If Neil Gaiman Really Was for Sale,
My Credit Cards Would Be Maxxed
by Andrea M. Newton
November 18, 2007
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Neil Gaiman recently wrote on his blog that he occasionally gets accused by fans of selling out:
Occasionally I get rather odd letters in on the FAQ line shouting at me for SELLING OUT TO MAMMON and WHY DON'T YOU WRITE NOVELS ANYMORE YOU HOLLYWOOD MOVIE SELLOUT
Although this is the first time I've heard this about Gaiman, it's not the first time I've heard it about a famous writer, musician, actor, director, or other artistic person.
And it bugs me every time.
The Definition of "Sellout"
Some fans feel betrayed when their favorite celebrity does a project that is not only different from his previous work, but -- horror of horrors! -- makes a lot of money from it. Science might have to develop a new term for how fast these folks turn on their idols and start littering forums with cries of "Sellout!" Nanoseconds seem a snail's pace in comparison.
But selling out isn't doing something different, or mainstream, or lucrative. Selling out is doing something you otherwise wouldn't just because someone gives you a lot of money.
Yes, Beowulf is a movie, not a book. And it's a big budget film. And it looks poised to make a lot of money. But that doesn't mean Gaiman sold out.
I mean, it's not like Hollywood execs asked Gaiman to do a movie where the Dream King has laser beam eyes, razor claws, and pecs to make a pro-wrestler proud, but he said no -- until they offered him a ton of money, to which he replied, "Well, if you put it that way, sure. Would you like me to put him in spandex, too?"
To my knowledge, no such conversation ever took place about Sandman or Beowulf or any other writing project Neil Gaiman might be involved in. Of course, I'm not in Neil Gaiman's inner circle, or even his outer one, so I'm not really in a position to know.
But a quick search of his blog turns up a plethora of posts where he talks about Beowulf, and it doesn't take long to see how excited he is about the project. It's clear he enjoyed working on the screenplay (and considering how much mythology shows up in his other works, I'm not surprised), and he seems fascinated by the animation and 3-D technology. At times, downright giddy talking about it.
And you can't be that excited about something that you're just doing for the paycheck.
Writers are People, Too
Okay, quick show of hands -- how many people get bored at work doing the same thing over and over and over again?
Hmm, that's a lot of hands. Looks like a veritable arm forest out there.
Guess what, folks? Writers get bored writing the same thing all the time, too.
Jesse Stuart once said, "Write something to suit yourself and many people will like it; write something to suit everybody and scarcely anyone will care for it." Notice he didn't say, "Everyone will like it." Because not everyone will. But if the idea captures the writer's imagination, he can create a more interesting world and more believable characters. He can lose himself for days on end doing research because the subject interests him. And he'll end up writing a better story because of it.
That's how writing works. (Well, good writing, at least.) You don't sit down and think, "What's a story that I could write that would sell a lot of books?" Instead, you're sitting around minding your own business when you hear something and think, "Hmm, that'd be an interesting idea for a story."
And that little idea won't let go. It keeps nagging at you and nagging at you, tapping your shoulder wherever you go, and you just have to see where it's going to take you. Sometimes it's someplace you've been before, but with different people at a different time. Other times, it's an entirely different world. But in all cases, it's an idea that interests you, and that's why you chase it. Because you have to.
And Who Should I Send the Bill To?
For many fans, though, the problem isn't so much that their favorite writer/actor/director/musician/artist did something new. It's that he did something new that they didn't like and made a lot of money doing it.
I've had people tell me that if I was a real artist, I wouldn't care about getting paid for my work because "a real artist is rewarded just by having people see her work."
I'm always tempted to reply that I'm not really an artist; I'm a writer who stumbled into doing 3D computer graphics when she needed artwork for a book she was co-writing, and has since then allowed herself to waste far too much time fiddling with OBJ models, procedural textures, lighting, poses, and all that other CG stuff when she was supposed to be putting pen to page.
Instead, I point out that as thrilled as I am when people like my art or writing, the fact is that my landlady still comes looking for a rent check the first of each month, and the cashier at the grocery store is pretty determined to make me pay before I can leave with my food. So unless I want to go back to working a day job to pay for these things -- which would mean less time to create more images or stories -- I'm going to have to try to make some money from it.
I also ask if they'd be willing to cover these expenses for me so I could give my work away for free but not starve or be forced to live in a cardboard box. So far, no takers on that one.
Think about it this way: if someone offered you the chance to do something you really, really wanted to do, and they offered to pay you a lot of money on top of it, would you tell them, "Oh, no, you keep the cash. I'll stick with my day job selling copier supplies so I can do your project for free"?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
You Look Familiar. Do I Know You?
Invariably, some fan will say, "Yeah, but we made this person successful. Without us to buy his books/movies/CDs, he'd be nothing. So he owes us."
The only thing a writer owes his fans is to create the best, most engaging work he can. And, really, he owes that as much to himself as to anyone else.
This might come as a shock to you, but just because someone's famous doesn't mean you know him. You know the book he wrote, or the song he sang, or the character he played in a movie, but you don't know him.
I've been reading Neil Gaiman's work for -- well, let's just say I picked up my first comic book of his when I was a freshman in college and leave it at that, shall we? I recently discovered his blog and pop over there about once a day to see what he has to say.
But that doesn't mean I know him. (In fact, as I'm writing this I keep thinking, "God, I hope he doesn't take this the wrong way and sue me.") I know his work -- some I like, some I don't. And, based on what he writes in his blog, the intros and dedications of his books, and videos I've seen of him at places like Comic-Con, he seems like a nice guy with a great sense of humor who'd be interesting to chat with for an hour or two.
But for all I know, I've got it completely wrong.
Because no matter how many books you read, or interviews you watch, or movies you see, unless you're face-to-face with a person on a regular basis, you don't know what he's really like.
The fact is, we're not living these people's lives any more than they're living ours. We don't have to pay their bills or take care of their families or go to their jobs every day. Like you and me, they want to enjoy what they do for a living. If they get the chance to do something that interests them, who are we as fans to deny them that?
So the next time you think about calling your favorite celebrity a sellout or demanding that he owes you, remember this: he didn't do it because he's in it for the money. He did it because it interested him.
Like someone who dreamed of being an astronaut as a kid and is now sitting in the Space Shuttle waiting to take off, he's doing it because he loves it.
Getting paid for it is just a bonus.