Paul Sheldon, the character through which King filters the experiences of the novel, is an idealist-turned-survivor. He is a popular writer from New York who visits rural Colorado to finish the book that he really wants to write. Abandoning the romance genre, he hopes that the serious, artfully crafted Fast Cars will receive critical acclaim from literary reviewers. After Annie rescues him from a car accident, heals him, and proceeds to keep him captive, his previous opinions about the business of writing change. He discovers that writers write no matter what the reviewers say: the need to write is a writer's own obsession. The skills needed to write well, such as a creative imagination (which embarrassed Paul's mother), a sense of humor (which he keeps well-hidden from Annie), and a sense of what is organically realistic or possible (characterized by another question, "Did he?") will help him survive...