120 Stephen King Trivia Questions & Answers: Constant Reader Challenge

I would tell you to read this alone in a quiet hotel, but Stephen King taught us better. These 120 questions move from Carrie and Castle Rock to rabid dogs, haunted cars, prison miracles, and one clown who ruined storm drains for everyone.

Keep reading with our horror movie trivia, book trivia, and 1980s trivia.

Stephen King, Early Books, and Maine

Q: Where was Stephen King born?
A: Portland, Maine, the state that would anchor much of his fiction.

Q: In what year was Stephen King born?
A: 1947, making him part of the postwar baby-boom generation.

Q: Which university did King attend?
A: The University of Maine, where he earned an English degree.

Q: What subject did King teach before writing full time?
A: English at Hampden Academy in Maine.

Q: Who is Stephen King's wife?
A: Novelist Tabitha King, whom he married in 1971.

Q: Which King child wrote Heart-Shaped Box?
A: Joe Hill, who publishes under a shortened form of his name.

Q: What is Joe Hill's birth name?
A: Joseph Hillstrom King, Stephen and Tabitha King's son.

Q: Which other King son is a novelist?
A: Owen King, coauthor with his father of Sleeping Beauties.

Q: What was King's first published novel?
A: Carrie, released in 1974 after Tabitha rescued pages from the trash.

Q: What power does Carrie White possess?
A: Telekinesis, allowing her to move and attack objects with her mind.

Q: What humiliating prank targets Carrie at prom?
A: A bucket of pig's blood is dumped over her onstage.

Q: Who is Carrie's fanatically religious mother?
A: Margaret White, whose abuse helps make home as dangerous as school.

Q: Which novel followed Carrie?
A: 'Salem's Lot, King's 1975 novel about vampires invading a Maine town.

Q: Who returns to Jerusalem's Lot in 'Salem's Lot?
A: Writer Ben Mears, who becomes involved in the town's vampire crisis.

Q: Which ancient vampire menaces Jerusalem's Lot?
A: Kurt Barlow, aided by his human servant Richard Straker.

Q: What was King's third published novel?
A: The Shining, published in 1977 and set at an isolated hotel.

Q: What is the haunted hotel in The Shining?
A: The Overlook Hotel, where winter isolation amplifies supernatural danger.

Q: Who is the struggling writer hired as winter caretaker?
A: Jack Torrance, husband of Wendy and father of Danny.

Q: What psychic ability does Danny Torrance have?
A: The shining, which lets him perceive thoughts, spirits, and possible futures.

Q: Who helps Danny understand the shining?
A: Overlook cook Dick Hallorann, who shares the same psychic gift.

Q: Which later novel follows adult Danny Torrance?
A: Doctor Sleep, published in 2013.

Q: What group hunts psychic children in Doctor Sleep?
A: The True Knot, led by the charismatic Rose the Hat.

Q: What fictional Maine town appears in many King stories?
A: Castle Rock, named after a location in Lord of the Flies.

Q: Which other fictional Maine town is home to It?
A: Derry, a town with a long cycle of violence and disappearance.

Q: Which fictional town is central to Under the Dome?
A: Chester's Mill, suddenly sealed beneath an invisible barrier.

Q: What accident seriously injured King in 1999?
A: A van struck him while he walked along a road in Maine.

Q: Which nonfiction book explains King's craft and recovery?
A: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

Q: What pseudonym did King use for several early novels?
A: Richard Bachman, an identity created partly to publish more frequently.

Q: Which Bachman book concerns a deadly walking contest?
A: The Long Walk, in which slowing down can mean execution.

Q: Which Bachman novel introduced a future televised hunt?
A: The Running Man, set in a dystopian 2025.

Monsters, Powers, and Unforgettable Objects

Q: What form does It most famously take?
A: Pennywise the Dancing Clown, played as bait for frightened children.

Q: What kind of being is It?
A: An ancient shape-shifting entity whose true form exceeds ordinary human understanding.

Q: What group confronts Pennywise as children?
A: The Losers' Club, seven friends united by bullying and supernatural terror.

Q: How often does Pennywise's cycle usually return?
A: Roughly every twenty-seven years, followed by another period of feeding.

Q: What red object is closely associated with Pennywise?
A: A balloon, an innocent party decoration turned into a warning.

Q: What is the name of the rabid dog in Cujo?
A: Cujo, a friendly Saint Bernard transformed by rabies.

Q: How does Cujo contract rabies?
A: A rabid bat bites him while he explores a rabbit hole.

Q: Who becomes trapped in a car by Cujo?
A: Donna Trenton and her young son Tad.

Q: What car is the villain of Christine?
A: A possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury with a jealous streak.

Q: Who buys and restores Christine?
A: Teenager Arnie Cunningham, whose personality changes alongside the car.

Q: Which novel features a burial ground that revives the dead?
A: Pet Sematary, where resurrection brings back something dangerously altered.

Q: Why is the title Pet Sematary misspelled?
A: Children made the sign for their informal animal cemetery.

Q: Who warns Louis Creed about the burial ground?
A: His elderly neighbor Jud Crandall, though the warning comes too late.

Q: What is the Creed family's cat called?
A: Church, short for Winston Churchill.

Q: What otherworldly mist traps shoppers in a supermarket?
A: The Mist, filled with deadly creatures from another dimension.

Q: Who narrates The Mist?
A: Commercial artist David Drayton, trapped with his son Billy.

Q: What plague devastates humanity in The Stand?
A: A weaponized influenza strain nicknamed Captain Trips.

Q: Who represents evil in The Stand?
A: Randall Flagg, a recurring dark figure across King's fictional universe.

Q: Who leads the opposing community in Boulder?
A: Mother Abagail Freemantle, a 108-year-old spiritual leader.

Q: What traps Chester's Mill in Under the Dome?
A: A transparent, nearly impenetrable dome that abruptly descends around the town.

Q: Which novel turns a cell phone signal into catastrophe?
A: Cell, where the Pulse transforms users into violent hive-minded attackers.

Q: What otherworldly realm appears in Lisey's Story?
A: Boo'ya Moon, beautiful by day and terrifying after dark.

Q: What ability allows characters in Firestarter to create flames?
A: Pyrokinesis, possessed with frightening power by Charlie McGee.

Q: Which secret agency hunts Charlie McGee?
A: The Shop, which wants to study and weaponize her powers.

Q: What power does Johnny Smith gain in The Dead Zone?
A: Psychic visions triggered by touch after he wakes from a coma.

Q: Which politician does Johnny believe will cause catastrophe?
A: Greg Stillson, an ambitious candidate with a terrifying possible future.

Q: What machine becomes murderous in The Mangler?
A: An industrial laundry press possessed through a strange series of ingredients.

Q: Which short story features toy soldiers attacking a hitman?
A: Battleground, collected in Night Shift.

Q: What creature stalks children in The Boogeyman?
A: A closet-dwelling entity blamed for a father's children's deaths.

Q: Which collection contains Children of the Corn?
A: Night Shift, King's first published short-story collection.

The Dark Tower, Prison Stories, and Human Villains

Q: Who is the gunslinger at the center of The Dark Tower?
A: Roland Deschain of Gilead, last of an ancient knightly order.

Q: What is the first Dark Tower novel?
A: The Gunslinger, assembled from stories first published in a fantasy magazine.

Q: What destination does Roland pursue?
A: The Dark Tower, the axis connecting and supporting many worlds.

Q: Who does Roland pursue across the desert?
A: The man in black, eventually identified as Walter o'Dim.

Q: What is Roland's close fellowship called?
A: A ka-tet, people bound together by fate and shared purpose.

Q: Which New Yorker becomes Roland's first adult companion?
A: Eddie Dean, drawn from 1980s New York while smuggling drugs.

Q: Who becomes the ka-tet's gunslinger named Susannah?
A: Odetta Holmes and Detta Walker integrate into Susannah Dean.

Q: Who is the boy Roland repeatedly encounters?
A: Jake Chambers, a New York child whose fate crosses worlds.

Q: What animal joins Roland's ka-tet?
A: Oy, a loyal billy-bumbler resembling a dog, raccoon, and badger.

Q: How many main Dark Tower novels are there?
A: Eight, counting the later mid-series novel The Wind Through the Keyhole.

Q: Which novella inspired The Shawshank Redemption?
A: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, collected in Different Seasons.

Q: Who is wrongfully imprisoned at Shawshank?
A: Banker Andy Dufresne, convicted of murdering his wife and her lover.

Q: Who narrates Andy's prison story?
A: Red, an inmate known for obtaining contraband.

Q: How does Andy conceal his escape tunnel?
A: He covers the hole with posters of famous actresses.

Q: Which Different Seasons novella inspired Stand by Me?
A: The Body, a Castle Rock story about four boys seeking a corpse.

Q: What is the boys' destination in The Body?
A: The body of missing child Ray Brower beside railroad tracks.

Q: Which Different Seasons story inspired Apt Pupil?
A: Apt Pupil, about a teenager who discovers a hidden Nazi war criminal.

Q: Which novella inspired The Green Mile?
A: The Green Mile was published as a six-part serialized novel, not a novella.

Q: Who is the death-row guard narrating The Green Mile?
A: Paul Edgecombe, looking back on events at Cold Mountain Penitentiary.

Q: What gift does John Coffey possess?
A: He can heal illness and absorb evil or suffering from others.

Q: Which small animal befriends prisoner Eduard Delacroix?
A: Mr. Jingles, an unusually intelligent mouse.

Q: Who imprisons novelist Paul Sheldon in Misery?
A: Annie Wilkes, his self-described number-one fan and ruthless captor.

Q: Why is Annie furious about Paul's latest novel?
A: He has killed her beloved fictional heroine, Misery Chastain.

Q: What does Annie force Paul to write?
A: A new manuscript that brings Misery back from the dead.

Q: Who tortures Jessie Burlingame in Gerald's Game?
A: Her predicament begins when Gerald dies while she remains handcuffed to a bed.

Q: What human villain controls Mr. Mercedes?
A: Brady Hartsfield, a killer who drives a stolen Mercedes into a crowd.

Q: Which retired detective pursues Brady Hartsfield?
A: Bill Hodges, who forms an unlikely team to stop him.

Q: What trilogy begins with Mr. Mercedes?
A: The Bill Hodges trilogy, followed by Finders Keepers and End of Watch.

Q: Which investigator moves from that trilogy into later books?
A: Holly Gibney, one of King's most frequently revisited modern characters.

Q: Which novel first made Holly Gibney a title character?
A: Holly, published in 2023 after several earlier appearances.

Adaptations, Collaborations, and Hard King Trivia

Q: Who directed the 1976 film Carrie?
A: Brian De Palma, with Sissy Spacek in the title role.

Q: Who directed the 1980 film The Shining?
A: Stanley Kubrick, whose adaptation famously diverges from King's novel.

Q: Who played Jack Torrance in Kubrick's film?
A: Jack Nicholson, opposite Shelley Duvall as Wendy.

Q: Which hedge creation replaces the film's maze in King's novel?
A: Moving topiary animals menace characters in the book.

Q: What destroys the Overlook in King's novel?
A: Its neglected boiler explodes, a payoff omitted from Kubrick's film.

Q: Who played Pennywise in the 1990 television miniseries?
A: Tim Curry, whose clown performance haunted a generation of channel surfers.

Q: Who played Pennywise in the 2017 film?
A: Bill Skarsgård, returning for It Chapter Two.

Q: Who directed the 2017 and 2019 It films?
A: Andy Muschietti, with the story divided between childhood and adulthood.

Q: Which actor played Annie Wilkes in Misery?
A: Kathy Bates, who won an Academy Award for the performance.

Q: Who directed The Shawshank Redemption?
A: Frank Darabont, who adapted several King works.

Q: Which actor played Andy Dufresne?
A: Tim Robbins, with Morgan Freeman portraying Red.

Q: Who played John Coffey in The Green Mile?
A: Michael Clarke Duncan, opposite Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb.

Q: Which King story inspired the film 1408?
A: The short story 1408, about a dangerously haunted hotel room.

Q: Who played writer Mike Enslin in 1408?
A: John Cusack, with Samuel L. Jackson as hotel manager Gerald Olin.

Q: Which story inspired the film The Mist?
A: King's novella The Mist, first collected in Skeleton Crew.

Q: How does the film ending differ from the novella?
A: The movie adds a devastating final reversal absent from King's ambiguous ending.

Q: Which film did King direct himself?
A: Maximum Overdrive, his only feature-film directing credit.

Q: What powers the machines in Maximum Overdrive?
A: A mysterious comet-related phenomenon makes machines attack humans.

Q: Which band supplied music for Maximum Overdrive?
A: AC/DC, one of King's favorite rock bands.

Q: Which baseball team does King famously support?
A: The Boston Red Sox, referenced throughout his work and nonfiction.

Q: What nonfiction baseball book did King cowrite?
A: Faithful, written with Stewart O'Nan about the Red Sox's 2004 season.

Q: With whom did King write The Talisman?
A: Peter Straub, who also collaborated on its sequel Black House.

Q: With whom did King write Sleeping Beauties?
A: His son Owen King.

Q: Which fantasy novel features Peter, Thomas, and Flagg?
A: The Eyes of the Dragon, written with younger readers in mind.

Q: Which novel follows a time traveler trying to prevent Kennedy's assassination?
A: 11/22/63, whose portal leads from Maine into 1958.

Q: What rule governs time in 11/22/63?
A: Each new trip resets prior changes, while the past resists alteration.

Q: Which Richard Bachman novel inspired The Running Man film?
A: The Running Man, published under King’s Richard Bachman pseudonym.

Q: What award recognized King's contribution to American letters in 2003?
A: The National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Q: What affectionate term does King use for his readers?
A: Constant Reader, a greeting familiar from his introductions and notes.

Q: What connects many apparently separate King stories?
A: Recurring towns, characters, cosmic forces, and the multiverse surrounding the Dark Tower.

How Did You Score?

If Captain Trips, Boo'ya Moon, Mr. Jingles, Rose the Hat, ka-tet, the Overlook boiler, and the true origin of Pet Sematary's spelling came quickly, your King shelf has seen some miles. Mine now faces away from the bed, just in case.