Chances are, you’ve heard of either Tom Clancy or Stephen King. Probably even both at one time or another. That’s because both have made great strides in their field and had practically mastered how to write a story that could draw the reader in.

Starting off, a little context is needed. Clancy writes military action novels set during the red scare to the early 2000’s. These include hits like “The Cardinal of the Kremlin” and “Rainbow Six”.  He sadly passed away on Oct. 1, 2013 due to natural causes at the age of 66. Stephen King, although on the surface writing novels with a completely different tone, shares many similarities to Clancy in terms of the messages being sent. King writes horror/thriller novels and many have been adapted to the big screen including “IT,” “The Shining,” and “Doctor Sleep”.

Clancy and King had mastered both marketing and writing by their first novel; both premieres of King’s “Carrie” and Clancy’s “The Hunt For Red October” reached well over ten million copies sold. Both have made multiple movies based on their books, which have been widely considered a success. Although both authors write completely different genres of writing, they have a similar way of going about it. There is not always an underlying message in the novels, but rather a connection to global events.  When “The Shining” hit shelves in 1980, familicide and serial murder rates were up, adding to the tension as the reader hit the climax; similarly, “The Hunt for Red October” coincided with the Red Scare.

The series spawned from these authors lept from the pages to the big screen and made the authors even more wealthy than they already were in cases like “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Shining,” both of which grossed well over 40 million dollars. By doing this, this gave the creators the opportunity to give a spin on an old tale like King did with “IT,” or simply spread more awareness of the series while partnering with some of the biggest names in the world like Tom Hanks and Amazon. With names like these and how meaningful their books are, it’s no wonder Clancy and King are considered some of the best writers of their generation.