Paris, 1927.
For 100,000 francs, author Georges Simenon agrees to write a novel while suspended in a glass cage outside the Moulin Rouge. Passersby would contribute subject, characters and title. A newspaper backs the stunt and pays Simenon a 25,000 franc advance.
For a moment, it was the talk of Paris. Then the newspaper went bankrupt and the feat died before Simenon could begin.
…There’s something about this combination of writing drafts in public, publicity stunt-diving, and feast/famine economics that seems very contemporary.