The Challenge
As an avid Stephen King fan, developer, and enjoyer of structure JSON I noticed something missing from the internet: there was no comprehensive API available for accessing information about King's vast body of work. This absence presented both an opportunity to do something original as well as a number of challenges:
Data Availability
No centralized, programmatically accessible source for King's works.
Data Collection
Develop efficient web scraping techniques to gather data from multiple sources.
Data Organization
Organize 65+ novels/novellas, 200+ short stories, and countless characters into a structured database.
API Design
Create intuitive API endpoints to explore the interconnected 'King Universe'.
Approach & Discovery
I focused on two main sources for my data: Wikipedia for bibliographic info and Fandom wikis for character details. My goal was to build a database that combines publication data with character connections across King's works. This approach could create a valuable resource for fans, researchers, and developers, offering new ways to explore the links within King's universe.
Results
Understanding that this tool is aimed at a very specific audience, I wasn's expecting too much in terms of people actually visiting my site. But I some traffic! and from all over the world.
Monthly user counts have hovered steadily around 300.
King's work is ubiquitous