20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Stephen King

19. He Bought The Van That Ran Him Over

Once upon a time Stephen King would knock out a few thousand words a day, every day, which is why he managed to publish so many densely packed novels a year. There was even the odd case of The Shining and The Running Man, books he managed to get into a publishable form within a few days or weeks, because he was on such a roll. Now, he's lucky to get 1000 words done a day.

In fact he's lucky to be writing at all, since in June 1999 he was famously hit by a van whilst out walking. The accident left him in critical condition with injuries to his lung, broken ribs, a broken leg and a fractured hip. It took three weeks of surgeries before he was released from hospital, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to write again.

It was a slow recovery €“ during which he mostly wrote using a fountain pen, which he dubbed the world's best word processor €“ but during that time he managed to buy the van in question from the police, originally with the plan to smash it up himself on the anniversary of the accident. Actually he just wanted to stop it from falling into the hands of a fan...or critic.