How fame and money never got to Stephen King
Would it have changed him for the better or worse? What you can learn from his actions.
Is it better not to become famous as a writer while you are alive? Will it hurt your writing style? There are two types of writers, those who become famous while alive and those after death. But does it hurt you as a writer to become famous while alive? Should all writers hold off on publishing until after their death so fame and money do not affect their writing quality?
in this blog, we will be looking at how fame and money never got to Stephen King…
HOW FAME AND MONEY NEVER GOT TO STEPHEN KING
Table of Contents
Over the years we have seen countless people become famous in their field only to have fame ruin their craft. They let the money and success get to them. They enjoy spending their money and hanging out with other celebrities living the good life.
The same thing can happen with writers. Even though it’s not easy to become rich and famous from writing, some have. And sadly their writing style has be affected by the fame.
THE QUALITY OF THEIR WORK GOES DOWNHILL
It gets to a point where you can look back at their work and clearly can see when they were not famous and when they became famous. Because the quality of their work goes downhill. They stop putting effort into what they’re doing and only give a little bit of energy.
But the one writer who has had great success and not let fame get to him is Stephen King. If any writer could’ve gone off the rails of fame it could’ve been him seeing how successful he has been over the decades. Since the 1970s he has been writing bestsellers left, right, and center. You cannot look back at his work and point at a bad novel. Even now in 2022, there are a ton of movies being made pretty much on everything he has written.
VERY FEW AUTHORS REACH THIS LEVEL
He is seen the same way a rock star or movie star is. Autograph signings are a mile long. He’s a guest on countless talk shows. People travel great distances to meet him. If you see him on the street you instantly recognize him. Very few authors live such a way.
Even though there are many successful authors, they are not on talk shows. They are not asked for their autograph. They are not recognized on the street.
HE STILL LIVES A REGULAR LIFE
Somehow with all the fame and money, we have never seen him “change.” We don’t see him driving the fancy cars, living in a massive mansion. He still lives a simple regular life in Maine. You can see him walking alongside the road on his daily walks. Going to baseball games.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that his writing hasn’t changed. If he had moved to Beverly Hills and lived in a mansion his wiring might very well have gone downhill. We might be reading Stephen King’s books today that are not as good because fame has gotten to him. but he never did move to Hollywood. Still lives a normal regular life and still writing best sellers.
THEY LIKE CREATING LIFE
But why? Why did we not see him go off the deep end with fame and money? The reason is he doesn’t write for the money. He only cares about writing. He likes bringing characters to life. There’s a rush in writing. Most successful writers will tell you they don’t care for money. They like creating a story, they like creating life.
For most successful writers Money gives them more free time to write. It wasn’t the money that drove them at the start. For some writers, however, we have seen the negative effects of what money can do. The time in between novels grows more and more because they’re too busy hanging out with other rich celebrities, going to parties. Some will spend too much time living in their massive new house living like “new money” to care about writing again.
THEY LIVE IN ANOTHER WORLD WHILE WRITING
For some writers, money and fame have no place for them. it’s not their goal. For them, it’s the enjoyment of creating a magical world. Some people see writing as a boring thing, sitting in front of a typewriter all day. But for writers, it’s the opposite. They’re in another world while they write. Seeing a wonderful world in their mind. Wanting to share the story with their readers.
To those who are not writers, the idea of writing seems dull, but to a writer, it’s a rush. Like running a race. It’s exciting, a challenge. This is why it’s been said, “you have to be born a writer” because if you feel the rush from writing you will continue to write, if you feel bored you’ll stop.
YOU EITHER LOVE WRITER OR NOT
It’s like being a bodybuilder. Going to the gym every day lifting weights, you either feel the rush from it and want to go back, or you don’t like it and will stop. Writers feel the same way. Sitting in front of a computer is not boring, in their eyes it’s exciting.
It’s not something you can fake, you either feel the love of creating a new story, or you’re bored while writing. Some writers will feel bored but push on looking for the money. And when they get the money they never came back to writing. But someone like Stephen King makes money, but it’s the love of writing that pushes him on.
STEPHEN KING CALLS IT HIS VOICE
It gets to a point where having a big house and fancy cars gets in the way of writing. For someone like Stephen King having an office with a typewriter is all he needs to be happy. he likes creating a new story, that’s where the fun is. If he had a mansion and hung out with celebrities it would slow him down.
Ask any writer whos been around for decades and they will tell you they have to write. The story calls to them. Stephen King calls it “his voice,” the place where stories come from. He might be out walking and see something and all of a sudden he feels the spark of a new story. He can feel the buzz. writers describe it as being hit by lightning. Where you know you have a story idea.
THEY ARE FREEING THEMSELVES OF THE STORY
Writing is like a drug, they need to write. The story is in them and they need to free themselves of it by writing it down. If they do not the story will haunt them in their mind. For some writing is like a demonic exorcism. They are “freeing themselves” of the story so they can go back to living their life.
They do not write it for the fame, they write for the rush. Feeling like God while writing. They have the power over life. They control what their characters do. Some writers feel powerless in real life so they write to feel power. They do so by creating life in their novels.
THEY LOSE THEIR EDGE
It’s not just writers who have this problem of dealing with fame and having it affect their work. Certain talented athletes, after signing a big long-term contract stop playing well. Everything was going great until they signed, then it all went downhill. Some movie stars when starting out work hard to become famous, but after they reached stardom making millions a year they stop giving great performances.
It seems making movies has become a burden on them. Why is this? What happened? Why have they lost their edge? Has fame gotten to them?
CAN SUCCESS BE A BAD THING?
The secret to remaining a great writer (or great at anything for that matter) is to “stay hungry.” Becoming famous while alive can hurt the creativity of some writers. Sometimes success is the worst thing for an artist.
Vincent Van Gogh never became famous throughout his life. He never knew what success was. Today everyone knows his name and his paintings sell for tens of millions. You cannot own anything of Van Gogh without paying millions of dollars for it. Even a simple pencil sketch of his can cost countless dollars, but while he was alive he only sold one painting (Red Vineyard of Aries). He died before anyone knew his name. But we need to ask if he had become famous would it have ruined him? He might’ve made millions and lived a millionaires lifestyle.
TAKING ATTENTION AWAY FROM ART
Money and fame might’ve taken attention away from his painting. To a point where you would be able to look at his artwork and know when he became famous. Because his first few paintings would’ve been amazing, then the paintings after fame would’ve lacked “something”. He would’ve lost the “eye of the tiger” to fame.
Painting after becoming famous would’ve gotten in the way of his new lifestyle. He would’ve wanted the attention and money and no longer wanted to carry a canvas everywhere. The money could’ve changed him (as it does to most famous people.) However, Vincent never reached that level. He lived his life poor, using painting as his outlet to escape from the pain of reality. He captured the moment and emotion of the world in his work that all painters strive for.
HIS ART CAPTURED SOMETHING
He lived in the real world, never taken away to the “rich man’s world” that so few middle-class people can relate to. Thankfully for us, all his art captures something about the world that words cannot express. We can sense and feel what he was looking at when we look at his work. If he reached a high level of fame he would’ve continued to paint about the “real world.” but something would’ve been “missing.” It wouldn’t be there anymore. The magic in his art would’ve faded away with the millions of dollars in his pocket.
Who knows, he might’ve started painting about living a rich man’s lifestyle. That might’ve worked. It wouldn’t be the same though. The public wouldn’t want that, we wouldn’t connect with it. The good news is, he never became famous. What the public got was a simple man seeing the world in colours and emotion that few of us ever could know.
LETTING US SEE THROUGH HIS EYES
He captured it in his paintings for us to gaze upon and feel what he saw. He allowed us to see through his eyes and live in his mind for a moment. We could sense how his painting calmed him. His depression went away when he looked out at the landscape. He tried to capture the serenity of the moment for us to see what he was feeling. Hoping we could feel it as well. He strived to capture movement, time, and emotion in each brushstroke.
If he became famous we would’ve lost all that. The world today would desire his early artwork and ignore his paintings after he became famous. Thankfully for art lovers, we can love all his art, from the first to the last painting (wheatfield and Crows).
IT’S THEIR LIFE GOAL
The same thing could happen to singers. They work really hard to have a first album made. They work hard at writing great songs. Work hard at getting gigs to perform at. Looking for a record contract. It’s their life’s goal. Something they love doing. They dream about being in a recording studio.
They start off writing music to express themselves, wanting to change the world. They’re willing to spend hours every day practicing the guitar and writing songs. Working hard in the studio doesn’t bother them because they see it as their second home. But after the album is released and sells millions they stop caring about going back into the studio. The idea of recording another album bothers them.
FAME AND MONEY ARE THEIR NEW LOVE
At one point they loved being in the studio, now money and fame have replaced the music they loved. Being in a studio is now boring. So many singers when they acquire fame do not want to record music anymore. They don’t want to pull away from the parties to have to go back inside a studio and write songs. Writing is now an inconvenience. They only want their new drug in their life, the drug of fame. They would rather spend all their time decorating a new mansion on the rich side of town.
Sitting down to write music to “change the world for the better” has lost its meaning. When their fans listen to their latest album they can tell the artist doesn’t care anymore. The artist is just throwing out some “radio-friendly” songs. To fulfill a contract with the studio. They then follow up that album with a “live” album or a “greatest hits”, but nothing new.
SOMETHING IS MISSING
It’s been said a great artist has only one or two great albums in them. Afterward, the fame gets to them and the great work no longer exists. When you listen to their music you can tell right away. Something is missing. The artist wants to live in their mansion with their sports cars and not be bothered by anybody. Making music is now a job instead of a love.
However, Stephen King lives his life differently. He has spent decades writing amazing novels. And after all this time you can find him still living in the small town he has lived in for so many years. He writes in the morning hours and goes for nice quiet walks in the afternoon and spends time reading when he gets home. He could’ve moved to Beverly Hills and lived in a mansion, hanging out with movie stars. Spending all day driving sports cars, but his work would’ve suffered.
LIVING A QUIET LIFE
By living a quiet life he’s able to stay focused on his love. He has never lost the ability to write great stories. His novels are just as good today as his first. Could he have maintained his great writing if he was rich and famous? Living in Hollywood driving fast cars, hanging with the stars? possibly. But we have seen other great writers becoming famous and we never see a great novel from them again.
Stephen is motivated by wanting to write, not the money that comes from writing. He likes telling stories in novels, not spending millions of dollars on fancy cars. The only time he spends a lot of money was to build a baseball field behind his house for the town to use. Because Stephen King loves baseball as much as he loves writing.
MONEY CAN GET IN THE WAY
Money has a habit of pulling people away from their love, the very thing that made them famous to start with. An athlete will work super hard at his sport to make it to the big leagues. After winning the top awards and endorsement offers come in.
He then stops caring about the game because there’s a new love in his life, money. He focuses on fame more than training. Liking the red carpet events more than the gym. Appearing on TV shows and in movies seems like a better idea. The great success the athlete started out with begins to fall apart. The athlete will blame other factors for their failures. But they never blame themselves. It’s only when they’re in the final year of their contract do they play hard again. (so they can resign for a lot of money).
TOO MUCH TIME DAYDREAMING ABOUT MONEY
In baseball back in the 1920s players only had a one-year deal with the club. If you played well and the club wanted you back they sent a contract offer to you a few months later. If you were to play again it rested on how you played the year before, they did not offer long-term deals. Each player had to give it their all each year if they wanted to play again. if all athletes today had a one-year contract they would all play hard every year. But offering them long-term deals with a ton of money means the player doesn’t work as hard after they signed. They spend too much time daydreaming about how to spend the money.
Look at boxers who have nothing in their lives who work hard all day training. and with a lot of hard work become the champion. From that point on they appear on magazine covers, commercials, movies. Their training now takes a back seat to the money. They love spending all their money, thinking more of it is on the way.
HANGING OUT WITH MOVIE STARS
They believe they’ll win a fight after fight making millions of dollars every time. The idea of training when being the champion as they did when starting off does not appeal to them. They don’t want to be in the gym when they could be hanging out with movie stars in Las Vegas.
What they don’t know is another opponent is waiting in the wings. who’s isn’t famous, who doesn’t have a camera in their face distracting them. The new up and comer is training hard each day waiting for their turn to take on the champ. They want a shot at fame and money to pull themselves out of poverty.
STOP CARING ABOUT HARD WORK
This is why we see up and comers winning, shocking the fans who thought the champ had the win from the start. We see this happen all the time where the champion rarely stays the champion for long. They stopped caring about the hard work and training metal and physically. With all the fame and money how could they?
Writers in Hollywood who write movie scripts about being poor. Only write great scripts when they are poor at the time of writing. Because they feel the pain and write about their life with unique detail only poor people can relate to. They know the atmosphere. They know what’s it like. But when the script is made into a successful movie the writer becomes rich from it and buys a big house and nice cars. They will try to write another script about being poor, but it doesn’t work, something is missing.
CAN’T FIND TIME FOR THE ART
They can no longer write about the little details while they’re living in a mansion. Driving sports cars. They can no longer find the time to sit down in a quiet empty room to write a long screenplay when there are parties to go to. When the writer was poor writing was all he had, but when famous he now has places to go and money to spend.
Writing takes too much of his time. so he sits down and quickly writes something as fast as possible to get it out of the way to go back to spending money. When you line up all the screenplays he has written in a row. You can point to a certain screenplay and tell right away when he became famous. For that’s when the quality in the screenplays started to go downward. What started off as Oscar-worthy has now turned into below-average writing.
NEED TO REMAIN FOCUSED
The loss of the eye of the tiger could happen to anyone. You need to remain focused on what’s important. Not lose sight of what made you famous. never lose your love. Don’t let money or fame takes over your mind. To a point where your talent that made you famous gets pushed back. You should be thankful for your talent. and for your fame.
IN CONCLUSION
Maybe you should hold off on being famous until you die, that way your work never suffers from the pitfalls of fame.
Not letting fame or money get to you. Remembering your passion and goals as a writer. Don’t let the rewards get in the way of your talent. Stay hungry and never lose the eye of the tiger. Just like how fame and money never got to Stephen King.
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