The writer visits Stephen King’s prolific family in Maine. King’s wife Tabitha, his sons Joe and Owen, and his daughter-in-law Kelly Braffet are all published authors. His daughter Naomi is a Unitarian Universalist minister and storyteller:
“Owen can live with selling fewer books than his brother or father, both of whom set unusually high standards for that metric. ‘I think my brother’s and father’s drive for success is greater than mine,’ he said. ‘I just want to sell enough books to be able to justify continuing to write.’ As the youngest of the siblings and the one who stayed home, rather than go to boarding school, he was exposed more often than they were to his father’s growing fame — the snapping cameras everywhere, the strangers forever approaching them. ‘I want to be as successful as I can be while still living a very private life,’ he said, ‘and I think my ambition is probably a little bit limited by that desire.’
“His brother, by contrast, embraces the public’s attention. He recently posed for a series of photos in which he pantomimed being strangled and stabbed by fans, then posted them on Twitter. Owen admired the project but could not relate to the impulse. ‘I don’t want to be choked by a stranger,’ he said. ‘Not even pretend choked.’”
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