In his 2000 introduction his classic novel Pet Sematary, Stephen King discussed the genesis of perhaps his most disturbing novel. He explained about the road they lived next to and how it had claimed many animals. He also said that one day, he managed to catch his two-year-old son as he was darting toward the road. I love this quote from King:
“I think you can see why I found the book which rose out of these incidents so distressing. I simply took existing elements and threw in that one terrible what if. Put another way, I found myself not just thinking the unthinkable, but writing it down.”