Nearly every novel Stephen King writes takes inspiration from his life. In Carrie, the titular character was inspired by two women he once knew.

A great many stories from prolific horror author, Stephen King, are based on real-life occurrences he's experienced as well as people whom he has known personally. His first published novel, Carrie was actually inspired by two women King knew in real-life and went to school with. While this is a lesser-known history of the story, it is one of the most important, as the author expressed in the introduction to the audiobook. These two women in particular inspired Carrie White's personality, the revenge story, and King's conception of a powerful woman who takes her life into her own hands.

It is common to find King's own personal life in his writing, especially when he includes characters that are similar to himself. For example, a lot of his books actually feature authors who struggle with writer's block and alcoholism. He is also inclined to write coming-of-age stories; Carrie is considered to be one of the greatest examples of these. Over the years, it has become part of a newly developed sub-genre that is assigned to movies or novels that feature menstruation, pregnancy, reproduction, and puberty, known as "gynaehorror." Carrie tells the story of the titular character as she experiences severe bullying from her peers and abuse from her religious mother. She is confined to live a life that is not her own and led to believe that she will never amount to anything.

Carrie has been adapted several times with the first one releasing two years after the novel began distribution. Brian De Palma directed the movie, and Sissy Spacek notably starred as Carrie White. Spacek would go on to star in other King-related media, such as Hulu's Castle Rock. As most of King's novels are based on a portion of his life, Carrie may be one of the only stories that is instead taken from two women he knew, as well as details from a news story. Some may read Carrie as solely a horror story, but its history makes it so much more than that.

Stephen King introduces the Carrie audiobook, which was read by Sissy Spacek. In it, he details his difficulties with finding a publisher to distribute his horror novels. During the fall of 1972, he conceived a story about a girl with psychokinetic powers after reading a news story about poltergeists. This was the seed planted in the author's head that led to the creation of Carrie. This news story in particular attributed the poltergeist activity to the teenage girl who was living in the house. It was believed that she was the source of the objects moving and other bizarre occurrences around the home.

While this story sparked the initial idea of Carrie, it was actually two women, whom he does not name, who actually created the character. He refers to them as Tina White and Sandra Irving in order to avoid potentially having their names tarnished posthumously, as not everyone agrees with Carrie's actions in the book and movies. Tina went to elementary school with King. According to King, she was quiet, sat in the back row, and always wound up being bullied due to the fact that she wore the same clothes everyday. Even when she acquired a new outfit, the bullying did not cease. Sandra lived down the street from the house King grew up in, and was raised by a single mother. When a 16-year-old King assisted her mother in moving some furniture, he was struck by the massive cross that hung above their couch. Sandra's peers also avoided her because of her seizures and strange dress.

Tragically, neither of them made it to the age of 30. King notes that Tina took her own life and Sandra died during a seizure while alone in her apartment. Their ghosts haunted him as he wrote Carrie. He took both of their stories and crafted a tale that imagined what their lives could have been like if they had the gift of psychokinetic energy. King wanted to imagine a world that was fair to girls who weren't perceived as whatever was ascribed to the general population. Carrie White, in that sense, is a combination of Tina and Sandra if they had the ability to fight back, stand up for themselves, challenge their bullies, and overcome their obstacles. Carrie is read as a somewhat feminist novel about the power of womanhood, and it truly is a story about two women he once knew whom he wished had lived to see better circumstances.

More: Why Carrie Defined Stephen King’s Career