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Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror and supernatural fiction, suspense and crime, science-fiction and fantasy novels. Nicknamed as the ‘King of Horror,’ a play on his surname and a reference to his high standing in pop culture, he has sold more than 350 million copies, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books.

The path of the king of horrors was difficult – he suffered from alcoholism for a long time and after overcoming his addiction for alcohol, he drew a clear line in his work, dividing it into prior to and after. It is also worth noting that King was a drug addict too. In 2000, he admitted in ‘On Writing,’ “I really don’t remember writing the Tomminokers and much more published over the course of a decade.”

His book ‘On Writing’ was telling not only how to write books, it is also very autobiographical. From it we learn many details of the writer’s life, find out how addiction almost broke his life.

“The idea that the creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time. … Substance abusing writers are just substance abusers — common garden variety drunks and druggies, in other words.”

King went cold turkey in 1986 and his first sober novel was ‘Necessary Things.’ There are many alcohol and drug addicts in King’s work, the most striking example for me is Eddie Dean from the novel ‘The Dark Tower,’ a heroin addict who was able to overcome his addiction.

For over 30 years, Stephen King has remained sober and shares his experience with others. Despite his misgivings, now he isn’t writing worse and did not lose his talent.