http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:04:21 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44182 Yesh Sun, 26 Sep 2004 17:29:04 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44182 Dare to be obscure. Dare to be obscure.

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44181 Kate Nepveu Sun, 26 Sep 2004 14:08:49 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44181 On a slightly different note--as Gavin Grant memorably pointed out at a <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/kate_nepveu/70493.html">Worldcon panel</a> on "Tough Love for New Writers," the career path of "write a lot, don't get published, and die" has considerable interest for new writers: everyone can die, it's very easy not to get published; and if you have a friend, maybe you'll be published posthumously, which will be a nice story. But then that was fiction not academic publishing. On a slightly different note—as Gavin Grant memorably pointed out at a Worldcon panel on “Tough Love for New Writers,” the career path of “write a lot, don’t get published, and die” has considerable interest for new writers: everyone can die, it’s very easy not to get published; and if you have a friend, maybe you’ll be published posthumously, which will be a nice story. But then that was fiction not academic publishing.

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44180 Doug Sun, 26 Sep 2004 12:17:55 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44180 Irrelevantly, from pages 236-37: "Oh! Indeed!" cried Mr Norrell irritably. "People believe that magic begins and ends with fairies! They scarcely consider the skill and learning of the magicial at all! No, Mr Strange, that is no argument with me for employing fairies! Rather the reverse! A hundred years ago the magio-historian, Valentine Munday, denied that the Other Lands existed. He thought that the men who claimed to have been there were all liars. In this he was quite wrong, but his position remains one with which I have a great deal of sympathy and I wish we could make it more generally believed. Of course," said Mr Norrell thoughtfully, "Munday went on to deny that America existed, and then France and so on. I believe that by the time he died he had long since given up on Scotland and was beginning to entertain doubts about Carlisle ... I have his book here." Irrelevantly, from pages 236-37: “Oh! Indeed!” cried Mr Norrell irritably. “People believe that magic begins and ends with fairies! They scarcely consider the skill and learning of the magicial at all! No, Mr Strange, that is no argument with me for employing fairies! Rather the reverse! A hundred years ago the magio-historian, Valentine Munday, denied that the Other Lands existed. He thought that the men who claimed to have been there were all liars. In this he was quite wrong, but his position remains one with which I have a great deal of sympathy and I wish we could make it more generally believed. Of course,” said Mr Norrell thoughtfully, “Munday went on to deny that America existed, and then France and so on. I believe that by the time he died he had long since given up on Scotland and was beginning to entertain doubts about Carlisle … I have his book here.”

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44179 kevin donoghue Sun, 26 Sep 2004 11:46:32 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44179 To perish without publishing may be no bad thing. "Almost everyone has a novel inside them, and in most cases, that's where it should stay." To perish without publishing may be no bad thing. “Almost everyone has a novel inside them, and in most cases, that’s where it should stay.”

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44178 bad Jim Sun, 26 Sep 2004 09:55:30 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44178 Perhaps the devil is right, and the world needs less, rather than more. Perhaps the devil is right, and the world needs less, rather than more.

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44177 David Tiley Sun, 26 Sep 2004 07:20:45 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44177 Struck to the heart I am, struck to the heart. I nearly choked on my pap. Struck to the heart I am, struck to the heart. I nearly choked on my pap.

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44176 rea Sun, 26 Sep 2004 03:59:35 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44176 Jeez, sounds like my novel . . . Jeez, sounds like my novel . . .

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44175 Adam Kotsko Sun, 26 Sep 2004 03:43:37 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44175 That thing where you reversed the normal order of "publish" and "perish" was pretty clever -- you should consider becoming a postmodernist. That thing where you reversed the normal order of “publish” and “perish” was pretty clever—you should consider becoming a postmodernist.

]]> http://crookedtimber.org/2004/09/26/advice-to-authors/comment-page-1/#comment-44174 Robin Green Sun, 26 Sep 2004 01:58:47 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/wp/?p=2251#comment-44174 Yes, relatedly, I have been fervently believing that my new programming language will be ready-to-use in about one week, for literally about three years now. 5% perspiration, 95% prevarication - that's my magic formula! Yes, relatedly, I have been fervently believing that my new programming language will be ready-to-use in about one week, for literally about three years now. 5% perspiration, 95% prevarication – that’s my magic formula!

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