have a book for me to read, and that makes him one of my heroes, especially when it comes to reading and writing. I think we’ve all had people in our lives that are unreliable, but even one person being reliable in your life is a great thing, even if it’s Stephen King.
Despite having been rejected numerous times, admitted to not liking some of his work, and dealing with numerous personal struggles, Stephen King continues to be an upbeat, optimistic, positive guy, and this is the primary reason he’s one of my biggest heroes. It might not sound like a great reason to find so much to admire about someone, but I beg to disagree. That Stephen King can work with the cards he’s been dealt and stay positive whilst managing to do extremely well for himself is what has made him one of my personal heroes. If staying optimistic despite whatever has happened to you doesn’t make you some kind of hero, I don’t know what does.
If you ahven’t read any Stephen King books and want to get an impression of why he’s a hero of mine, check out Misery, It, Later, and his great memoir/writing masterclass On Writing.
Do you have any thoughts on Stephen King? Is he a hero of yours? I’d love to hear what you think of him!
Until next time,
Conrad 🙂
[…] spoken before about why Stephen King is one of my heroes, but I’ve not yet discussed my favourite work of his, one that isn’t just a book I […]