Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
I saw this comic on Facebook and found that it came from “Incidental Comics,” the website of Grant Snider. Grant has this to say about it:
“This illustration appears in the New York Times Book Review alongside a review by Christopher Benfey of John Sutherland’s “Lives of the Novelists.” Sutherland’s book profiles a long list of notable writers and the personal events that may or may not have influenced their creative output. I tried to distill the typical experience of a literary icon into nine small panels. I’m certain that many of our great writers have worked in a coal mine and owned a small poodle.”
So my question for you today is, how do you complete the sentence?
Behind every great writer is…
Leave it in the comments!
Lynn Case
a tortured soul writing to get out.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
We call it ‘enhanced interrogation’ now; ‘torture’ just sounds so unwelcoming.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Behind every great writer is a world of opportunities left untaken, all for the love of Art.
peter
… a primal call that runs deeper than whatever made them what they became. If we are only venting our crises, our subjectivity will be found out, but if the ecstasy of what God calls us to carries us through the agony of contrary winds and tides, it will chisel away all that detracts from what He is instilling in us, awaken us to a higher purpose and invoke a noble response.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Pete, initially I was going to be idiotically literal and say, “…the back of a chair”. But I could not bring myself to do it, partially because I knew you would chime in with substance, and partially because I write sitting on the floor, back against a cupboard, with nary a chair in sight.
peter
I was also thinking of something mundane, as in “behind every great writer is an agent rolling her eyes and shaking her head”, but if we are going to go down that road, I prefer “behind every great writer is an unseen team”. However, chair or wall also works for me …
Jeanne Takenaka
Grinning, Andrew. The back of a chair . . . that makes my “literal-ness” look abstract. 🙂
John and Jennifer Major
darn! I was going to say “the back of a chair”!!!
Rachelle Gardner
Love that!
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Actually, there’s a serious thought behind ‘back of a chair’; the craft’s learned by doing it. There are no idiot savants in writing.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Oh, man, I’m scooby.
* The correct answer is, “Behind every great writer there is a great agent.”
* Not kidding. I still believe an agent is indispensable.
* ‘Scooby’ – Cockney rhyming slang – ‘Scooby Doo, hasn’t a clue”
peter
… or behind every great writer is a bulging book case.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
My books have overflowed the shelves, and are stacked on the floor.
* Ladron the Service Dog insists on this –
* In front of every great writer there is a Red Heeler.
Rachelle Gardner
…as is apparent in all their Skype conversations. 🙂
peter
I thought Scooby meant “Scooby Doo I am in the … um, stew” – ah well. Didn’t know you was Cockney m’lad, but well we all ‘ave our problems don’t we then …
Rachelle Gardner
Best.
Answer.
Ever.
Andrew wins!
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
SnOoPy DaNcE!
Shirlee Abbott
Behind every great writer is a trail of computer and software upgrades. Anybody remember WordStar? Or am I the granny of the group?
Rachelle Gardner
WordPerfect for me! But before that was some ancient software whose name I can’t even remember.
peter
Chisel
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
How about punch cards, and punch tape?
peter
Have fun writing on that punch tape Andrew.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
It did make the stories rather linear, yeah, Pete.
* BTW, I do know the sound of the Bow Bells, but cannot claim to be Cockney. One of the benefits of a classical education is that one develops the ability learn dialect and custom from a perspective of respect and care.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
slate?
chalk?
chisel?
slab of granite?
Shirlee Abbott
I’d forgotten punch tape! You just took me back to my college student-aid job, Andrew. The typewriter merrily typed via tape and paused at strategic points so I could type in the name of a prospective student. State of the art, post feather quill.
peter
I know you’re not cockney guv, just pulling your chicken and eggs.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Well-played, Pete!
H L Wegley
I still have the first program I ever wrote. It’s on punch tape — a program written in Basic to analyze a Pibal (balloon) ascent and calculate the winds up to about 10,000 feet. To load the program, we ran it through a teletype into a Data General computer, consisting of about 10 breadboards in a rack that stood 7 feet tall and had 1/1000 of the computing power of my cell phone. Let’s see … we were talking about what’s behind a writer, not a code writer. Behind this writer is a lot of code writing, and I’m glad it’s behind me. I put it there at retirement.
Kristen Joy Wilks
Behind every great writer is…a shambling trail of hurt and hope and tattered broken things. A person who continues to walk and sing and laugh despite their wound and puts all that they are to the page.
Behind this particular writer…is a husband who thinks that my dreams matter and backs that up by encouraging me to take time, children who smile when I get a magazine contract and even invite me to come to their classes on occasion, a mom who thinks that everything I write is perfect, a critique partner who thinks that every word could be improved, a sister-in-law who dares me to do new things, and a God who has granted me a brain and a passion and a heart to keep on going.
Melinda Ickes
Your first line reads like a lyric in my head. 🙂
Jeanne Takenaka
Hmmmm, behind every great novelist are those who believe in him/her . . . or don’t believe in him/her, and the novelist presses on anyway.
I am still waiting for the coffee to kick in. I’m not as pithy as Peter and Andrew.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
well said!
And the pressing on? Oh yeah…both with the strength of the people who believe in us, and away from those who don’t.
I got ROYALLY snubbed last night. I ran into an old “friend” who said hello, and then physically turned away from me. I thought, “fine, see ya later”
Jeanne Takenaka
Frustrating, Jennifer. 🙁
Jeanette
Behind every great writer is the creativity given by a Great God, 🙂 Who is the ultimate Creator.
Richard Mabry
…a friend or relative who says, “You should write a book.” (So they keep working at it).
John and Jennifer Major
…a big pile of chocolate wrappers.
WHAT?
Pah-lease don’t anyone say “the hand woven bag that the organic kale came in”.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Sounds like a kale of woe to me.
Jennifer Major
Ohhhh, groan!
That was good!
And umm, yeah, I almost autofilled my darling husband’s name again.
There goes his spy career!
Shelli Littleton
Behind every great writer is their own foot, constantly kicking themselves in the rump … for all their mistakes. 🙂 But that foot keeps nudging them forward. 🙂
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
writer yoga!
Shelli Littleton
Yoga. 🙂 And I’m really good at it!
Michelle Ule
Something egging him on.
(Have been considering the poodle).
Rachelle Gardner
Something egging him on… like upcoming college tuition or weddings to pay for?
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Elvis.
Melinda Ickes
Did he bring the Beverly Lewis collection off the Mother Ship with him? 🙂
Elissa
I’m not sure about what’s behind every great writer, but I know what’s behind every successful writer: A chair. Into which they sit regularly as they write.
Rachelle Gardner
But what about Hemingway, who wrote standing up? 🙂
Elissa
Yeah, I thought about stand-up writers (I often stand myself). But I’ve decided it’s a metaphorical chair.
Monica Sharman
I’ll offer 3:
1. all the other great writers he or she has read.
2. caffeine.
3. a great editor.
Sarah Bennett
4. more caffeine
Jane Daly
Someone with their foot firmly planted in your backside pushing you toward your desk.
Rachelle Gardner
Ouch!
Melinda Ickes
Behind every great writer is unquenchable passion, with a fire lit under them and the coffee in front. 🙂
Rachelle Gardner
Yes! The coffee!
Lori
Behind every great writer is …
many people who tell her not do to it. You will not succeed, So why even try.
Then there are the few that tell her try and see what will happen.
Guess who I am listening to.
Rachelle Gardner
Oh, so true! Sad but true.
Wendy L Macdonald
Behind every great writer is a muse who refuses to give up until the words are down.
Rachelle, this was inspired by: “You can’t edit a blank page.” I forget who said this—but I love it and live by it.
Blessings ~ Wendy
Shelli Littleton
I love that, too, Wendy. 🙂 If I don’t get it down, I’ll forget it by morning. 🙂
Dean K Miller
. . . is a trail of unrealized dreams that refuse to die.
Jenni Brummett
a long list of expectations they feel they may never live up to.
Heidi Gaul
Behind every writer is the belief that the world hidden in is as valid as the real world, and must be shared to be appreciated.
Kathy Sheldon Davis
My thoughts are dry as scratchy bits of day-old toast, but here y’go via the chair discussion. I’ve given birth to four children, and I learned early on that being upright helps in the birthing process. Now I’ve got arthritis, and my treadmill desk keeps me upright and creating.
Below this writer is a treadmill. Behind this some-day great writer? I’ll never stop. Hope that doesn’t sound like I know anything.
karen page
a husband who says ‘have you finished your book yet?’
Lisa
hope.
Jan Ramming
…a supportive writing group.
Tony Faggioli
…the desire to help people, one way or another.
Jeanette Hanscome
Years of feeling silenced, until a moment of revelation comes: “I can create a brave, bold, snarky character to do my talking for me!”
Norma Brumbaugh
. . .is a dream, a big dream, an important dream, a dream that lives . . .
. . .is a teacher or mentor who fanned the flame
. . .is a person who said, I can and I will.
P.S. If I could “like” your comments, I would click “like” on every single one.
Rachelle Gardner
Thanks, Norma!
Elizabeth
Behind every great writer…is a great story ready to be written!
Amber Schamel
The Holy Spirit