I think, also, just about any book, short story or novella post-Rose Madder tends to have meatier female characters, whether or not they're protagonists. King does this thing of nibbling away at a hobbyhorse and then finally tackling it majorly in a book and then moving on with mastery of that in his toolbox--it shows up a lot less, but it's handled with more polish when it comes up. Rose Madder is like that with his gender issues, particularly domestic violence. (It is the one about childhood; Needful Things about meticulously realized small towns.)

You can see it happen in DT, which is why I love that series so much. In the first half, Eddie is juxtaposed to Roland very sharply, and he's early!King's favorite kind of protagonist; young, dumb, and full of... creativity and smartassery. Susannah is a love interest and quite literally a bundle of stereotypes.

In the second half, Susannah and Roland are juxtaposed, Susannah has her own book, and Eddie is her love interest and Roland's sidekick. I remember realizing someone was going to die and praying King wouldn't flush thirty years of learning not to suck by killing off Susannah. Then I cried when it was Eddie. D:

King has admitted pregnancy kills a story dead, and I think if he hadn't saddled himself with Susannah's pregnancy before he got around to writing Rose Madder, the last three books would be a lot stronger.