The Science of Stephen King

We can’t begin talking about the science behind Stephen King’s stories until we understand a bit about the man himself. King was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine, and was raised by a single, working mother. His childhood would hold experiences and memories that inevitably wound their way into becoming parts of his novels, characters, and inspirations for dozens of stories over the years. No one else had as much effect on his writing career, though, as Tabitha.

Haakon Forwald, a Swedish electrical engineer, promoted the idea that a person could manipulate gravitational fields by mentally agitating the atoms and neutrons inside an object.2

Tabitha Spruce met Stephen King in the library of the University of Maine, where they were both students, in the 1960s. Both being writers, they attended each other’s poetry readings and read each other’s work. They married in 1971 and Tabitha encouraged King to write instead of taking a promotion that would leave less time for his craft. This fact led to King’s first novel, Carrie, being saved from the trash. He had begun writing a story from a woman’s perspective, something he took on as a personal challenge after feedback from a reader of his previous work accused him of being scared of women. The story was inspired by an article in LIFE magazine that touched on the power of telekinesis. If the power existed, the article purported, then the power would be strongest with adolescent girls. King’s first time being in a girl’s locker room as a custodian also left an impact on him. Seeing a pad and tampon dispenser seemed almost alien compared to what he was used to.

King wrote three typed pages and then immediately threw them in the trash. The plot seemed to be moving too slowly and he was beginning to doubt his ability to write from a woman’s perspective. “I couldn’t see wasting two weeks, maybe even a month, creating a novella I didn’t like and wouldn’t be able to sell,” King wrote in his memoir On Writing (2000). “So, I threw it away … after all, who wanted to read a book about a poor girl with menstrual problems?”3

Tabitha retrieved the crumpled pages from the trash and gave him some feedback. In fact, throughout his career, Tabitha is credited with useful, truthful feedback that helps shape characters and mold King’s stories. Carrie was finished within nine months and sold to Doubleday for a $2,500 advance. Months later, the paperback rights were sold to Signet Books for $400,000. The movie rights sold later, and by 1980 Stephen King was a worldwide bestselling author. As he told the New York Times, “the movie made the book and the book made me.”4 The dedication you’ll find in every copy of Carrie reads “This is for Tabby, who got me into it—and then bailed me out of it.”

Carrie was reportedly popular among teen and young adult readers, especially those who could relate to being an outsider. According to Stephen King’s website:

The story is largely about how women find their own channels of power, and what men fear about women and women’s sexuality. Carrie White is a sadly mis-used teenager, an example of the sort of person whose spirit is so often broken for good in that pit of man and woman eaters that is your normal suburban high school. But she’s also Woman, feeling her powers for the first time and, like Samson, pulling down the temple on everyone in sight at the end of the book.5

The themes explored throughout the book are vast; the first is the symbol of blood. “The symbolic function of woman’s menstrual blood is of crucial importance in Carrie. Blood takes various forms … menstrual blood, pig’s blood, birth blood, the blood of sin, and the blood of death. It is also blood which flows between mother and daughter and joins them together in their life-and-death struggle.”6 Carrie is unaware that she will begin menstruating. Her mother, Margaret, has intentionally kept this knowledge from her, so when Carrie sees that she is bleeding for the first time, she assumes she’s dying. Menstrual blood in particular has been seen throughout history as an abjection or even as supernatural. “The female body and its workings has traditionally been shrouded by misinformation, and historically been a subject that is not supposed to be discussed widely. Reproduction and the menstrual cycle have therefore been viewed as mystical and monstrous.”7

A rare period disorder can cause bleeding of the eyes. Known as vicarious menstruation, this rare condition makes a woman bleed from organs besides her uterus.9