i would kill for the confidence of novelists who write genius-poet characters and then actually write samples of the “genius” poetry in the book. if i were a novelist writing a genius-poet i’d just be like “trust me, the poetry’s real good.”
Stephen King and HP Lovecraft both have this amazing ability to absorb you into a story and then abruptly remind you they’re the one writing it and they have opinions that suck.
Me: Man, this is so good.
HP Lovecraft: Glad you’re enjoying it. Just wanted to remind you that I am massively racist and antisemitic.
Me: Man, this is so good.
Stephen King: Glad you’re enjoying it. Just wanted to remind you I am really weird and freaky about women and sex in general. I am also racist.