A thriller writer's deceptions

Wilco got a lot less interesting once Tweedy got sober.

 

I think Jason Isbell worried out loud that he would suck as a songwriter if he sobered up.

Oversharing here, but my therapist asked me what motivated me in my work, and I thought about it and said, "Hate, pretty much." Showing people, I mean. Being able to shove my career in the face of my critics. He was like, "What if you were motivated by love... Love of what you do. Wouldn't that be better? Because you love writing, don't you?" And I do love writing. But I didn't know what would happen to my writing if I didn't carry that chip anymore. I was honestly worried that being happy would fuck me up. Which is its own kind of crazy.

 

The back story is interesting but I think the article's criticism of the book is more important. The writer all but accuses Mallory of plagiarism.

 

I remember when writing a book meant something - that someone felt what you wanted to write was important enough to be paid for. Now I realize they'll print anything they think they can make a buck off of. And seriously, how many morning show people have gotten book deals? It isn't because they're interesting, it's because they have the ability to sell them daily to an audience that would cost millions to reach.

 

Not sure I'm surprised at how often this this happens - or that it doesn't happen more often.

There are always marquee plagiarists, but then every ten years or so there's an oddball author identity mystery on top of it.

Who is the Real JT LeRoy?

Poetry Twitter Erupts Over a Plagiarist in Their Midst

 

I try to steer my students away from romantic notions of the author as drunken genius, or louche sexist douchebag or Zelda Fitzgerald-in-the-snakepit crackup.

Tough to convince some of them, though, because they aren't as interested in the work of writing as they are in having an identity as a writer.

 

The thing is - we idolized the Hemingways, Twains, Plaths etc. not because they were tortured but because their work resonated. Nobody knew how tortured some of our greatest writers were until after they were dead. Now it seems like the "tortured artist" part is more the selling point than the work.

I love Laura Hillenbrand (Seabiscuit and Unbroken) - the work stands on its own - her health issues I guess are an interesting sidebar though. Others? Not so much.

 

Hemingway, though, became a supreme bullshitter as he got older. His war experiences. His adventures. Combined with his pathological touchiness and need to settle scores, it was his worst quality.

On the other hand, I don't think it affects his books. Especially, his earlier novels, which I still take out every few years. Even A Movable Feast - which sometimes seems nothing more than score settling - has long stretches of beautiful writing about living in Paris.

 

One of the things folks overlook with Hemingway and his depressive behavior - especially in his later years - were the head injuries.

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/neuropsychiatry/hemingways-chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy

 

You say this like it's a bad thing.

 

Agreed. There are more people who want to be writers than want to write.

I never understood writers who talk about how much they hate writing. That's the job. If you hate it, you should do something else. I love writing. The physical act of sitting down and writing. I'd rather do that than just about anything else that other people call fun, and I do it for work. Writing has given me just about everything I have. I wouldn't dream in a million years of pretending that it's anything but the greatest gift.