History YMMV / StephenKing

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: This trope could have been called "Stephen King is Unscary". King's works have been hugely influential for the last two generations of horror writers, and many of the cliches of the genre were originally invented, or at least popularized by King.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Inverted; King admitted he was ''stoned out of his mind'' when he wrote works like ''Literature/{{Cujo}}'' and directed ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'', to the point to where he doesn't remember writing ''Cujo'' ''at all''. He did later admit that this put him in the unique position of being able to read one of his novels like an unspoiled reader, admitting he enjoyed it, and even wishes he could remember the writing process.
** Knowing about the cocaine habit King had in the '80s makes a lot of things about his output in the period make a ''lot'' more sense. ''It'', ''The Tommyknockers'', and particularly the unabridged version of ''The Stand'' are very much "cocaine ideas" in how long, complex, and prone to digression they are. It's not an accident that while King kept writing substantial novels after he sobered up, they have gotten markedly shorter and more focused.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: He isn't called a "Flaming Liberal" by conservatives for nothing. When referencing real-life politicians, he tends to hold up Republicans as demons in human flesh. In one such case, he wrote ''Literature/SalemsLot'' during the Watergate scandal and makes one character a UsefulNotes/RichardNixon supporter [[TakeThat to mark him as an]] AssholeVictim. With his fictional politicians, he tends to go either way, usually with NoPartyGiven, but making it obvious regardless which way each one leans. He uses fake left-leaning politicians to expose issues within his own party (such as Susan Day of ''Insomnia'') but generally uses right-leaning politicians when he just needs a government villain (such as Greg Stillson). Having said that, nuance isn't entirely above him; entirely heroic and much-loved Sadie from ''Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree'' is a Nixon voter who admits more than once to not liking Kennedy very much, and Holly of the ''Mercedes Saga'' cares about and tries to love her overbearing, UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump-loving mother in spite of being wholly left-wing herself.
* AcceptableTargets:
** Religious zealots.
** MoralGuardians and/or right-leaning people of any stripe.
** School bullies are often depicted as [[BullyBrutality borderline, if not completely, homicidal]].

* EndingAversion: A very common complaint involving many of his novels is that King has a hard time concluding the story in a satisfying way that doesn't result in an AssPull and/or RocksFallEveryoneDies, a criticism which he himself has acknowledged (although there are certainly numerous exceptions).

* MagnificentBastard: [[Series/StormOfTheCentury Andre Linoge]] and [[Film/TheNightFlier Dwight Renfield]].

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: He isn't called a "Flaming Liberal" by conservatives for nothing. When referencing real-life politicians, he tends to hold up Republicans as demons in human flesh. In one such case, he wrote ''Literature/SalemsLot'' during the Watergate scandal and makes one character a UsefulNotes/RichardNixon supporter [[TakeThat to mark him as an]] AssholeVictim. With his fictional politicians, he tends to go either way, usually with NoPartyGiven, but making it obvious regardless which way each one leans. He uses fake left-leaning politicians to expose issues within his own party (such as Susan Day of ''Insomnia'') but generally uses right-leaning politicians when he just needs a government villain (such as Greg Stillson). Having said that, nuance isn't entirely above him; entirely heroic and much-loved Sadie from Literature/ElevenTwentyTwoSixtyThree is a Nixon voter who admits more than once to not liking Kennedy very much, and Holly of the ''Mercedes Saga'' cares about and tries to love her overbearing, UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump-loving mother in spite of being wholly left-wing herself.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: He isn't called a "Flaming Liberal" by conservatives for nothing. When referencing real-life politicians, he tends to hold up Republicans as demons in human flesh. In one such case, he wrote ''Literature/SalemsLot'' during the Watergate scandal and makes one character a UsefulNotes/RichardNixon supporter [[TakeThat to mark him as an]] AssholeVictim. With his fictional politicians, he tends to go either way, usually with NoPartyGiven, but making it obvious regardless which way each one leans. He uses fake left-leaning politicians to expose issues within his own party (such as Susan Day of ''Insomnia'') but generally uses right-leaning politicians when he just needs a government villain (such as Greg Stillson).

** Part of the reason he created the Richard Bachman PenName was due to the fact that nobody would believe "the Bachman Books" weren't just horror novels if he'd written them under his own name.

*** To this day, expect to see the year's new Stephen King novel nominated for the Goodreads Readers' Choice Award in the Horror category, even if thematically it fits better under Science Fiction or Mystery & Thriller.

** Part of the reason he created the Richard Bachman PenName was due to the fact that nobody would believe they weren't just horror if he'd written them under his own name.

** More like not given credit when he should. To this day there are people who refuse to believe he wrote the stories that ''Film/StandByMe'' and ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' were based on, for the simple reason that they're not horror and actually pretty heartwarming. They'll "prove" it by taking a cursory glance at his bibliography and saying "See, not there!", since both of them were from a collection called ''Literature/DifferentSeasons'' and both of them had their names changed when translated to film. (''Film/TheGreenMile'' often elicits the same response, but at least that does show up on his bibliography more obviously.)

*** To this day, expect to see that year's new Stephen King novel nominated for the Goodreads Readers' Choice Award in the Horror category, even if thematically it fits better under Science Fiction or Mystery & Thriller.

** To this day, expect to see that year's new Stephen King novel nominated for the Goodreads Readers' Choice Award in the Horror category, even if thematically it fits better under Science Fiction or Mystery & Thriller.

** More like not given credit when he should. To this day there are people who refuse to believe he wrote the stories that ''Film/StandByMe'' and ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' were based on, for the simple reason that they're not horror and actually pretty heartwarming. They'll "prove" it by taking a cursory glance at his bibliography and saying "See, not there!", since both of them were from a collection called ''Literature/DifferentSeasons'' and both of them had their names changed when translated to film.

* EndingAversion: A very common complaint involving many of his novels is that King has a hard time concluding the story in a satisfying way that doesn't result in an AssPull, RocksFallEveryoneDies, and/or ShockingSwerve, a criticism which he himself has acknowledged (although there are certainly numerous exceptions).
* HilariousInHindsight: In ''Danse Macabre'', he describes ''Film/ANewHope'' as [[Series/{{Firefly}} "an outer space western just overflowing with PIONEER SPIRIT."]]

** More like not given credit when he should. To this day there are people who refuse to believe he wrote the stories that ''Film/StandByMe'' and ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' were based on, for the simple reason that they're not horror and actually pretty heart-warming. They'll "prove" it by taking a cursory glance at his bibliography and saying "See, not there!", since both of them were from a collection called ''Literature/DifferentSeasons'' and both of them had their names changed when translated to film.

** Many of King's works contain this. Even some scenes that were intended to be scary or heart-warming can come off this way.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets: When referencing real-life politicians, he tends to hold up Republicans as demons in human flesh. In one such case, he wrote ''Literature/SalemsLot'' during the Watergate scandal and makes one character a UsefulNotes/RichardNixon supporter [[TakeThat to mark him as an]] AssholeVictim. With his fictional politicians, he tends to go either way, usually with NoPartyGiven, but making it obvious regardless which way each one leans. He uses fake left-leaning politicians to expose issues within his own party (such as Susan Day of ''Insomnia'') but generally uses right-leaning politicians when he just needs a government villain (such as Greg Stillson).

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/SimonRGreen here]].