Stephen King Helped Shape My Life

Stephen King is a name that many people are very familiar with. To some, he’s a cultural icon. To others, he is only associated with things that are menacing and scary. However, for me, the mere mention of “Stephen King” evokes feelings of happiness and joy. One might find it challenging to comprehend how a horror story author could evoke such emotions in someone. Without the influence of Stephen King, however, I might not have completed my college education. Also, I may have never become a writer.

Formative Years

Like most schoolchildren, I started learning the fundamentals of reading in the first grade. However, I was not the most outstanding student. My reading skills lagged behind many of my peers, and I required additional assistance. I’m brave enough to admit today that I barely got past the first grade due to my difficulties.

I would end up learning how to read. However, I still didn’t like to do it and had trouble keeping up in class. During the school year and summer vacation, I was required to read fictional stories, but I found them uninteresting. I even found it challenging to peruse nonfiction literature, such as history and science books.

Part of the problem was that I had mild ADHD. As previously mentioned, I struggled to engage with the material. If a book didn’t have pictures and illustrations within it, I would be unable to concentrate. Like many children of the eighties and nineties, I grew up watching a lot of cable television. I could stay glued in front of the television for hours, taking in the sights and sounds of various TV shows and movies. The issue was that while I could absorb images, I couldn’t grasp the words in books.

Turning Point/Enter Stephen King

While I was able to get by in my studies up until high school, I still had tremendous difficulties. One of the reasons I left traditional school in the ninth grade was due to these problems. Even though I got more aid with my studies, I still wasn’t an active reader or the finest pupil. As my last year of high school was coming up, I was worried about whether or not I would make it in college. Then, along came Stephen King!

As previously mentioned, my mind had grown accustomed to watching television and movies. On a summer night in 2001, I sat down to watch “Pet Sematary” from 1989. This is one of the many movie adaptations based on the works of Stephen King. While watching the film, I was becoming intrigued. I identified the actor playing the character of Jud Crandall as Fred Gwynne from “The Munsters.” Jud Crandall’s quotes from “Pet Sematary” stood out to me. One in particular was, “Sometimes dead is better.” I knew that there was something deeper about this statement, and I had to find out.

Reading Stephen King/Excelling in School

After that summer night viewing of “Pet Sematary,” I read the novel in just a few days. Afterwards, I began renting many Stephen King movie adaptations and then reading the novels, novellas, or short stories that corresponded with them. That was a significant shift in my perspective.

Reading Stephen King’s works made me realize that anything, be it a long novel, a magazine article, or even an instruction manual, reveals a deeper meaning than what is immediately apparent. The mind can form analogies about a grocery store list just as it could about a fictional character. Amid this personal revelation, I began to notice that I was improving in my studies.

English

I entered a community college after high school. Although it would present challenges for me, I had the Stephen King mindset on my side. In my English composition class, which coincidentally had a student named Stephen King (not sure if that was the exact spelling of his name), one of the papers we were required to write involved writing about a person in our lives who had inspired us. The world-renowned author Stephen King was not physically a part of my everyday existence. However, I felt his works were. Therefore, I wrote an essay about how Stephen King was an inspiration in my life.

I received an A on the paper, which made me ecstatic. The instructor even suggested that I submit it in a creative writing contest. Although I didn’t win, being considered was remarkable. I realized how far I had come from being a below-average student and a slow reader to doing well in school and being considered for writing competitions. I used the sensation I found in unlocking the hidden meanings of Stephen King’s stories and characters to adapt to various types of readings. This helped me excel in courses outside of English and literature, such as history, government, and even certain types of sciences.

Keeping on Excelling

I would finish community college with a high grade point average. The next challenge was a four-year college. Although there were hurdles I faced at the university level, I overcame them. I earned a degree in mass communication and journalism, graduating with highest honors. However, I still had more mountains to climb. I went back to school after a few years to get my Master of Library and Information Science. I did quite well in finishing the program.

Thanks, Stephen King!

I have been involved in various endeavors in both the journalism and library fields and feel like I have left my mark. Although I’ve never met Stephen King, I believe I owe him a great deal of gratitude. It was through reading his works that I learned how to broaden my perspective and apply myself to my studies. I honestly think that without him, I would never have finished college or graduate school or become both a writer and a librarian.

Reading was not only a difficulty for me for a long time, but it was also a fear. Stephen King has always been associated with frightening readers and movie viewers. The last line of the article that got selected into the creative writing contest when I was in community college had an intriguing take on this. It read, “Ironically, the man who has instilled some of the most fears in human beings helped me overcome mine.”