Every high school I went to, I joined in the middle of the year, so sports helped. But you see a lot of bullies when you move to eight states, I'll say that.
A lot of times, I faced bullies - or the 'big dogs' at school. What I wanted 'Red Rising' to be is not necessarily an indictment on bullies, but it reflects my experiences and attitudes that I had with bullies growing up.
A lot of times, you had to beat the bullies at their own game. But the difficulty is not becoming the bully yourself.
Conceptually, I always took issue with bullies and those who took advantage of others, whether it was a teacher's cruelty to a student, or a student who picked fights with others.