“I usually get about six hours a night, sometimes seven. But I also try to take a nap in the afternoon, about an hour,” he says of his sleep schedule. “So I'm going to say I get maybe seven and a half hours of sleep in a 24-hour period.” Asked if he's a coffee or tea person, King reveals, “I'm a Diet Pepsi drinker.
Insomnia is a 1994 horror/fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King. It follows retired widower Ralph Roberts whose increasing insomnia allows him to perceive auras and other hidden things, leading him to join a conflict between the forces of the Purpose and the Random.
He still writes every day, even on the weekends, but as he says, “I used to write more and I used to write faster – it's just aging. It slows you down a little bit.” Earlier on, he used to pump out 2,000 words a day, but these days, he aims to write for about four hours each day and gets down about 1,000 words.
Post writing, Stephen King usually naps during the afternoon. Once he gets the writing out of his way, he can spend the rest of the day doing whatever he likes, indulging in hobbies and gathering material to write about. His evenings are usually filled with family time, reading and watching the Red Sox games.
With a routine in place that he follows on the daily, regardless of what day it is, one other thing that King does is to make sure he writes up to 2,000 words a day. TheDaily Rituals book that explores “how artists and writers organize their days” mentions that King doesn't quit until he meets his quota.
The American author, often described as the King of Horror, struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse during the 1970s before friends and family staged an intervention. King, who has published more than 60 novels including The Shining, It and Pet Sematary, sought help and has remained sober since.
Who is the richest writer in the world? J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, is the richest writer in the world with a net worth of $1 billion.
His writing career went from strength to strength but in his personal life, he was facing demons of his own. During the 1980's Stephen King suffered from severe addiction to alcohol and other drugs. He has said that he can barely remember writing the bestselling horror, “Cujo”.
Stephen King writes 6 pages and over 1000 words a day. By being consistent every day or at least every other day, the pressure to create perfect work will be alleviated because you know it's just another day's work.
Chris Fox has written a book in as little as thirteen days, reaching speeds of up to 5,000 words an hour. John Boyne wrote The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in two and a half days. Michael Spillane wrote I, The Jury in 9 days. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the first Sherlock Holmes book, A Study in Scarlet in just three weeks.
Politics: Democrat Hobbies and other interests: Reading (mostly fiction), jigsaw puzzles, playing the guitar ("I'm terrible and so try to bore no one but myself"), movies, bowling.
One of Stephen King's most famous quotes is that “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” King says he aims to read about 80 books a year, which is pretty damn impressive considering it almost seems like he publishes the same amount of his own work…
Ernest Hemingway (500 Words)
He produced most of his work between 1920 and 1950. Of course, Hemingway is not alive now, but while he was, he used to hang around writing 500 words per day. In an interview with George Plimpton, the author had disclosed his everyday routine.
Stephen King often calls Pet Sematary his most terrifying novel.
Pennywise doesn't make another appearance in King's books until Insomnia in 1994. Insomnia takes place in Derry, Maine where, as we all know, Pennywise loves to hunt.
Spurred by a bout of insomnia, King spent a sleepless four months writing it in 1990 before abandoning the project. In an interview with Wallace Stroby for Writer's Digest in 1991, he said, “It's a long piece of work, it's about 550 pages long. It's no good. It's not publishable…the last 80 or 90 pages are wonderful.
Agatha Christie is acknowledged as the all time best-selling fiction author. It is estimated that she has sold over 2 billion copies of her books. Her book sales are only exceeded by The Bible and the works of William Shakespeare.
King says he doesn't plot or prepare his books at all. He simply starts with a situation, eg: “two children lost in the woods find something sticking out of the ground”. He then writes on, letting the story develop. The lack of advance preparation means he can write quickly, producing a novel in around three months.
In addition to The Stand, other long novels by Stephen King include IT and Under the Dome, both of which contain over 1,000 pages. If you're looking for something longer than 1,000 pages but shorter than The Stand, try 11/22/63 or Bag of Bones.
Isolation, A Broken Mind, And Dementia. Perhaps one of Stephen King's biggest fears is going crazy and losing his mind. Early in his career, he often wrote about how isolation drove people mad, such as Jack Torrance in The Shining.
“I didn't just have a problem with beer and cocaine,” he said. “I was an addictive personality, period. I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day; I loved Listerine; I loved NyQuil; you name it. If it would change your consciousness, I was all for it.”
One of Stephen King's most popular and praised novels is IT, and he has continued writing a number of stories since IT was published, but that wasn't always his plan, as he almost quit writing horror after that specific story.
According to Guinness World Records as of 1995, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. Sales estimates for other printed religious texts include at least 800 million copies for the Qur'an and 190 million copies for the Book of Mormon.
It has been estimated that King earns between $1 and $3 for each of his book copies that are sold. As he has sold over 350 million copies of his books worldwide, it would make sense that he has such a large net worth.
The author of Harry Potter books, JK Rowling made history in 2004 when she became the first billion-dollar author. According to Guinness World Records, in 2004, J.K. Rowling was one of only five self-made female billionaires and the first billion-dollar author.