Blog #4 – why did authors keep writing?

Thank you for tuning in with me for this blog post! Today I will be talking more about writers and why they continued to write, despite possibly encountering many difficulties along the way. I will also be talking about how some authors became more famous and loved rather than other writers.

Many authors, ranging from timelines such as hundreds of years ago, to today have struggled to continue/start their writing career because many doubted their ability to be able to successfully intrigue people with their writing. A great example of this is Walt Disney. He was told that his writing lacked imagination and began to believe it because the phrase was commonly said to him. He struggled lots before companies decided to see the power his character Mickey Mouse had. (1) This ranged from difficulties such as his closest friends leaving his company and stealing his work for others; however, as we know now, the Disney franchise has become very successful. (1)

He began working on a character name Oswald the lucky rabbit, and this was very successful throughout the cartooning business, but he only received 20% of the cut for the film, and the producer stole the character from him by negotiating terms that showed Oswald was not his character anymore. (2) This caused a huge setback for him, but as he says “if you can dream it, you can do it”, and with this moral Walt Disney was able to create Mickey Mouse, one of the most successful cartoon characters worldwide.

He is simply one of many authors that continued writing despite going through many difficulties, and because of the family friendly and cute characters he designed and brought to life, his popularity between parents and families was #1, showing the significance his writing and designs had as we celebrate Disneys 100th anniversary.

Now moving onto another author, J. R. R. Tolkien (author of Lord of the rings and hobbit franchises) was rejected and publishing houses even began blacklisting him due to his persistent to get his book (The lord of the rings) published.(1) Publishers were unsure of the story line and thought it to be too risky to publish because the idea of it was new and not one in trend at that time. The lord of the rings franchise was originally one big book, which can deter publishing houses on taking chances on it, but as the author was accepted by one publishing house (Allen & Unwin) they decided to make the novel into pieces, almost going at the book with a “pilot episode” mindset to see if it will be popular through society. (1)

The publishing of the book was very successful so much that 150 million copies worldwide were sold when it was released in 1937.(4) Because of this success, Allen & Unwin were eager to release the sequel of the book (Hobbit), and because of this, Tolkien was more motivated to continue writing the books.(3) He continued to write and did not doubt his storyline for a second because he had the determination to get his writing out there. The publishing house states that the reason out of all of the publishing houses Tolkien went to, they decided to publish Lord of the rings because “this to be a work of a genius, and that they may lose on thousands of pounds if they miss this opportunity.

Tolkien was praised for his work, unlike all of the publishers that tried to discourage him into not writing due to how risky his style and storylines were. Lord of the rings became so popular it was also created into a movie franchise that did very well in the box offices. Many thing that The Lord of the Rings was popular and to the peoples liking because the story offers fans an escape from whatever they need to be escaping from. (5) The series books and movies are still classics that people watch from time to time, and they have left a large effect on society because they were able to unleash a sense of creativity that the world had not seen before. (5)

This is proof that the reason why writers keep going despite going through many difficulties is because they are dedicated to spread their creativity to others because it became a release for them, and they hope others can feel the same sense of peacefulness when they are reading (and in the case of both examples) watching the movies/shows that have been created due to the large effects of the books!

I did not talk too much about “classic” artist because I wanted to have a modern theme and wanted to show that even in recent times the same mindset sticks with those who are passionate about their work, and believe in themselves to preserve through any struggles they may face in the future!

Hope you enjoyed reading this!! And see you on my next post!

(1) McCoy, J. (2023, January 10). How 9 great authors almost failed & why you shouldn’t throw in the towel just yet. Express Writers. https://expresswriters.com/how-9-great-authors-almost-failed-why-you-shouldnt-throw-in-the-towel-just-yet/

(2) Chelsimehtaa, C. (2020, July 17). 300 rejections and 1 success-The inspiring story of walt disney. Medium. https://medium.com/@chelsimehtaa/300-rejections-and-1-success-the-inspiring-story-of-walt-disney-a03b3f391eb3

(3) Roberts, A. (2023, June 5). Publishing “the lord of the Rings.” Medium. https://medium.com/adams-notebook/publishing-the-lord-of-the-rings-2b087b0c758e#:~:text=What%20I%20knew%20about%20the,when%20Stanley%20Unwin%20pointed%2Dout

(4) Darcy, A. C. (2021, August 15). Why is “lord of the Rings” still so popular? Game Rant. https://gamerant.com/lotr-why-still-popular/#:~:text=The%20larger%2Dthan%2Dlife%20conflict,reason%20for%20the%20story%27s%20popularity.

(5) Wradmin, W. (2022, October 3). Wradmin. WordsRated. https://wordsrated.com/lord-of-the-rings-stats/