In "Duma Key," which hits bookstores Tuesday, Minneapolis building contractor Edgar Freemantle moves to Florida and takes up art after being injured in a construction accident. His new life takes another turn when the supernatural intrudes.

King drew on his experiences after he was struck by a van while walking near his summer home in North Lovell in 1999.

"I'd heard how creativity, how make-believe, can help the body heal from physical injuries," he said. "I also got interested in psychic phenomena connected to phantom limbs. The writer's dictum is to write what you know, so I started from there. But Edgar shouldn't be thought of as me."