10 Fascinating Stories Behind Stephen King's Most Famous Books

5. A Drive Through A Desolate Nevada Town Inspired King To Write Desperation

Writing about where his ideas come from, Stephen King once explained: "Stories come at different times and places for me - in the car, in the shower, while walking, even while standing around at parties." True to his word, here's a book that came to him in the car.

Desperation tells the strange and twisted story of a town named Desperation, Nevada, which is located - approximately - "out in the middle of nowhere." After a mining incident goes array, a scary creature known only as "Tak" infiltrates the community by way of an inter-dimensional portal and uses its special ability to take the forms of its residents.

Stephen King was inspired to write the novel when he took a drive through Nevada in his daughter's car. As he passed through a backwater town called "Ruth," it appeared to King as though it had been abandoned. Suddenly, his imagination kicked into gear, inspired by the perceived desolation. "They're all dead," he thought, followed by: "Who killed them?"

For no clear reason, a voice in Stephen King's head replied: "The sheriff killed them all."

The sheriff being the murderer plays into the opening of King's book, of course, in which a deranged law enforcer named Collie Entragian - possessed by Tak - abducts all visitors. This story is made more interesting because it shows King's mind at work; thinking up a novel isn't always a neat process, but one that comes in strange, unexpected bursts.