on LitHub:

This week marks the 73rd anniversary of the time Astrid Lindgren, mother of two, fell down and sprained her ankle and decided well, why not spend the time she was laid up writing down the stories she’d been telling her ten-year-old daughter?

It was in this way that the literary classic Pippi Longstocking was born. Which led me to wonder—what other random or accidental events contributed to the writing of other classic books? After all, we usually think of book-writing as a planned (perhaps even plotted) endeavor.

Books may be inspired by one random thing or other, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they were begun by force of accident—lots of people are wandering around just waiting to be inspired, and I know some of them. So below, a few beloved books with surprising, accidental, or decidedly external origins—and I’m on the hunt for more, so please feel free to add any others in the comments section. (UNDER EMILY’S ORIGINAL BLOG POST)