Desperation (novel) - Inspiration

Inspiration

Stephen King was inspired to write Desperation as a result of a cross-country drive in 1991, during which he visited the small desert community of Ruth, Nevada, near U.S. 50. His first thought was that the town's inhabitants were all dead. He then wondered who had killed them, and the idea occurred to him that the town's sheriff had done so. In 1994, he took another cross-country trip, this time astride his motorcycle, and heard the tale of Chinese laborers who had been trapped inside a collapsed mine near Ruth. Rather than risking the loss of would-be rescuers, the Chinese men were abandoned to their fate. This anecdote was the germ of King's plot for the novel.