Collection of Insane and Fun Facts
The most Edgar Allen Poe was paid for a single work was $100 for his story ‘The Gold Bug’. He earned $9 for his most famous poem ‘The Raven’ which made him a celebrity. He lamented, “I have made no money. I am as poor now as ever I was in my life—except in hope, which is by no means bankable”
Cormac McCarthy writes all of his books on a 1963 Lettera typewriter. In 2009, he sold his typewriter at auction for $254,500. He spent $20 to buy an identical replacement.
Ray Bradbury wrote the first draft of “Fahrenheit 451” on a coin-operated typewriter in the basement of the UCLA library. It charged 10¢ for 30 minutes, and he spent $9.80 in total at the machine.
The author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was an experimental test subject of the CIA’s MK Ultra program.
Tété-Michel Kpomassie, a Togolese writer, fell in love with Greenland as a child because of the absence of snakes in the country, his biggest fear. Due to this, he ran away from home and after 12 years he finally reached Greenland. He then wrote a book about it called: “An African in Greenland”.
Before becoming an iconic thriller, Stephen King’s first novel “Carrie” was rejected by 30 publishers, causing him to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife retrieved it and urged him to resubmit it.
Hans Christian Anderson ruined his friendship with Charles Dickens by inviting himself to his house and staying five weeks. He complained about the weather and service (no one would shave him), cut paper into weird shapes, and he lay down on the lawn and wept when his book got a bad review.
Stephen King didn’t tell his kids bedtime stories; he made them tell him stories.
When Joseph Heller was asked why he hadn’t ever written anything as good as Catch-22 since, his reply was that neither has anyone else.
Author and comic book writer Joe Hill was so determined to keep it a secret that he was Stephen King’s son, his own agent didn’t know for 10 years.