10 Unfinished Stephen King Novels (That He Should Definitely Finish)

Earlier in his career, Stephen King spoke of his attempt to write an untitled Western novel. While hopping genres may give you pause, consider that, in recent years, he has done exactly that, expanding into the realms of fantasy and mystery and even hardboiled crime fiction.

King was dismissive of his Western attempt at a talk in California in 1989, as noted in George Beahm's Stephen King: From A to Z, stating that the only good part of the novel was essentially a horror fragment. "I wrote about 160 pages, but the only scene that had any real power was when the old guy got drunk outside a farmhouse and fell into the pigsty, and the pigs ate him. That one scene had some real drive and punch. That is what turns on my lights, for some reason I don't understand."

And so the novel was cast aside. However, there are two very good reasons for King to give his Western another try:

One, the Western is in decline. Outside of Shane being assigned in high schools, few kids will ever pick up a Western. With the King name on it? Well that's another story. His fanbase spans across several generations. Two, having finished the Dark Tower, King has a little more experience with western elements. It might be worth taking another stab at it as a result.