Stephen King has been in the spotlight as THE horror writer.
From his debut novel, Carrie, in 1974, his books have always been a smash hit among horror audiences.

And in the 50+ years as a writer, he keeps finding success with each book. He is a talent that never ends. Why is that?

Easy, he is a good writer.

What makes horror work is the characters. Now, other genre authors know how to write characters, but horror requires a bit more work. You see, without that character development, the entire book will fail.

If you don’t develop a connection with the readers and the character, then the entire plot will be moot. We won’t be rooting for them to be safe and succeed in their task. And when it comes to having the horror elements, then we won’t care if they are in danger.

You need to build them up and have the reader care. We want to be reading on the edge of our seats, hoping they survive and make it out safe. That’s what King does so well. He develops the characters so we feel like we know them.

There might be jokes about Stephen King spending 200 pages to introduce a character, but that’s what works. You know the ins and outs of the character and will know their favourite colour, meal, and drink. You bond, and that is what makes his books so great.

It is not just horror literature that relies on this. How many horror movies fail because they have characters that make the audience hate them instead of rooting for them? Too many to count.

Stephen King keeps releasing bestsellers and has not stopped with his latest release, Never Flinch.