21 Famous Writers Who Made Terrible Decisions

Frank Herbert had an interesting form of combat in the ‘Dune’ books
21 Famous Writers Who Made Terrible Decisions

Writers don’t tend to be paragons of temperance and rationality. If they were, they would probably be doing just about anything else. They’re idolized by their readers, but the truth is, literature is the last hope for people who are too messy to hold down a real job. And then, somehow, those same readers get mad at them for making the most unhinged decisions. 

Pick a side, guys.

For Redditor SiriusSprinkles9, the deaths of Fred Weasley and Hedwig the owl in the Harry Potter series were probably not the worst decision J.K. Rowling has ever made, but, like, they’re up there. “Apparently, it was between (Fred) and Arthur (in Order of the Phoenix),” they said, referring to the deceased’s father and patriarch of the Weasley clan. “I honestly think Arthur would have been the better choice.” Cold, Sprinkles. Way cold.

They then asked r/AskReddit, “What is the worst decision an author has made?” and their fellow Redditors brought all kinds of terrible decision-making to the party.

bacchus213 8mo ago L Ron Hubbard started a cult.
8mo ago trepang Knut Hamsun supporting the Nazis?
No-Two79 8mo ago Laura Albert pretending her pseudonym, JT LeRoy, was a real person.
Persephone2009 8mo ago Richard Brittain tracking down a girl who gave him a bad book review and hitting her over the head with a bottle.
No_Investigator9059 8mo ago Anne Mccaffrey letting her son take over the Pern series.....
ClandestineBanter 8mo ago When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes!
BrassUnicorn87 8mo ago Brian Keene choosing to put monster dicks in almost all his books.
Suspicious-Switch133 8mo ago Renesmee Not the worst but it was my immediate thought while reading your question.
WoodyManic 8mo ago Edited 8mo ago Writing a fictionalized version of a murder you committed including details only the killer could know. (Krystian Bala)
TonyMontana546 8mo ago Mario Puzo dedicating a substantial portion of the godfather to a random side character's vagina
ThePartyLeader 8mo ago You mean like when Frank Herbert decided the ultimate form of combat in the Dune Multiverse WAS MAKING YOUR ENEMY CUM THEMSELVES INTO SUBMISSION and wrote 2 books based on this?
djauralsects 8mo ago GRRM licensed the rights for a TV show before finishing the book series.
HideFromMyMind 8mo ago Sarah Stusek got dropped by her publisher after creating a TikTok attacking a Goodreads reviewer... for giving her book only four stars.
 8mo ago Bram Stoker not getting an American copyright for Dracula.
NativeMasshole 8mo ago Michael Grant, co-author of Animorphs and husband of Katherine Applegate, has stated that they fucked up letting their agent talk them into granting the media rights of the series to Scholastic.
TrashFanboy 8mo ago Dave Sim decided to commit to an anti-feminist worldview. His comic Cerebus ran from 1977 to 2004, with three hundred total issues. The series returned in 2017 with Cerebus in Hell? (Since I only like the series for its art, I didn't know about this reboot until 2023. I never saw it at bookstores or comic shops.)
anyonecanwearthemask 8mo ago JK Rowling could have just posted Happy Birthday, Harry! once a year and remained the beloved author of a series that resonated with millions of readers due to its themes of acceptance and love. Instead, she revealed that she's transphobic, doubled down on her views, and was notably absent from HBO's Harry Potter special. Definitely a much more complicated legacy.
Metlman13 8mo ago In 1971, William Powell, then a teenager, wrote and had published a book called The Anarchist Cookbook, which informed readers how to build homemade explosives and weapons, how to build phone phreaking devices, and how to make illegal drugs including LSD. Не spent most of the rest of his life disavowing the book, trying to have it removed from publication at points (though failing as he did not own the copyright), and had trouble trying to find work as a result of his book.
blueeyesredlipstick 8mo ago Marion Zimmer Bradley shoulda maybe not 1) defended her pedophile husband (particularly in court, where the transcripts are very much still saved), 2) been a pedophile herself and abused their daughter.
1RehnquistyBoi 8mo ago Allen Ginsberg being a supporter for pedophilia and all the NAMBLA shit.
420_File-Not-Found 8mo ago Still can't understand why Stephen King thought that having the boys run a train on Beverly at the end of It was a good idea.

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