101 Reasons to Stop Writing

Archive for January 1st, 2008

2008 Jan 1

January 1: On This Day …

By Sean Lindsay

In 404 AD, the stage musical Gladiator! was performed in the Colosseum for the final time, ending a 668-year run.
In 1660, Samuel Pepys started writing his blog, on an early beta version of LiveJournal.
In 1788, editor John Walter decided that The Daily Universal Register was a silly name for a newspaper, and that The Times more succinctly reflected the solipsistic arrogance of London’s citizenry (the literate portion, anyway).
In 1818, Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus was published anonymously, finding success among people who knew what a Prometheus was. Mary Shelley admitted authoring the novel thirteen years later, on the Terry Wogan Show. It is sometimes considered the first science fiction novel, and has completely co-opted the Golem myth in the public imagination. You will never be this influential. Contrary to public opinion, ‘Frankenstein’ is neither the monster, nor the creator — it was actually Mary’s nickname for Percy Shelley’s penis. (’Prometheus’ is a pun.)
In 1879, novelist E.M. Forster was born. Forster very sensibly wrote only six complete novels, and almost entirely stopped writing at age 45 after the success of A Passage to India. His last novel, the homosexual love story Maurice, was written around 1913 but not published until after Forster’s death, because the world just wasn’t gay enough at the time.
In 1919, professional recluse J.D. Salinger was born. After the spectacular success of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951 (one of only a handful of books in history to have outsold The Da Vinci Code), Salinger stopped writing novels and eventually short stories. His last publication under his own name was in 1965. Rumours persist that he’s been stockpiling manuscripts in the decades since, with the stipulation that they not be published until he stops writing the hard way. In fact, he is published regularly under various pseudonyms: he ghostwrote many of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, frequently contributes to Mad magazine and was a uncredited script supervisor on the TV show Dawson’s Creek.
In 1928, novelist and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman was born. In 1971 he co-wrote the screenplay for the seminal blaxploitation flick Shaft (based on his novels) and for the classic crime film The French Connection (not based on his novels) — winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a WGA award and an Edgar award for the latter. He was never that good again.
In 2000, the Y2K bug failed to delete any bad fiction.

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The Fundamentals of Our Publishing are Wrong

Archive for January 1st, 2008

January 1: On This Day …