[taptak]

> "All of my life I've been attracted to the idea of being a writer, but like all writers I don't so much like writing as having written. … each time I meant to try to write something, I'd miss the deadline by two weeks."

Having written several works without ever completing or publishing any of them, I find this comment from Adams particularly resonates with me. That said, I’ve had success with a narrative podcast, which is heavily influenced by his genius—his wit and comedic writing style shine through. While I’ve always admired what he brought to the sci-fi comedy genre, in hindsight, I probably owe just as much gratitude to his editor and publisher.

[gwern]

Digital Antiquarian has a few posts up recently about Douglas Adams, and it all sounds like it was a great deal more painful than I had ever realized as a kid reading _Hitchhiker's_: https://www.filfre.net/2024/07/the-later-years-of-douglas-ad...

Considering how much he loved everything else and how well he was able to do things like radio shows or video or inspire text adventures, I do have to wonder if forcing him to write books was pounding a square peg into a round hole.

[ghaff]

I know someone who presumably worked very closely with him on a text adventure game. I'll have to ask what it was like next time we talk.

[ghaff]

I had a coauthor once who loved to show off and give away copies of "his" book once it was published. But getting them to do work on it? That was pulling teeth.