Just Getting Started: At 78, Stephen King Vows to Keep Writing No Matter What

Stephen King has spent decades scaring everyone else. Turns out his own worst fear isn’t supernatural at all — it’s his mind turning on him. And yes, that’s as grimly relatable as it sounds.

King on the one thing that keeps him up at night

That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid of that happening to me and every time that I can’t remember a word or something, I think: ‘This is the start.’

King told The Times that dementia is the thing he worries about most. He also said he writes at least 1,200 words every day — the routine is still the routine — and he has at least one more book he wants to get down. He isn’t trying to stage some grand farewell where people beg for another chapter; he’s just being honest about the runway ahead. In an August interview, he added that even if he were diagnosed with dementia, he’d keep writing.

He’s been wrestling with this stuff on the page for years

King’s books and the adaptations they spawned have taken on all kinds of mental health and brain injury stories, some head-on and some through horror metaphors. A few hits and deep cuts worth clocking:

• Duma Key (2008): After a brutal accident, Edgar Freemantle spirals through suicidal thoughts and violent mood swings, then tries to rebuild on the island of Duma Key. There he meets Elizabeth Eastlake, who is in the final stage of dementia — a detail that makes King’s current fear feel extra eerie.
• The Dead Zone (1979): Johnny Smith wakes up from nearly five years in a coma with psychic abilities, the fallout of permanent brain damage from a terrible accident.
• Misery: Rob Reiner’s 1990 film adaptation turns obsession and captivity into a sustained panic attack. It’s a showcase for how physical trauma and psychological terror feed each other.
• The Shining: Addiction doesn’t just simmer in the Overlook; it drives the whole tragedy through Jack Torrance. For the numbers people: the film opened May 23, 1980, sits at 84% critics / 93% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.4/10 on IMDb, and is currently rentable on Amazon Video.
• Revival: Another addiction story, this time through Jamie, whose life is repeatedly warped by dependency and a magnetic, ruinous mentor figure.

When he’s talked about mental illness on screen and on the page — including around the 2021 release of Lisey’s Story — King’s stance has been pretty clear: treat characters as full people, don’t turn mental illness into a punchline, and remember it isn’t their fault. But also, take it seriously enough to get people help or protect others when needed.

What’s next: a new case for Holly Gibney, and maybe the penultimate chapter

King hinted he has at least one more book he wants to write, which makes the latest one feel like we’re in the home stretch. Never Flinch, a crime thriller published May 27, 2025, brings back Holly Gibney and threads her through a case tied to the murders of 14 people. If he truly has just one left in him, that would make Never Flinch the second-to-last stop — not a curtain call, but close enough to make every page feel a little louder.