Childhood, boyhood and youth

Many literary historians and teachers of creative writing have long claimed that a person's early stages of life are the source of his inspiration, and that if we searched every writer's childhood and youth, we would find its sources. How well do you think you have read Tolstoy, reader? Have you ever thought about where the author of the wonderful masterpiece "War and Peace" got his inspiration for all these hundreds of characters? Want to see how an autobiography can become a novel? How ca...