10 Fascinating Stories Behind Stephen King's Most Famous Books

7. A Broken Down Car & An Old Wooden Bridge Inspired King To Write It

It is often thought to be one of King's definitive works - a great, epic novel made up of countless characters and spanning decades. Who'd have thought that such a major novel could have been inspired by a broken down car and a walk at dusk over a rickety bridge?

If you've read It, you'll know that it tells the story of seven friends whose lives are influenced by a strange, shape-shifting monster that has plagued them ever since childhood; a horrific manifestation of evil that lurks in the sewers beneath their small town with the ability to transform itself into their worst fears - mostly famously a clown named Pennywise.

The story came to King in a pretty strange and unexpected way. After his car broke down one night in the summer of 1978, three days later the author decided to walk to the motor dealership to pick up his vehicle, opting at the last minute not to take a cab. The walk was three miles and the destination was on the outskirts of the town where King lived at the time in Boulder, Colorado. As he walked through empty fields, dusk set in, and the author became very aware - and somewhat creeped out - by just how alone he was.

Then he crossed an old wooden bridge, and a thought struck him. "I thought of the fairy tale called The Three Billy-Goats Gruff and wondered what I would do if a troll called out from beneath me," King said of the experience. "'Who is trip-trapping upon my bridge?'"

He didn't act on this thought instantly, but subconsciously retained the idea. Two years later, King once again recalled the troll under the bridge incident, and began to run with it. He wanted to write about Bangor, Maine, and its canals, and decided that the bridge of that experience could represent the city, and the sewers below could serve as the troll's home.

More time passed, but King continued to think on the premise - Bangor as the bridge; the sewers as the place where the troll might lurk. Eventually, the idea - combined with King's wish to write something about his experiences as a child living in Connecticut - connected and It was born. Good thing his car broke down on that fateful summer afternoon, huh?