The Accident That Nearly Ended Stephen King's Career

If you have enjoyed classics such as Under the Dome or - 11/22/63 by Stephen King, you can already answer the question, was Stephen King affected by his accident on 19 June 1999?

The first novel he wrote after his accident was Dreamcatcher, a brilliant book which bears no resemblance to the film version. However, King had to change everything he knew about writing to write Dreamcatcher.

The Accident

King went for a walk in the afternoon in June near his home in Maine. Whilst walking along the road, he was struck from behind by a Dodge whose driver, Bryan Smith, had lost control.

The master of horror sustained many injuries and remained hospitalised for a month. At one point, the doctors considered amputating his right leg. He commented on the accident anniversary that the leg got to stay on a trial basis.

Despite recovering slowly and being released from hospital after a month, this was not the end of his fight.

Once discharged from the hospital, the severe pain he was left with resulted in him announcing his retirement from writing.

Recovery

Initially, after the accident, King stated he did not want to work again; the pain was too intense. He could not bend his right knee as it had an external cage. The thought of sitting behind a desk in a wheelchair was torture.

In addition, King had smashed his hip, so sitting for more than forty minutes was impossible. As a writer, though, he had been in impossible situations before, and writing had always helped him.

He was sure that writing would help him forget the pain if he could write. Many fans were desperate for him to finish his Dark Towers series.

As with all writers, his characters slowly drew him back to writing.

There was that voice in the back of my mind, patient and implacable, telling me that, in the words of the Chambers Brothers, the "time has come today." It was possible for me to disobey that voice but very difficult not to believe it

Writing Again

If it had not been for his wife Tabitha, King may never have been published; she rescued the manuscript for Carrie out of the bin and told him it was a bestseller.

We have her to thank again for getting her husband writing again. When King said he wanted to write, Tabitha asked him for a couple of hours to sort things out.

He states that after a couple of hours, she collected him, went through the kitchen, and down the newly installed wheelchair ramp into the back hall. A desk stood on it with his laptop, printer, manuscript, notes, pens and reference materials.

His first writing session lasted an hour and forty minutes. When it was over, he was exhausted, dripping in sweat and in excruciating pain, but he had five hundred words. He stated it was like starting again; his writing was so difficult.

The first draft of Dreamcatcher was written in longhand to decrease his pain. Then, he got the idea of how to complete his Dark Tower series, even writing himself into the story.

During this period, he also wrote the hugely popular On Writing. The biographical nature of the book helped deal with the incident. He also wrote an article for the New Yorker, which is compulsive reading, all about the accident.

Although he states his endurance is still not what it used to be, he has produced another twenty-five books since his accident.

Bryan Smith

The driver who nearly denied us the end of The Dark Tower lost his license following the accident and died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl in September 2000.

When the incident occurred, King said, "The death of a 43-year-old man can only be termed untimely. I would wish better for anyone. Our lives came together in a strange way. I'm grateful I didn't die. I'm sorry he's gone."

Much controversy surrounded Smith during the year after he hit King. He became an unwilling celebrity, with his name being used in many trivial quizzes.

Many commented on the sentence he received. King would state that the sentence was too lenient. Smith's lawyers commented it was impossible to get a fair trial in a town where most of the residents had been endowed by the author.

Writing Heals

It is clear to see how the accident has influenced King's writing. Especially if you are a Dark Tower fan, it is easy to forget about Bryan Smith when discussing the novels King has written since then. Smith, although responsible for the accident, suffered in his way.

This primarily, though, is an article about how writing can heal you no matter what you go through, physical or mental.

Writing did not save my life, but it is doing what it has always done: it makes my life a brighter and more pleasant place. - King