While you might be tempted to associate Stephen King with his homicidal creations — telekinetic Carrie White, rabid Cujo, shapeshifting Pennywise the Clown — the monster he most identifies with isn't one of his own.

"I'm kind of like the shark in Jaws," he told BuzzFeed in March, speaking from North Carolina, where filming for the second season of CBS' Under the Dome was underway. "I have to keep moving ahead and eating to live."

Under the Dome, based on King's epic novel of the same name, is set in the small town of Chester's Mill, which becomes inexplicably trapped under a massive, indestructible dome. King wrote the second season premiere, which airs June 30, and had input into the series' next 13-episode arc.

At 66, King is no stranger to adaptation: His novels have gotten the big-screen treatment time and again over the past several decades, from classics like 1976's Carrie and 1980's The Shining to more modern fare like 2007's The Mist and the 2013 adaptation of Carrie. A film adaptation of King's novel Cell, with a screenplay co-written by King, is due next year, and there is talk of new versions of It and The Stand, both of which already had TV miniseries adaptations.

But Under the Dome presents a unique challenge to King, who is more directly involved with the production than he has been with most other adaptations of his work. The way he explained it, that's a mixed blessing.

"It's a responsibility to be directly involved," King said. "I sometimes tell people that the ideal situation is, if the thing is a success you can say, 'It's based on my work.' If the thing is not a success, you can say, 'Well, I didn't have anything to do with it.' You're in great shape either way. But once you're involved, you're putting some of your own ego and some of your own track record, if you will, on the line."