Take a good look at the pic above by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. Originally intended as the cover image for The Blue Lotus, the fifth book in Hergé’s Tintin series, the publisher rejected it because it would cost too much to reproduce.
Well, last week 85 years after the said publishers had it redrawn for publication, this painting – complete with fold marks from being stored who knows where for over three quarters of a century, sold at a Paris auction for just a shade under $4,000,000.
This excellent article presents a very interesting – and new – way of regarding that old bad boy of writing – Writers Block.
Ideal with writers’ block several times a year, usually in the form of other people’s writers’ block. Specifically, I find myself every year with a few students trying and failing to write their stories for class. Teaching creative writing inside of a liberal arts institution means putting creativity on a clock — the quarter or semester — and over the 25 years I’ve been teaching writing, I’ve learned my blocked students are usually high-achieving young people who are used to being able to power their way through a paper, get the answers, get the grade and move on. Fiction writing doesn’t really work that way.
That said, we know clocks can work. To wit: the number of people who say they thrive on a deadline.
Nathan Bransford, TVWriter™’s favorite publishing know-it-all, has a few words for us about every writer’s nightmare scenario.
By far the most common question I get when I’m working with authors is “will this sell?” (Spoiler: this is impossible to answer).
The writers of Get Out, Darkest Hour, Molly’s Game, In the Fade, The Big Sick and ‘mother! get together to educated, entertain, and dish for The Hollywood Reporter.
Hie thyself to THR’s YouTube Channel for more edification and shooting of the shit!
Nathan Bransford, TVWriter™’s favorite publishing know-it-all, responds to a question we’ve all been asked…almost as much as we ask it ourselves. (Bet you’ve already guessed what it is.)
Nearly every author I work with asks me a variation of the same question.
“Is this any good?”