John fails to write a follow-up to The Fault in Our Stars: abandoned identity-thieves and con-artists novels (2012-2015)
story · status: told 3×, last update 2017 · last event: retold (2017-07-11)
After The Fault in Our Stars John worked hard on a novel about teenage identity thieves that did not work and was never published; for five and a half years he worried he would never publish another book, until he announced his new book in 2017.
Origin known from later mentions
2012 in the title is when this began; it first appears in the videos read here in 2016, so the earlier part is known only from what is said later.
Told alongside: The Fault in Our Stars: writing, title and publication (2011) · The Fault in Our Stars film adaptation (2012) · John's signing hand stops working right; doctor and occupational therapy (2011)
About: John's abandoned identity-thieves novel, The Fault in Our Stars
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-09-20 | told | John says that meanwhile he was hard at work on a new book about teenage identity thieves, as he always wrote a new book after publishing one, but it wasn't working. | Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars 00:00:37 |
| 2017-06-13 | retold | John spent about a year in Cheyenne finishing The Fault in Our Stars, but also several months a few years ago only to realize the book he'd worked hard on wasn't good and wouldn't be published. | Cheyenne, Wyoming 00:01:36 |
| 2017-06-22 | update | John thanks people, especially his family, for their patience and kindness over five and a half years: he often worried he would never publish another book, and without their support wouldn't be. | My New Book 00:00:48 |
| 2017-07-11 | retold | A selfish reason: for 2,000 days or so of writing this book John rarely knew if his work would make it in or bring him closer; signing, he knows people will like it and each one gets him closer to done. (hedged) | Signing 200,000 Autographs 00:01:14 |
What is said about it
6 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2016-09-20 · Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars — John says the concept was partly flawed: he always wanted to write a proper thriller but is no good at thriller craft such as action scenes, guns or plot. (playful) — 00:00:43
- 2016-09-20 · Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars — John: By April 2012 John reworked it as a story of two boys finding something terrible in their hometown's storm drains, writing about 100 pages, none very good. — 00:01:01
- 2016-09-20 · Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars — John says he also began to feel intense pressure, as if people were watching over his shoulder while he wrote. — 00:00:56
- 2016-09-20 · Failing to Follow Up The Fault in Our Stars — John says The Fault in Our Stars kept selling, and in May 2012 he read an amazing screenplay adaptation and realized it might become a movie. — 00:01:14
- 2017-06-13 · Cheyenne, Wyoming — John says he can't know until after immersing himself in the work, which is frustrating and scary, with no 'but' at the moment. — 00:01:47
- 2017-07-11 · Signing 200,000 Autographs — John: His hand doesn't hurt: very effective physical therapy for his ulnar nerve entrapment during the Fault in Our Stars signing means he can now sign all day. — 00:01:40