The thing about Stephen King that's so amazing is that he isn't afraid to do something odd. I've read a story of his wherein a beer clam became sentient, took over the local alcoholic man, and started demanding more and more beer to feed his growth. It's told from the perspective of a bodega owner who follows the alcoholic's son home to see what's going on, half the story is just about the walk over in the snow, and then he decides to start feeding cats to it.

Ridiculous? Yes. Terribly meaningful? No. But it was incredibly enjoyable to read and it got published, so it was clearly worth the time he spent writing it. We all want to be writing the Great Gatsby, but Stephen King is just writing whatever he thinks will be compelling. That's the difference. GRRM is trying to write something Profound^tm and it's not flowing. Stephen King puts out lots of different stories and maybe one in six becomes Carrie.

I think King's method is better, although I do recognize that it's not a method that would have resulted in Harry Potter.