July 1999: was it "On Writing" or "Rose Red"?

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Genug

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While reading "On Writing" I seemed to understand that at the time of his mid-June 1999 accident St. King was working on that very book, and that is was that same book he resumed work with while recovering once back home (Part 6 of "On Living: A Postscript").
Then again in the extras to the "Rose Red" DVD we hear from executive producer Mark Carliner that what St. King was working on at the time actually was "Rose Red", and he adds: "It was like six months, and the first thing he really addressed once he recovered was "Rose Red".
On a personal note I felt that "Rose Red" did lack some continuity consistency, but I'd doubt this had anything to do with the author's accident, since I guess a number of persons got to read the script before the shooting began, and some of them could have mentioned this and suggested changes. Besides, according to "On Writing", it took St. King much less than six months before he got to work again (as soon as "late July", he mentions), so I thought maybe Mark Carliner's memories were not accurate.
Of course this doesn't matter much; I guess I was just curious to know if anyone else had noticed this discrepancy, and what might be the answer according to the well-informed Constant Readers who frequent this forum . . .
 

Walter Oobleck

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I don't know. My guess is maybe he could have worked on more than one thing at a time. Whatever the word is for that...being able to chew gum and walk at the same time. Ambidextrous? Haven't seen Rose Red. Not sure what it is about.
 

Genug

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Haven't seen Rose Red. Not sure what it is about.
It is a six-hour series about a (very) haunted house. There are good, pure stephenkingish moments in it, but I thought it lacked coherence. Then again one actor died during the shooting, which caused major alterations to the script while the shooting was two thirds (I think) into the making. Then again some other characters disappear suddenly during the course of the story without any valid reason given, and pop up again at the end.
 

Sundrop

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The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red was written by Ridley Pearson. It's written in the form of a journal or diary....it could explain some of your continuity issues.
SK wrote the screenplay for the series based on the book/diary
 
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Walter Oobleck

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Sounds interesting...everyone here should start a thread about teevee movies...when they're coming up. I've only seen a handful of movies and some of them I didn't catch until they were part-way through on the television. Too easy to look in the tv-guide that comes in the paper. I usually pick up the remote and flip through, see something, watch. But a thread where a head's-up could be posted would be a plus. And yeah, maybe not everyone has the same...whatever...listing? service? the same set-up.
 

Sundrop

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Jun 12, 2008
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Sounds interesting...everyone here should start a thread about teevee movies...when they're coming up. I've only seen a handful of movies and some of them I didn't catch until they were part-way through on the television. Too easy to look in the tv-guide that comes in the paper. I usually pick up the remote and flip through, see something, watch. But a thread where a head's-up could be posted would be a plus. And yeah, maybe not everyone has the same...whatever...listing? service? the same set-up.
Rose Red is worth catching, Walt. I'll keep my eye out for listings, and let ya know next time I see it in the listings. We probably have different channels, but the networks should be the same.
 

Sundrop

Sunny the Great & Wonderful
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...it was a bit uneven...but overall, didn't think that Steve or Ridley either one did a bad job...
I agree....and I think both did a fabulous job. I just kinda figured that since the original format was that of a diary/journal, it was bound to have some missing pieces.....and I like to fill those in with my own imagination
 

Mr Nobody

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Jul 9, 2008
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A quick flick tells me SK was indeed working on On Writing at the time of his accident. It's possible that Rose Red was the first fiction he worked on post-recovery. (Though a flick through the Author Notes for Dreamcatcher shows he got cracking on that one in November '99, so even serious injury couldn't have slowed him down by much...which in its own way makes me admire the man even more.)
 

Moderator

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Stephen had just completed the draft of From A Buick 8 and turned it in to the publisher the week before his accident. The first fiction novel he worked on following his accident was Dreamcatcher which he did completely in longhand. In between those was On Writing. As Stephen mentions (pg. 265 of the hardcover) he had had the idea for the book prior to his accident and had started writing it in November or December of 1997 but put it aside n February or March of 1998 because he didn't know how to continue. He'd begun again on June 17, 1999 but was still not sure where it was going. He finally began working on it in earnest once he was home from the hospital and making his recovery. Mark Carliner was correct that he was also working on Rose Red in 1999 as that was being filmed in 2000.
 

Genug

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Stephen had just completed the draft of From A Buick 8 and turned it in to the publisher the week before his accident. The first fiction novel he worked on following his accident was Dreamcatcher which he did completely in longhand. In between those was On Writing. As Stephen mentions (pg. 265 of the hardcover) he had had the idea for the book prior to his accident and had started writing it in November or December of 1997 but put it aside n February or March of 1998 because he didn't know how to continue. He'd begun again on June 17, 1999 but was still not sure where it was going. He finally began working on it in earnest once he was home from the hospital and making his recovery.
Thank you for this. I just became aware you had answered as I never got the notification mail.
Mark Carliner was correct that he was also working on Rose Red in 1999 as that was being filmed in 2000.
He actually points out that the week before the accident he got a call from S. K. and adds : « I was to send a script to Craig Baxley to take a look at it over the week-end. That Saturday, the next day, [S. K.] got hit by a truck. » This comes just before the moment when he explains : « It was like six months, and the first thing he really addressed once he recovered was Rose Red. »