Great characters spawn great stories, the most inspiring based on real people. In his book "On Writing," Stephen King describes how he got the idea for his novel "Carrie" while working as a janitor cleaning a girls' shower at a high school. He couldn't quite connect to an outcast adolescent girl until he remembered, "...two of the most reviled girls in my class...how they acted, how they were treated." This gave King the pity and understanding to create Carrie. And Carrie, like many great characters, is a remarkable social misfit.
