I’ve seen people talk about actors and artists that had a terrible time.
My own would be Anne Rice. She wrote Interview with the Vampire after her young daughter died of Leukemia. Then her husband suddenly died of a brain hemorrhage. I suspect her Christian, anti-fanfic phase was a result of mental illness and manipulation from the publishers, although I don’t think she ever apologized.
Peter Beagle for decades thought the last unicorn was a flop. He got almost no royalties. Then the rights reverted to him like 15 years ago. Then he went on a screening tour. When he did it, he had no idea the theaters would sell out. Q&A with tears and everything. We met him, he was so tired but still signing anything you wanted for free. Then the tour organizer ripped him off. (I got bad vibes from that guy, he was like a used car salesman)
There is an online artist alliance now to protect him from exploitation.
The Last Unicorn is one of my all-time favorite books. Absolutely beautiful prose, sensitive character work, and (in the character of Schmendrick) a pitch-perfect depiction of what it’s like to be at the mercy of artistic inspiration.
It’s also very funny and very sad. Really one of my all-time favorite books.
It’s so wonderful on so many levels. And he was like 23 or 24 when he wrote it. It’s rare that you find a writer that young who understands character and story so well.
Was he really!? It’s so utterly accomplished. I had no idea!
Yes! Once you know he was young, it becomes more obvious on a re-read, since he really went ham on the prose, which is what younger/newer writers tend to do until they internalize the old adage “less is more.” But he was so good with his prose in The Last Unicorn, I don’t mind. :)