Without Stephen King, There Would Be No Me

Stephen King has played the biggest role in my life. His literature has been crucial to my existence. Without him, I literally might not be here at all.

My parents’ first date together was to go see Pet Sematary, back in 1989. I can’t help but wonder what may have happened if that story or movie didn’t exist. What if my parents couldn’t decide on another movie? What if they cancelled their date because there was nothing decent playing at the movie theatre that night? What if they never rescheduled? What if they never got to know each other in the ways that they did, all thanks to that movie? I wouldn’t be here, that’s what.

In the year of 1997, when I was four years old, I watched Stand By Me for the first time. Definitely not age appropriate, but that didn’t stop me from absorbing every second of that captivating film with fascination. Even then, I could tell there was something special about Chris Chambers, and his undying loyalty and love for his best friend, Gordie LaChance. The way that Chris Chambers talked about writing, and encouraged Gordie to never give up on it, made me want to be a writer.

From high school, all the way until now in my mid-twenties, I have been working my way through his books, and fallen in love with his characters, one by one. Stephen King has had the most profound influence on shaping me, helping me find out who I wanted to be, as well as what I’m supposed to do with this life. He was one of the very first people whose art inspired me to pick up a pen. He continues to be a never ending well of inspiration to keep going. His work has played a hand in the circumstances that created, nurtured, and continue to drive my very existence.

Without Stephen King, There Would Be No Me.