Tolkien ‘splains how he turned boredom into a literal multi-billion dollar idea:
The actual beginning though it’s not really the beginning, but the actual flash point was, I remember very clearly I took, um, I can still see the corner in my house in 20 Northmoor Road…
I’ve got an enormous pile of exam papers there and marking school examinations in the summertime is enormous, very laborious, and unfortunately also boring.
And I remember picking up a paper and actually I nearly gave an extra mark for it, extra five marks actually. One page of this particular page of this paper was left blank. Glorious. Nothing to read.
So I scribbled on it, I can’t remember why:
‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.’
I think that was eventually published in 1937.
I now wanted to try my hand at writing a really stupendously long narrative and to see whether I had sufficient art, cunning, or material to make a really long narrative which would hold the average reader right through.
There is so much writing wisdom in that short bit to learn from.
But probably the most practical lessons is when he used the term:
“flash point”
Which he proceeded to immediately WRITE down.
Arguably an entire multi-billion dollar industry unto himself sprung from that decision.
But, imagine if he took the writing goo-roo route and instead thought:
“I’ll remember this line about a hobbit living in a hole in the ground for later” – and didn’t immediately write it down, got back to grading papers, totally forgot it, and then went and got distracted by some new FOMO or bright shiny object instead.
If Tolkien teaches us anything it’s the fleeting nature of great ideas.
It only takes ONE to radically change your business.
And “It pays to be paranoid” is a good attitude to have.
In a lot of ways, that’s how I approach ideas when it comes to daily emails.
As far as that goes?
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Ben Settle
