Coming Up With a Title Is Hard

[A stodgy, slightly paternal restaurant-owner top x A free-spirited, unconventional, down-on-his-luck artist bottom]

Wen Ming was an artist who painted beautifully and was so poor it hurt.

When Zhu Yushen found him, he was clutching half a tube of ochre paint and had fainted from hunger in the backyard of Zhu Yushen's home.

Zhu Yushen poured him a cup of sugar water. "Is it worth starving to death for art?"

Wen Ming, revived, blinked. "It's more interesting than living a dull life."

Zhu Yushen decided to learn more about the "art" Wen Ming was talking about.

He couldn't paint or play an instrument, so he decided to start with the easiest thing: writing a novel.

Using Wen Ming as his inspiration, he wrote about a down-on-his-luck but free-spirited artist. But when it came time to give the story a title, he was stumped, unable to write a single word for ages.

After changing the title a thousand times, Zhu Yushen finally wrote just one line:

"A Title That's Hard to Come Up With"

[2025.06.16]

Theme: Flowers can bloom even in a quagmire.