History TroubledProduction / Literature

* ''Literature/AllTheCrookedSaints'' took Creator/MaggieStiefvater an entire year just to draft because at the same time she was writing it, she developed complex health issues that resulted in "brain fog" so bad she often couldn't write more than a paragraph per day, much of which still wasn't usable. It turns out the cause was [[https://redgoldsparks.tumblr.com/post/177379850062/hey-maggie-this-is-maybe-a-bit-of-a-difficult]], both rare and incredibly horrifying.

* ''Literature/AllTheCrookedSaints'' took Creator/MaggieStiefvater an entire year just to draft because at the same time she was writing it, she developed complex health issues that resulted in "brain fog" so bad she often couldn't write more than a paragraph per day, much of which still wasn't usable. It turns out the cause was [[https://maggie-stiefvater.tumblr.com/post/177289950411/hey-maggie-this-is-maybe-a-bit-of-a-difficult?is_related_post=1 hookworms in her face]], both rare and incredibly horrifying.

* Creator/CarlosRuizZafon considers ''Literature/{{Marina}}'' his favorite work, but ironically enough, its edition was apparently a publishing nightmare for him. The book's 2007 "definitive" edition contains a preface where Zafón talks about how all the previous editions were plagued by undisclosed ExecutiveMeddling, legal problems and even fraud attempts, to the extent they almost got the book pulled out of print at several points. His 2008 novel ''Literature/ElJuegoDelAngel'' features a [[MostWritersAreWriters professional writer as a protagonist]], and you can feel the RealitySubtext on it: the protagonist goes into bitter expositions about the business problems a writer can suffer, all the characters working in editorials are portrayed as unrepentant jerkasses or downright con men, and two of them are even mysteriously murdered in the author's name.

* Carlos Ruiz Zafón considers ''Literature/{{Marina}}'' his favorite work, but ironically enough, its edition was apparently a publishing nightmare for him. The book's 2007 "definitive" edition contains a preface where Zafón talks about how all the previous editions were plagued by undisclosed ExecutiveMeddling, legal problems and even fraud attempts, to the extent they almost got the book pulled out of print at several points. His 2008 novel ''El Juego del Ángel'' features a [[MostWritersAreWriters professional writer as a protagonist]], and you can practically feel the RealitySubtext there: the protagonists goes into bitter expositions about the business problems a writer can suffer, all the characters working in editorials are portrayed as unrepentant jerkasses or downright con men, and two of them are even mysteriously murdered in the author's name.

** Martin took more than five years to write ''The Winds of Winter''. He’s understandably completely given up on announcing release dates for the books, as they inevitably just piss people off when he fails to deliver on them, and his publishers have had to repeatedly deny rumors that he’s close to being done. He even left off writing an episode for seasons five and six of the show to give him more time for ''Winds'', but it doesn’t seem to have helped much, and it’s anyone’s guess when the book will actually come out...and the wait for ''A Dream of Spring'' will begin. Meanwhile, ''Series/GameOfThrones'' covered all the published novels and began creating its own stories as it began wrapping up its broadcast run. Plus, even living to 94 couldn't keep Roy Dotrice from dying before he could finish his run on the audiobooks (which gave him the world record for playing the most characters in a single story).

* ''Literature/DangerousVisions'' is one of the most influential SF anthologies of all time, and its sequel ''Literature/AgainDangerousVisions'' was a well-regarded success. Series editor Harlan Ellison had plans for a third, ''The Last Dangerous Visions,'' and secured contracts for dozens of stories -- but the book was never published in Ellison's lifetime. What exactly happened is disputed. Author Christopher Priest wrote a [[http://web.archive.org/web/20000902203835/http://sf.www.lysator.liu.se/sf_archive/sf-texts/Ansible/Last_Deadloss_Visions,Chris_Priest lengthy critique]] of the situation in the 1980s, a critique that Ellison loathed. As of 2021 Ellison's literary executor, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski, claims that the author's rights are being sorted out and the volume will be published will be published after all. JMS even solicited new stories for inclusion. (One of many complexities: after almost 50 years, many of the original contributors have passed away.)

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: The ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures''. They were initally edited by a woman who knew nothing about ''Series/DoctorWho''. The top writers on the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' were recruited and then told they couldn't do the stuff that had worked before because BBC Books wanted the [=EDA=]s to be distinct from the Virgin line. And when one of their writers did come up with a [[Literature/FactionParadox truly original idea]] that could have established a direction for the line, the lack of actual discussion between the writers as to what to do with it meant he took his ball and went home when other authors went in a different direction. When Justin Richards took over as editor, pretty much all he could do was torch the franchise and start over, and even that didn't really work. Then, just as the line seemed like it was finally starting to come into its own, the BBC ordered it (and the ''Literature/PastDoctorAdventures'') scrapped so as not to distract from the 2005 relaunch of the show. While fans were willing to put up with the faults of the books due to the comparative lack of any other ''Doctor Who'' related material in those years, they've since come to be seen (fairly or otherwise) as the poor relations of the [[AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho Big Finish audio stories]].

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' fandom encountered this for the first time with the planned 16th book, ''Peace Talks''. Creator/JimButcher had previously churned out Dresden books a year and a half apart at ''most'', but after [[Literature/SkinGame the previous book]]'s release nearly ''five years'' went by without a firm release date. In response to fan complaints, [[TrollingCreator Jim eventually put up]] a “release date” countdown website just said "X days until ''Peace Talks'' comes out", with X being the number of visitors to the site. Eventually an announcement was put up on his official website explaining that in the interim Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried, moved to another state, and got stuck living in a shitty apartment with no writing space for years while an even shittier contractor failed to build him a house. By January 2019, the book got back on track, and Butcher finally announced via Twitter on June 17th, 2019 that he only had the epilogue left to finish, bringing the novel to a total of 67 chapters. As of July 22, 2019, it's complete except for a last editing pass.

* According to Carlos Ruiz Zafón, his novel ''Literature/{{Marina}}'''s earlier publications were plagued by ExecutiveMeddling, legal problems and even fraud attempts, and they almost got the book pulled out of print at several points. It was only solved with the second edition, ''nearly ten years after'', which comes with a note by Zafón explaining the ordeal. You can note the Reality Subtext in his posterior work ''El Juego del Ángel'', which almost turns into an AuthorTract, when the main character bitterly explaines those and other problems as the banes of the professional writer.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' fandom encountered this for the first time with the planned 16th book, ''Peace Talks''. Creator/JimButcher had previously churned out Dresden books a year and a half apart at ''most'', but after [[Literature/SkinGame the previous book]]'s release nearly ''five years'' went by without a firm release date. In response to fan complaints, [[TrollingCreator Jim eventually put up]] a “release date” countdown website just said "X days until ''Peace Talks'' comes out", with X being the number of visitors to the site. Eventually an announcement was put up on his official website explaining that in the interim Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried, moved to another state, and got stuck living in a shitty apartment with no writing space for years while an even shittier contractor failed to build him a house. By January 2019, the book got back on track, and Butcher finally announced via Twitter on June 17th, 2019 that he only had the epilogue left to finish, bringing the novel to a total of 67 chapters.

* All of the work by Creator/DrSeuss under the Beginner Books imprint are the result of a struggle to work within the severely restricted word list that Random House created, under the impression that those words would be all that young children would be able to handle with only the occasional "emergency word" outside the list allowed. His niece Peggy later recounted that while he was working on one, she would often find him lying on the floor and moaning, certain that he would never be able to finish without breaking the rules and dooming the book to being rejected. Ultimately Random House CEO Bennet Cerf was forced to fire his own wife, who'd been the major champion of the list.

* ''Literature/AllTheCrookedSaints'' took Creator/MaggieStiefvater an entire year just to draft because at the same time she was writing it, she developed complex health issues that resulted in "brain fog" so bad she often couldn't write more than a paragraph per day, much of which still wasn't usable. It turns out the cause was [[https://maggie-stiefvater.tumblr.com/post/177289950411/hey-maggie-this-is-maybe-a-bit-of-a-difficult?is_related_post=1 hookworms]], both rare and incredibly horrifying.

* ''Literature/AllTheCrookedSaints'' took Creator/MaggieStiefvater an entire year just to draft because at the same time she was writing it, she developed complex health issues that resulted in "brain fog" so bad she often couldn't write more than a paragraph per day, much of which still wasn't usable.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' fandom encountered this for the first time with the planned 16th book, ''Peace Talks''. Creator/JimButcher had previously churned out Dresden books a year and a half apart at ''most'', but after [[Literature/SkinGame the previous book]]'s release nearly ''five years'' went by without a firm release date. In response to fan complaints, [[TrollingCreator Jim eventually put up]] a “release date” countdown website just said "X days until ''Peace Talks'' comes out", with X being the number of visitors to the site. Eventually an announcement was put up on his official website explaining that in the interim Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried and moved to another state but then got stuck living in a shitty apartment with no writing space for years while an even shittier contractor failed to build him a house. As of January 2019 the book is reportedly now back on track.
* Literature/HarryPotter:

* Stephen King had a very hard time getting into the headspace of a teenage girl for his first novel ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'', and after much laboring over just the first few pages he threw them in the trash. Luckily, his wife found and read them, and encouraged him to keep going, if only because she was intensely curious about where the story was going. He still considers it one of his weaker books, and says Brian De Palma's film adaptation is the better version.

* According to Creator/JKRowling, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' was subject to this after she discovered a huge PlotHole halfway through writing. She rewrote chapter 9 ''thirteen'' times.
** Its sequel, ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', went though more mild troubles; it took ''two years'' to write, apparently due to its dark and depressing subject matter. She also changed her mind about killing Arthur Weasley right when it came time to write the scene, causing her to spend the rest of the series determined to kill off another Weasley to balance it out.

* Creator/TerryPratchett suffered from a rare form of Alzheimer's Disease for his final eight years, which left his mental faculties intact but severely affected his spacial recognition, making it increasingly hard to write. His last several books were completed entirely by dictation.

* All of the work by Creator/DrSeuss under the Beginner Books imprint are the result of a struggle to work within the severely restricted word list that Random House created, under the impression that those words would be all that young children would be able to handle with only the occasional "emergency word" outside the list allowed. His niece Peggy later recounted that while he was working on one, she would often find him lying on the floor and moaning, certain that he would never be able to finish without breaking the rules and dooming the book to being rejected. Ultimately Random House CEO Bennet Cerf was forced to fire his own wife, who'd been the major champion of the list.
* ''The Sunne in Splendour'', Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel about the life of Richard III, originated as a 400 page manuscript that was stolen from her car and never recovered. Penman was so devastated by the loss of so much work that she couldn't bring herself to write another word for the next five years, and when she finally worked up the willpower to try to recreate it, it took another twelve years to finish a new manuscript which was more than twice as long.