Most artists don't have anything to say when they start out

It's not at all uncommon for the author of some really trite and cliched piece of work to say, in an interview, "This is the story I was born to tell. The characters just really spoke to me, and they would not allow me to rest until I wrote this book."

Meanwhile I'm sitting there being like...really? This book? The Tolkien clone that I just read?

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