The Stephen King story his wife made him rewrite: “This really isn’t very good”
If you were to line up all the novels, short stories, and screenplays written by Stephen King, you would have… a very sore arm. Did you think we were going to give you some sort of empirical answer? No chance! The King of Horror has published more works than any sane person should even attempt to count and is continuing to pump out content at a frightening rate. Has anybody verified that he actually sleeps? Or eats? Or breathes?
Many of King’s stories have been turned into films, some of which rank amongst the greatest pictures ever made. Though there are significant deviations between King’s interpretation of The Shining and Stanley Kubrick, the author still deserves a lot of credit for one of the legendary director’s greatest movies. His character Holly Gibney, who has appeared in six stories so far, has made multiple appearances on television. She was played by Justine Lupe in the series Mr. Mercedes and by recent Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo in The Outsider.
Holly is set to take centre stage once again in King’s upcoming novel, Never Flinch. Due for release in May 2025, the book will feature two concurrent storylines; one about a serial killer stalking a victim and the other about a celebrity being followed by an obsessive fan. An excerpt from the book was shared by Entertainment Weekly. However, things would have been very different if one particular person had gotten their way. That person is Tabitha King, the author’s wife of over 50 years.
“When I did the first draft of this book … my wife read that book in manuscript and she said, ‘This really isn’t very good. It’s derivative and it feels like it’s straining to make various connections within the story.’” This is what King told The Kingcast about his initial plans for Never Flinch. “I took that very hard,” he revealed (via Slash Film). “But I also took it to heart and I rewrote the book from the jump, a completely different version incorporating some of the things from the original draft, which was called We Think Not. But then it was going to be Always Holly. And finally it became Never Flinch.”
Tabitha first met her future husband when they were both studying at the University of Maine. The pair have remained married through thick and thin, including King’s much-publicised issues with alcohol and drugs. She did once threaten to divorce her husband over a pop song, but who hasn’t?. Tabby, as she is affectionately known, is a key part of King’s story and his creative process, as he outlined on the podcast.
“The fact is, Tabby takes no shit from anybody, least of all me, so I get an honest opinion from her a lot of times,” the twisted genius mused. “She’ll say, ‘Oh, I like this, this is good.’ Or she’ll say, ‘You should fix this, and you should fix that.’ Usually, she’s right. In other words, if she really likes it she’ll say, ‘Yeah, it’s good.’ In other words, there are no superlatives involved.”
Though Holly Gibney has yet to make the leap to the big screen, she’s clearly a popular enough character to warrant at least some sort of adaptation. Never Flinch could be the story that finally lands her a movie, especially if Erivo could be convinced to reprise her role from the TV show. Maybe King could direct it himself! Then again, based on his performance on Maximum Overdrive, maybe that’s not such a good idea.
