Saturday, September 12, 2009

I will not read your %$#@! script

My great friend playwright Linda C. Carson sent me this link to an article by John Olson in The Village Voice. Given that I get asked almost every day to read someone else's manuscript, all I can say is that Olson has nailed it exactly: it's a terrible imposition and a no-win situation.

[Update: and listen to Harlan Ellison read a poem inspired by this here.]

Visit The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
and WakeWatchWonder.com


5 Comments:

At September 12, 2009 10:22 PM , Blogger RobertJSawyer said...

And see this comment from my friend (and collaborator on the book Boarding the Enterprise) David Gerrold: Gerrold response.

 
At September 12, 2009 10:25 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not even mine?(sniffling) I guess it's just as well that I never wrote one.

 
At September 12, 2009 11:12 PM , Blogger Zafri Mollon said...

I'm not sure axe-murdering someone's laptop and burning down their home is a proper response (for a first offender).
And speaking of Gerrold, reading his "Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" will get you a much nicer response than asking him to read your work.

 
At September 13, 2009 1:08 AM , Blogger David said...

Both articles were excellent, and Gerrold's was downright scary.

I like getting my critiques from slush pile editors, they don't pull punches.

 
At September 14, 2009 12:07 PM , Blogger Technotaoist said...

I think every profession has some version of this. I used to get asked a lot to help people with computer or programming problems. Doctors/ nurses get no end of health questions, and so on.

The frightening difference is how personally I suspect writers take it.

 

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