Editing Stephen King (section)

=== 1980s: ''Different Seasons'' to ''The Dark Half'' ===
In 1982, King published ''[[Different Seasons]]'', a collection of four novellas with a more serious dramatic bent than the horror fiction for which he had become famous.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lehmann-Haupt |first=Christopher |date=August 11, 1982 |title=Books of the Times |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/11/books/books-of-the-times-074639.html |url-status=live |access-date=February 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621171309/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/11/books/books-of-the-times-074639.html |archive-date=June 21, 2018}}</ref> Alan Cheuse wrote "Each of the first three novellas has its hypnotic moments, and the last one is a horrifying little gem."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cheuse |first=Alan |date=August 29, 1982 |title=Horror Writer Takes a Holiday |work=[[The New York Times Book Review]] |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/lifetimes/king-seasons.html?scp=84&sq=red%2520redemption&st=cse}}</ref> Three of the four novellas were adapted as films: ''[[The Body (King novella)|The Body]]'' as [[Stand by Me (film)|''Stand by Me'']] (1986);<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etonline.com/all-the-stephen-king-easter-eggs-in-hulus-castle-rock-from-shawshank-to-sissy-spacek-106674 |title=All the Stephen King Easter Eggs in Hulu's 'Castle Rock' – From Shawshank to Sissy Spacek |website=[[Entertainment Tonight]] |date=July 25, 2018 |access-date=February 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215160028/https://www.etonline.com/all-the-stephen-king-easter-eggs-in-hulus-castle-rock-from-shawshank-to-sissy-spacek-106674 |archive-date=February 15, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption]]'' as ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' (1994);<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/09/shawshank-redemption-anniversary-story |title=The Little-Known Story of How The Shawshank Redemption Became One of the Most Beloved Films of All Time |first=Margaret |last=Heidenry |website=HWD |date=September 22, 2014 |access-date=February 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226150020/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/09/shawshank-redemption-anniversary-story |archive-date=February 26, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> and ''[[Apt Pupil]]'' as the [[Apt Pupil (film)|film of the same name]] (1998).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/102398apt-film-review.html|title='Apt Pupil': In a Suburb, Echoes of the Third Reich |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=February 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215160030/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/102398apt-film-review.html |archive-date=February 15, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> The fourth, ''[[The Breathing Method]]'', won the [[British Fantasy Award]] for Best Short Fiction.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |date=1983 |title=British Fantasy Awards 1983 |url=https://www.sfadb.com/British_Fantasy_Awards_1983 |website=www.sfadb.com}}</ref> King recalls "I got the best reviews in my life. And that was the first time that people thought, woah, this isn't really a horror thing."<ref name=":Gaiman">{{Cite web |author=[[Neil Gaiman]] |date=April 28, 2012 |title=Neil Gaiman's Journal: Popular Writers: A Stephen King Interview |url=https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/04/popular-writers-stephen-king-interview.html}}</ref>

King struggled with addiction throughout the decade and often wrote under the influence of cocaine and alcohol; he says he "barely remembers writing" ''[[Cujo]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=[[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]] |year=2000 |pages=99}}</ref> In 1983, he published ''[[Christine (1983 novel)|Christine]]'', "A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 [[Plymouth Fury]]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephen King {{!}} Christine |url=https://stephenking.com/works/novel/christine.html |access-date=May 6, 2023 |website=stephenking.com |language=en}}</ref> Later that year, he published ''[[Pet Sematary]]'', which he had written in the late 1970s, when his family was living near a highway that "used up a lot of animals" as a neighbor put it. His daughter's cat was killed, and they buried it in a pet cemetery built by the local children. King imagined a burial ground beyond it that could raise the dead, albeit imperfectly. He initially found it too disturbing to publish, but resurrected it to fulfill his contract with [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Winter |first=Douglas |date=November 13, 1983 |title=Pet Sematary by Stephen King |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1983/11/13/pet-sematary-by-stephen-king-doubleday-373-pp-1595/c2a4bc17-1e88-429d-afd9-ea679ac95f4d/}}</ref> 

In 1985, King published ''[[Skeleton Crew (short story collection)|Skeleton Crew]]'', a book of short fiction including "[[The Reach]]" and ''[[The Mist (novella)|The Mist]]''. He recalls: "I would be asked, 'What happened in your childhood that makes you want to write those terrible things?' I couldn't think of any real answer to that. And I thought to myself, 'Why don't you write a final exam on horror, and put in all the monsters that everyone was afraid of as a kid? Put in Frankenstein, the werewolf, the vampire, the mummy, the giant creatures that ate up New York in the old B movies. Put 'em all in there."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Cruz |first=Gilbert |date=November 3, 2009 |title=Stephen King on His 10 Longest Novels |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=https://entertainment.time.com/2009/11/09/stephen-king-on-his-10-longest-novels/slide/all/}}</ref> These influences coalesced into ''[[It (novel)|It]]'', about a shapeshifting monster that takes the form of its victims' fears and haunts the town of [[Derry (Stephen King)|Derry, Maine.]] He said he thought he was done writing about monsters, and wanted to "bring on all the monsters one last time…and call it It."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smythe |first=James |date=May 28, 2013 |title=Rereading Stephen King, chapter 21: It |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/may/28/rereading-stephen-king-it}}</ref> ''It'' won the [[August Derleth Award]] in 1987.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=sfadb: British Fantasy Awards 1987 |url=https://www.sfadb.com/British_Fantasy_Awards_1987 |access-date=May 25, 2023 |website=www.sfadb.com}}</ref>

1987 was an unusually productive year for King. He published ''[[The Eyes of the Dragon]]'', a [[high fantasy]] novel which he originally wrote for his daughter.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smythe |first=James |date=January 20, 2013 |title=Rereading Stephen King, chapter 22: The Eyes of the Dragon |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jun/20/rereading-stephen-king-eyes-of-the-dragon}}</ref> He published ''[[Misery (novel)|Misery]]'', about a popular writer who is injured in a car wreck and held captive by Annie Wilkes, his self-described "number-one fan". ''Misery'' shared the inaugural [[Bram Stoker Award]] with ''[[Swan Song (McCammon novel)|Swan Song]]'' by [[Robert R. McCammon]].<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web |title=1987 Bram Stoker Award Nominees & Winners – The Bram Stoker Awards |url=https://www.thebramstokerawards.com/uncategorized/1987-bram-stoker-award-nominees-winner/ |access-date=May 6, 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> King says the novel was influenced by his experiences with addiction: "Annie was my drug problem, and she was my number-one fan. God, she never wanted to leave."<ref name=":ParisReview"/> He published ''[[The Tommyknockers]]'', a science fiction novel filled, he says, with metaphors for addiction. After the book was published, King's wife staged an intervention, and he agreed to seek treatment for addiction.<ref name=":OnWriting">{{Cite book |last=King |first=Stephen |title=[[On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft]] |year=2000 |pages=96–97}}</ref> Two years later, he published ''[[The Dark Half]]'', about an author whose literary alter-ego takes on a life of his own.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smythe |first=James |date=October 21, 2013 |title=Rereading Stephen King, chapter 26: The Dark Half |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/oct/21/rereading-stephen-king-the-dark-half}}</ref> In the author's note, King writes that "I am indebted to the late [[Richard Bachman]]."<ref>King, Stephen. 1989. ''The Dark Half''. Author's Note.</ref>