Stephen King often takes the old advice "write what you know" to heart, with many writer characters similar to himself found within his books. While some would now push back against that old adage, it's certainly worked well enough for King, with writers at the heart of some of his greatest novels and short stories to date. It's no secret that King loves writing, and has a lot of interest in the craft of writing, having written non-fiction books on the subject.
King clearly finds his rather unique occupation quite fascinating, and despite all the years he's written for a living, King doesn't appear to have lost his love for writing as an art form. In addition to writing constantly, King is also a prolific reader, with his endorsements helping more than one young author get attention, including Clive Barker. King studies fiction like others might study history or science, enjoying the analysis of it, although not without the ability to simply sit back and enjoy a story as well.
With all that said, it's no wonder that King so often inserts writers into his stories, and it's not surprising that those characters sometimes can't help but seem like modified avatars for the author himself. Here's every Stephen King story where a writer is the protagonist, or at least one of them.
Ben Mears (Salem's Lot)
Salem's Lot was Stephen King's second novel, published in 1975, and adapted into TV miniseries in 1979 and 2004. The story centers on Ben Mears, a recently widowed novelist who heads back to his childhood hometown of Jerusalem's Lot seeking a break from his career. Instead he finds both new love and a reawakened fear.
Jack Torrance (The Shining)
Jack Torrance is in many ways both the protagonist and antagonist of the story, and while a playwright instead of a novelist, his struggles with addiction definitely call King's own to mind.
Bill Denborough (IT)
IT Chapter Two movie, they even made King's real-life trouble writing endings into a plot point.
Paul Sheldon (Misery)
Misery, King's 1987 novel originally intended to be a Richard Bachman book, was later adapted into a terrific film in 1990 starring James Caan and Kathy Bates. King has said Paul Sheldon's wanting to move on from the books he was famous for was a partial reaction to horror fan backlash about King's fantasy novel The Eyes of the Dragon.
Jim Gardener & Bobbi Anderson (The Tommyknockers)
In the case of King's 1987 novel King has come to hate The Tommyknockers, dubbing it an "awful" book.
Thad Beaumont & George Stark (The Dark Half)
1989 novel Richard Bachman were the same person.
Mort Rainey (Secret Window, Secret Garden)
Mort Rainey, found within the 1990 novella Secret Window, Secret Garden, bears quite a few similarities to Thad Beaumont, especially due to the ending twist. A writer living in Maine, Mort being accused of stealing a story was inspired by real-life instances of King being outlandishly accused of theft by mentally unstable people.
Johnny Marinville (Desperation)
Johnny Marinville was one of the leads in the 1996 novel Desperation, which later became a sadly underwhelming TV movie in 2006. A best-selling author, Marinville is touring the country on his motorcycle when he runs afoul of Tak and its host Collie Entragian. King famously hates flying and loves motorcycles, making the parallels to Johnny obvious, who's also a recovering addict to boot.
Mike Noonan (Bag of Bones)
Bag of Bones, a 1998 novel by King, was adapted into a 2011 miniseries starring Pierce Brosnan that sadly left a lot to be desired. The character of Mike Noonan on the page actually bears some similarities to Ben Mears, being a recently widowed novelist that heads to a familiar location to recharge, in this case a lake house he and his wife owned.
Richard Kinnell (The Road Virus Heads North)
The Road Virus Heads North, a short story originally published in 1999, centers on Richard Kinnell, a horror writer from New England. He stops at a yard sale on his way back home from a conference, and buys a ghastly painting, which was amusingly based on a real painting King owns that his family can't stand.
Scott Landon (Lisey's Story)
Lisey's Story, published in 2006, is one of King's most personal novels, and was inspired by Tabitha King deciding to redesign her husband's writing studio while he was in the hospital recovering from the auto accident that almost killed him. This led to Scott Landon, whose wife Lisey discovers uncomfortable truths about him after his death.
Stephen King (The Dark Tower)
Last, but certainly not least, Stephen King infamously went full meta late in his Dark Tower dark fantasy saga, writing himself into the books as an actual character. It's revealed that King is able to channel the spirit of Gan in order to see what's happening in Roland Deschain's world, which he then writes down as books.
