Stephen King's "Carrie" Almost Didn't Exist & Here's What You Can Learn From It

Can you imagine letting self-doubt lead you to completely throwing away your future?

Well, Stephen King almost did. When King initially began writing Carrie, he hated it so much and believed in it so little that he tossed his first three pages away into the garbage. And this is where they would have stayed had it not been for his wife, Tabitha. When she pulled them out of the trash and read them, she knew what he needed to do next.

He needed to keep going.

"I persisted because I was dry and had no better ideas… my considered opinion was that I had written the world's all-time loser."

-Stephen King

King's self-doubt almost cost him.

In fact, he felt like he didn't even know enough about high school girls to be writing a book about one. He also didn't find his story emotionally moving. Years later, he would describe his novel as "clumsy" and "artless." But his wife offered to help him with the female perspective, and with her support, he wrote it anyway.

Carrie became King's first published novel.

But success doesn't happen right away.

Before that, he was actually rejected by 30 publishers. He had so little money, he was living in a trailer and had his home telephone removed so he could save. And when he finally got published, his hardback did just okay, selling a less than impressive amount of copies.

Eventually, his perseverance would pay off.

Carrie propelled King's career in the horror genre.

It wasn't until it was released as a paperback that it gained traction, selling over one million copies. It received mostly positive reviews, became a New York Times bestseller, was made into a feature film multiple times, and even became a Broadway musical.

And all of this almost didn't happen.

So what can you learn from King's journey with Carrie?

• One person's support and encouragement can make all the difference.

• Accept help when you don't know enough about something.

• Self-doubt can rob you of opportunities if you let it.

• Don't give up on your ideas just because you think they suck.

• Thinking something isn't valuable doesn't mean it's true.