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Frequently Asked Questions
 
General  |  Writing  |  The Dark Tower  |  Rumors  |  Other Books and Movies  |  The Plant  |  Kingdom Hospital  |  Dollar Baby Films
 
General:
 
  • I received spam from your site. What should I do?
    Answer:
     

    We never send out spam or unsolicited commercial email.
     
    If you have received a newsletter and no longer wish to receive it, please use the link at the bottom of the email to unsubscribe.
     
    If you have received anything beyond a newsletter or a response from the message board, the most likely cause is that people are "spoofing" our information for their spam.
     
    Basically, they're sending email from their own servers, but making it look like it comes from here.
     
    If you are experiencing this problem, get the header information from the message (e.g. in Outlook, with the message open, go to View -> Options - the information is listed in a pane at the bottom of the window) - copy and paste the information into a forward of the email and send it to both spam@uce.gov (US government watchdog) and to abuse@<the actual originating host>
     
    --------------------------------
    Here is a sample spam header:
    --------------------------------
    Return-Path: <cchdebbxkc@yahoo.com>
    Received: from 70.Red-80-34-123.pooles.rima-tde.net (70.Red-80-34-123.pooles.rima-tde.net [80.34.123.70])
    by host1.stephenking.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id j07HppB20784
    for <REDACTED>; Fri, 7 Jan 2005 12:51:54 -0500
    Received: from 107.32.92.12 by 80.34.123.70; Fri, 07 Jan 2005 16:44:55 -0100
    Message-ID: <AMPIYBASMFSSIGZZWDQEWOJS@
    yahoo.com>
    From: "Some Made-Up Name" <cchdebbxkc@yahoo.com>
    Reply-To: "Some Made-Up Name" <cchdebbxkc@yahoo.com>
    Subject: the american 2005 doctors & medical directory, anesthesiology.
    Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 11:51:55 -0600
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
    boundary="--8700024879819880212"
    X-IP: 18.127.136.146
    Status:
    ---------------------------------
     
    As you can see, although the message says that it is from cchdebbxkc@yahoo.com, it actually originated from the IP address 80.34.123.70.
     
    Because people can both "spoof" the email address and the name of the originating server, the best resource to use to determine the ACTUAL source is available for free at http://www.arin.net - just do a whois lookup (put the IP address in the text field at the top right of the site and click "Search Whois"), you'll have all of the information and you can send the email to the proper regulators.
     
    The internet is (at best) a shady place. The FTC is working to remove spammers violating the new laws, such as spoofing addresses, but the only way they can do their job is if we all do a bit to catch these devious individuals.
     
    I (the webmaster) personally receive several hundred pieces of spam a day on the StephenKing.com server alone - many spoofing addresses at Stephenking.com!
     
    Click here for the FTC's site.

  • Where can I get one of those We Never Sleep t-shirts?
    Answer:
     

    The last we'd heard, the company that made those had gone out of business.

  • How can I find out if you're going to be doing any book signings or appearances?
    Answer:
     

    We do not, as a rule, post book signings or appearances on Stephen's web site. In the past when we have done that, it has caused enormous problems for the staff of the book store where the signing was to be held because they were inundated with phone calls asking for information. We give the local venue the option of listing the signing on the web site but they usually ask that it not be announced and prefer to do their own local advertising. We have not yet found a way to let fans know about book signings in another way. We are considering revising our mailing list to include a category for notification of book signings. Stephen does not have any book signings or appearances scheduled at this time.

  • How can I tell if I have a First Edition?
    Answer:
     

    Bev Vincent, (with the assistance of materials made available by Rich DeMars, John Mastrocco, Steve Oelrich and Shaun Nauman) has compiled a table of criteria you can use to determine if you have a first edition of one of Stephen's books.

    Click here for the Guide to Identifying First Editions (PDF)

    Get Acrobat Reader

  • How do I join your fan club?
    Answer:
     

    There is no official Stephen King fan club--he is very uncomfortable with that kind of attention. If you would like to keep abreast of official Stephen King news, we recommend you sign up for the newsletter or one of our desktop and mobile-friendly RSS and Twitter Feeds.

  • What is your religion?
    Answer:
     

    Stephen was raised as a Methodist and attended church regularly in his youth. He no longer attends church, but he does believe in God and reads the Bible. Tabitha, his wife, was raised as a Catholic.

  • What is your email address?
    Answer:
     

    Stephen has no public email address and we do not give out his personal email address.

    Messages can be posted on the Stephen King Message Board which Stephen does read, although not every day and he does not read every message.

  • When is your birthday?
    Answer:
     

    September 21st, 1947

  • What is your political affiliation?
    Answer:
     

    Stephen is a Democrat.

  • Do you have a Facebook page?
    Answer:
     

    The Official Facebook Page for Stephen King is available here.

    This page is managed by StephenKing.com. Stephen does not contribute directly to the content on this page.

  • What are your thoughts on censorship and book banning?
    Answer:
     

    You can read Stephen's essay on this topic here.

 
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Writing:
 
  • Why did you become a writer?
    Answer:
     

    The answer to that is fairly simple-there was nothing else I was made to do. I was made to write stories and I love to write stories. That's why I do it. I really can't imagine doing anything else and I can't imagine not doing what I do.

  • Where do you get your ideas?
    Answer:
     

    I get my ideas from everywhere. But what all of my ideas boil down to is seeing maybe one thing, but in a lot of cases it's seeing two things and having them come together in some new and interesting way, and then adding the question 'What if?' 'What if' is always the key question.

  • Do you accept story ideas?
    Answer:
     

    No, I don't. I really have enough story ideas of my own. Every now and then somebody will advance a concept the way that my foreign rights agent, Ralph Vicinanza suggested wouldn't it be fun to do a modern-day serial story. The result of that was The Green Mile which was published in installments-these little paperback books--but he never suggested what sort of story I might have written in installments and I wouldn't have accepted it if he had done that. I believe in thinking up my own ideas. I really have enough. I really think if I have two or three ideas ahead I'm in totally great shape.

  • Will you read my manuscript and tell me what you think?
    Answer:
     

    No. If I did that for one person, I would feel like I'd have to do it for a great many people and in a lot of cases you can read a page or two or three and just say to yourself, 'This is terrible.' But nobody wants to write that kind of letter, 'Dear so-and-so, I started to read your manuscript but it was just awful so I tossed it aside.' That makes everybody feel bad, including me, so I don't do it. There's another reason, and that's a legal one. I've been sued for plagiarism 8 or 9 times. Any writer who has deep pockets has been sued for plagiarism from time-to-time-that goes for J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, really everyone. For everyone who publishes best-selling fiction, somebody wants to think, 'Oh, he got that idea from me' and so it's just much easier and much safer to say I never read that book at all.

  • I need an agent/publisher, can you tell me the name of a good one?
    Answer:
     

    As well as there being some legal problems with this, the choice of an agent or publisher depends upon your style of writing. There are some good reference books--Literary Market Place and Writer's Market - and check to see if your state has a writer's association.

  • Where can I submit my assignment from On Writing?
    Answer:
     

    Sorry, but we are no longer accepting submissions for the writing exercise given in On Writing. We have asked that the offer to make submissions through the web site be deleted from future printings. When he came up with that idea, Stephen wasn't thinking about the fact that someone would months or years later read his offer and want to participate.

  • Why did you write books as Richard Bachman?
    Answer:
     

    I did that because back in the early days of my career there was a feeling in the publishing business that one book a year was all the public would accept but I think that a number of writers have disproved that by now. I'm one of them and the guy who writes the Along Came the Spider books is another one who's written two or three books a year. Danielle Steel usually publishes two books a year. So the public will accept more than one book from a writer in the course of a year. The thing is, one book is all most writers want to produce or can produce in the course of a year and some of them only publish a book every two years. Ed McBain is another novelist who publishes multiple books in some years and his original name was Evan Hunter. That's the name he's always published under and he adopted the pen name of Ed McBain for the same reason I adopted Richard Bachman and that was that it made it possible for me to do two books in one year. I just did them under different names and eventually the public got wise to this because you can change your name but you can't really disguise your style. The name Richard Bachman actually came from when they called me and said we're ready to go to press with this novel, what name shall we put on it? And I hadn't really thought about that. Well, I had, but the original name - Gus Pillsbury - had gotten out on the grapevine and I really didn't like it that much anyway, so they said they needed it right away and there was a novel by Richard Stark on my desk so I used the name Richard and that's kind of funny because Richard Stark is in itself a pen name for Donald Westlake and what was playing on the record player was "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" by Bachman Turner Overdrive, so I put the two of them together and came up with Richard Bachman.

  • Where would be a good place to send my writing?
    Answer:
     

    The best advice we can give is, get a copy of Writer's Market for information about publishers.

  • Can you give me some writing tips?
    Answer:
     

    Sorry, but Stephen doesn't provide individualized writing tips.  He has published On Writing A Memoir of the Craft which is a non-fiction book on the craft of writing.  Although more difficult to find, Book-of-the-Month Club also published a non-fiction companion book titled Secret Windows.

  • Do you teach any courses or seminars?
    Answer:
     

    Stephen does not teach any writing classes and doesn't have any immediate plans to do so. If you haven't already read it, though, he has written a book with writing tips called On Writing A Memoir of the Craft.

 
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The Dark Tower:
 
 
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Rumors:
 
  • Is it true you've been in all of your films?
    Answer:
     

    No, that's not true.  The list of appearances can be found here.

  • How can I get your autograph?
    Answer:
     

    Stephen only autographs books at official book signings.  He no longer accepts books sent through the mail for his signature.

  • I saw on an unofficial Web site that Stephen King will sign photographs.
    Answer:
     

    He does not sign photos-he is very uncomfortable with that concept and feels it is for movie stars, not writers.

  • Is it true that you're going blind?
    Answer:
     

    No, I'm not. I have a predisposition--and it's a genetic thing--to macular degeneration and that's a disease you can read about on the internet. It eventually results in blind spots and a loss of vision but I don't have any of the symptoms yet-just that predisposition and I think it's something that I may have to face in the future, but, no, I'm not going blind.

  • Is it true that you have retired?
    Answer:
     

    Not yet. I'm writing but I'm writing at a much slower pace than previously and I think that if I come up with something really, really good, I would be perfectly willing to publish it because that still feels like the final act of the creative process, publishing it so people can read it and you can get feedback and people can talk about it with each other and with you, the writer, but the force of my invention has slowed down a lot over the years and that's as it should be. I'm not a kid of 25 anymore and I'm not a young middle-aged man of 35 anymore-I have grandchildren and I have a lot of things to do besides writing and that in and of itself is a wonderful thing but writing is still a big, important part of my life and of everyday.

  • Is it true that you have an annual campfire ghost story event?
    Answer:
     

    No, I really don't. I did a campfire ghost story once as a favor to the local PBS station in central Maine. They were raising money and one of the things they did was for people who pledged a certain amount, they got to come to this campfire event and that was kind of fun, but it was a once-only event.

  • Do you really have a haunted house at your home on Halloween?
    Answer:
     

    Absolutely not - don't come to my house on Halloween. We've done trick-or-treat a few times and we had 600 or 800 - one time we had 1,400 people show up for candy and treats and it's fun, it's great to see everyone, but it wears everybody out and it plays hell with the law so we're not doing that anymore.

 
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Other Books and Movies:
 
  • In Dreamcatcher what do the letters SSDD mean?
    Answer:
     

    SSDD = Same Shit, Different Day.

  • Are there any plans to publish a novel or a screenplay of Rose Red?
    Answer:
     

    No. There are no plans for either a novel or a screenplay to be published.

  • Do you plan to write a sequel to Salem's Lot?
    Answer:
     

    Actually, I'm hoping to write a sequel to almost all of my novels and you will find those in Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower--really in the whole Dark Tower sequence. You'll find out a lot of what happened in 'Salem's Lot for one thing and one character in particular - I'm not going to tell you which one. This is in no way an advertisement for The Dark Tower books, but it is my way of saying that The Dark Tower books finishes up a lot of business from the other books.

  • Who really wrote The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer?
    Answer:
     

    Now it can be told--the actual author of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is suspense novelist (and Rock Bottom Remainder bass guitarist) Ridley Pearson. Ridley did a great job--I couldn't have done better myself. Here's hoping you will continue to support Ridley's work by buying a copy of "The Art of Deception." - Stephen King

  • Is the movie Insomnia based on your book?
    Answer:
     

    No. The film Insomnia starring Al Pacino is not based on Stephen's book of the same name.

  • In the Princess Bride it says you're going to write the abridgement for Buttercup's Baby. Is that true?
    Answer:
     

    No, it's not true. That's a little joke from Bill Goldman who's an old friend. He's done the screen adaptations for a number of my novels. He did Misery, Dreamcatcher, and he also did Hearts in Atlantis, and although he's not credited, he worked on Dolores Claiborne as well, so Bill and I go back a long way. I admired his books before I ever met him and as a kind of return tip of the cap, he put me in that book The Princess Bride. But actually I think that that particular baby, Buttercup's Baby, is Bill Goldman's and if there's ever going to be a story about Buttercup, Bill will have to write it.

  • Is there an audiobook of The Stand?
    Answer:
     

    There is no mass market audiobook edition available at this time.  The suggestion has been made to the audiobook publisher that this title is in high demand and it is now in their hands whether and/or when to produce it.

 
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The Plant:
 
 
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Kingdom Hospital:
 
 
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Dollar Baby Films:
 
  • What is a Dollar Baby?
    Answer:
     

    A "Dollar Baby" is a short not-for-profit film that has been adapted from one of Stephen's short stories.

  • What are the requirements/prerequisites to option a story?
    Answer:
     
    1. Dollar Babies can only be adapted from pre-approved short stories; novels are not available. 
    2. They cannot be "for profit."
    3. They can only be exhibited at film festivals, as student projects, or for demo reels.
    4. A contract must be completed before a film can be produced.
  • Where can I find out what stories are available?
    Answer:
     

    You can find a list of stories that are currently available listed here.

  • How can I make one?
    Answer:
     

    If you are interested in adapting one of the listed stories, submit the application form and we will let you know if you qualify for the program.

  • Can I put my short on the internet or sell it on DVDs?
    Answer:
     

    Distribution of DVDs is strictly prohibited and would constitute a violation of the contract.

    Only clips no longer than two minutes in length may be shown on an internet site.  Any longer than this or multiple clips of more than one scene from the short would also be a violation of the contract.

 
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