That conception is a hangover from the Romantics.

Really? Do you want to run a tally on American writers of the 20th century? You don't think you'll come up with a higher tally of suicide, mental illness and alcoholism than the general population? Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Plath, Styron...

Writers who committed suicide is a big list.

What makes good art good, or bad art bad, is completely subjective.

That's bullshit. First of all, I know you don't believe that because you worked in publishing and made judgment calls about the quality of writing every day. Taste is not the same thing as quality.

Taste is not the same thing as quality.

It's not. There are a lot of things that a lot of people agree are good (even great) art. Beethoven symphonies, Paradise Lost, Shakespeare's plays, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

There are a lot of things most people agree are bad art, like black velvet paintings of Elvis and Precious Moments figurines.

But there's a middle ground, too, where what I think is a publishable novel is *not* a publishable novel to my colleague.

I also think making those decisions, as an editor, was muddied by the issue of commercial value. I acquired a lot of books that weren't great, but were books I knew readers would love. I had to turn down a lot of books I thought were wonderful because there was no (or a not-big-enough) market for them.

Harry Potter got turned down originally.

Hee! Awesome, indeed.

Thanks for finding that P-C. It cracked me all the way up.

And go you, Micheal Bay, with your self-awareness. Welcome to the cool school of making the most out of the bad opinions of others. Your lab partner is William Shatner.

munches contentedly on popcorn

Harry Potter: art? or not art?

making the most out of the bad opinions of others

I will gladly piss off millions and millions of me if somebody will pay me eleventy gazillion dollars for it.

Movies, books, or both, flea?

Really popcorny convo, but I'm only jumping in to say:

I have the suspicion that any study on the entertainment industry done by someone that calls themselves Dr. Drew is highly suspect.

In mild defense of Dr. Drew, unlike many other people who are semi-famous (and somewhat narcissistic) for having nationally broadcast call-in radio shows and call themselves Dr. Firstname, Dr. Drew is a licensed, practicing psychiatrist.

Don't know that it lends his study any credibility, unless he actually wrote something up to be published in a journal.