Though it initially sold modestly, Carrie became a bestseller after Brian de Palma’s 1976 adaptation was released, and its success opened many doors for King as an author. Since then, King has brought a variety of stories and characters for readers to explore new fears, settings, and meet all types of characters – whether humans, monsters, or humans who turn out to be more terrifying than any fantasy creature. Many of King’s characters have become part of pop culture, in big part thanks to their adaptations to other media, as happened with Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Misery, and many more.
Fans of Stephen King’s novels can be often found debating over who is/are the best character(s) from his stories as well as who are the scariest ones, and the answers will always vary as it depends on each reader’s experiences. What many seem to forget is that Stephen King himself also has his favorites from his own works, though like many other authors, he can’t just choose one favorite. During a Annie Wilkes, with King saying she was “fun”.
Annie Wilkes is the antagonist of the 1987 novel Misery, and she’s a nurse who brings injured author Paul Sheldon to her home after he’s seriously injured in a car accident. Wilkes is Paul’s self-proclaimed “#1 fan”, and he soon realizes he’s Wilkes’ prisoner and is in great danger. King called her a “brat” but “fun to write about”, but if he had to pick a “good person”, he has different answers. An audience member shouted the name of Dolores Claiborne, the lead of the 1992 novel of the same name and King shared she was based on his mother, but his choice would be Lisey Landon from The Dark Tower series, his pick would be Eddie Dean, a member of Roland Deschain’s second ka-tet.
Last but not least, King mentions IT’s Richie Tozier, the jokester of The Losers Club who more often than not gets into trouble due to his inappropriate jokes and constant swearing. Most of Stephen King’s favorite characters from his stories are also some of the audience’s favorites, such as Annie Wilkes and Richie Tozier, though it would be interesting to know exactly what earned each of them a special place in King’s heart, as the audience’s perception of every character is different from that of their creator.
