Stephen King's Novel

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Carrie was the book that catapulted an unknown writer named Stephen King into fame. A teacher who wrote short stories for magazines out of love (and a need for cash), King began writing what eventually became Carrie, but found himself dissatisfied with the result. He liked neither the Carrie nor Sue characters, and felt as if he were in uncharted territory on "Planet Female," a terrain he was unfamiliar and uncomfortable with. As King said in his book, On Writing, "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. So I threw it away."

Thankfully, his wife, Tabby fished the pages out of the trash and insisted that he finish the story. "You've got something here," she said. "I really think you do." Reluctantly, King finished the story for his wife... and the rest, as they say, is history.

While it wasn't an overnight sensation, King goes on to say that it was sort of forgotten about after it was first published, he initially saw a $2,500 advance... and was eventually sold to Signet Books for $400,000 (half of which, went to King).

Here's an excerpt of King's introduction to the audio book, where he gives a little more insight into the creation of the novel:



Two years after the book was first published, a film was made based on his novel. And the rest, as they say, is history... Although his name was misspelled "Steven" in many of the materials for the film, he became so well-known for CARRIE that he eventually became known as "the master of horror." Not bad for a novel that he originally intended to throw away!

Click here for a clip from a 2007 interview where King discusses writing the novel and it's origins.

The novel's been reprinted countless times over the years. Here's some different variations of the cover from around the world, many of which feature Sissy Spacek, since she's been synonymously linked with the character: