10 Fascinating Stories Behind Stephen King's Most Famous Books

8. Misery Came To King In A Doze After He Read A Short Story About Charles Dickens By Evelyn Waugh

Charles Dickens. Evelyn Waugh. Stephen King.

It took three generations of writers to bring one of Stephen King's most acclaimed novels to the page - one that sees famous author Paul Sheldon rescued from a car crash and kidnapped by the terrifying Annie Wilkes, his self-declared "Number One Fan." When Paul announces to Annie that he's decided to put his acclaimed "Misery Chastain" series to bed, she holds him hostage and violently forces him to write another Misery novel.

Stephen King fever was at its height in 1987, so you could be forgiven for thinking that King pulled the story out of his own experiences with crazy fans.

But you'd be wrong: Misery was actually inspired by the short story "The Man Who Loved Dickens" by Evelyn Waugh. King read the story on a transatlantic flight to London, and it came to him in the form of a half-dream. "Waugh's story was about a man in South America held prisoner by a chief who falls in love with the stories of Charles Dickens and makes the man read them to him," he said. "I wondered what it would be like if Dickens himself was held captive." This proved to be the germ of an idea that ultimately led to all that is Misery.