A Huge Success for Stephen King's First Novel: Carrie

The now-classic horror novel Carrie was Stephen King's first novel. The success of King's first novel in paperback stunned him after working as a teacher. Find out more about Stephen King's first novel and his writing breakthrough.

Stephen King’s First Novel: Carrie Was a Huge Success This article is an excerpt from the Shortform summary of "On Writing" by Stephen King. Shortform has the world's best summaries of books you should be reading.

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Stephen King’s first novel was the now-classic horror novel, Carrie. After working as a teacher, King was stunned when his first novel was so successful in paperback. Read more about Stephen King’s first novel and his writing breakthrough. Stephen King’s First Novel

Stephen King’s first novel was the now-famous horror book Carrie. During the summer months when school was out, King continued working in the laundry. One day, he recalled a memory from when he worked as a janitor in college.

Now, as an adult revisiting this memory, King envisioned the opening scene of a story: a group of girls showering in the bathroom, when one of them starts bleeding from her period. This was one of the bases for Stephen King’s first novel Carrie. At the same time, he remembered reading an amazing article about telekinesis (manipulating objects with your mind).

The article suggested young people might have powers, especially girls around the age when they had their first periods. Right there, out of nowhere, from the fusion of two distant and unrelated memories, King stumbled upon the idea for Carrie.

Thus, Stephen King’s first book was born. It didn’t stand out as a particularly good idea, but he thought it might be solid enough to get another check. It incubated in the back of his mind for some time until one night he typed out three pages, the beginnings of Stephen King’s first published novel. 

He didn’t like it. The character (the bleeding girl) seemed too passive, too much of a victim. Even worse, he didn’t know much about teenage girls, and he preferred writing about subjects he was intimately familiar with.

The next day, he returned from school to find Tabitha with the papers. She thought there was something there and pushed him to keep developing the story that would eventually become Stephen King’s first book.

As he continued writing dozens of pages, he began feeling that there was something here too. Through writing the story, he learned two vital lessons:

Don’t stop writing when it gets tough. Even if the writing feels tough, it might be something good. One day, while he was teaching, Tabitha phoned the office to give him a message—they’d received a telegram from the publisher (they couldn’t afford a phone), saying they’d buy the book and send an advance of $2,500.

This became Stephen King’s first published novel. King and Tabitha were elated, and that night their minds churned through the possibilities. Not on a $2,500 advance—not if he couldn’t continue publishing consistently. How much would paperback rights sell for?

Little did they know that Stephen King’s first novel would be a huge success. The book took a year to get published, coming out in the spring of 1974, and by that time King had mentally moved on. He was working on a new novel, and his mother was starting to show signs of weakened health.

One day, while alone in the house, he got a call from his contact at Doubleday. He shared the news: Carrie’s paperback rights were sold for $400,000. King was shocked, literally speechless. When Tabitha returned, he announced the news. Stephen King’s first novel launched his career and gave him the power to write more. Stephen King’s first book was a true success.

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