“Forrest Gump” author Winston Groom’s life of writing has proven to be very much like a box of chocolates him, though he pointed out that phrase is actually only from the movie adaptation of the book.

“I got so many boxes of chocolate after the movie came out,” Groom said. “It’s a good thing I like chocolates.”

After working as a reporter for the Washington Star and publishing 17 books of various genres, Groom returned to his University of Alabama alma mater on Monday to speak to students in the Ferguson Center.

“The first thing I learned at UA was winning,” Groom said. “It is a tradition here.”

Groom said the idea for “Forrest Gump” began with a story his father told him.

“In the neighborhood, there was a young man who, by the vernacular of the day, was retarded,” Groom said. “The kids teased him, and they threw rocks and sticks at him. Then one day his mother bought him a piano and people started to hear this beautiful music coming from the home. The kid had learned to play the piano.”

It is a phenomenon called idiot savant syndrome, in which a mentally disabled person displays pockets of brilliance.

Groom said he returned home after hearing the story and began writing notes. By midnight he’d written the first chapter of what would become “Forrest Gump.”

“It was almost miraculous for a writer,” Groom said. “That sort of thing just never happens. As I started writing, I was feeling less and less in charge of this book.”

Groom said there are at least eight qualities that writing and UA football have in common. The first quality is leadership.

“As a writer, you are the commanding general,” Groom said. “It is your job to make sure that everything you do is as perfect as you can get it. You own it.”

The remaining qualities are adaptability, dedication, risk, humility, persistence, failure and redemption.

“These old reporters, if you look in their desks, you’ll find two things,” Groom said. “A pack of either Lucky Strikes or Marlboros and an unfinished manuscript for a novel. I didn’t want that to be me. That’s the risk.”

English instructor Carl Miller incorporated “Forrest Gump” into a class he taught called “The history of literature in college football,” in the summer of 2011. He later discovered that Groom had plans to attend the 2012 Homecoming Parade and contacted him to speak at the University.

“It really shows his commitment to the University,” Miller said. “Some of the people in the audience are going to make names for themselves as writers, and I hope having [Groom] here is inspiring for them.”

Sigma Tau Delta, the University’s English Honors Society, sponsored the event.

“The Phi Xi Chapter of Sigma Delta Tau is really excited to be able to host this kind of talk,” said Nadia Barksdale, a senior majoring in English. “We hope to bring in other Alabama writers to speak at UA.”