benn@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (T Cox) (02/14/86)
In article <58@druri.UUCP> dht@druri.UUCP (TuckerDH) writes: >As to the author's responsibility - booshwah. Authors don't have any >responsibility. That's why they're authors and not insurance salesmem >or high school teachers. If you look at the history of authors in the >western world, you will see that it is a history of irresponsibility, [...] >Generally speaking, as soon as an author >starts thinking about "responsibility" toward his audience, he's already >ceased writing anything very good, or at least ceased writing the kinds >of things that got him his audience in the first place (hacks are excluded >here, as they are thinking about responsibility from the start). > >Davis Tucker With ambivalence, I disagree. Although I almost, almost agree on some of this, I am forced to fight you on this one. Gene Wolfe offered this advice to aspiring authors: Stop. Don't write. If it is possible for you to stop writing, then you shouldn't write. If you find you must write, then you *may* become a worthwhile author. But don't count on it. As for responsibility, I will turn to two professional writers: Joe Williams and John Cox. Both have told me that, if you're reader doesn't like or understand you, then it is *your* fault. Never, never the reader's fault. If anyone out there thinks Wolfe sucks, then that is Wolfe's fault [if fault is the word] for not writing for them. Think, people. Every author has her/his audience. There are people who just love James Joyce. Does that make him perfect? No. There are no perfect authors because there is no, *no*, NO single thing that everyone likes. The world of readers is so big and varied that no one is going to please everyone. No one ever will. If you dislike Wolfe, put him down. Maybe you just don't care for his kind of prose. Fine. Every author makes a set of choices. How much to tell? How much to leave out? What audience to couch it for? And so on. So spare us, everyone. Don't write in and say Wolfe is God. Don't write and say Wolfe sucks. Both are true. It depends on who YOU are. [. . . but then again, I'm just a person who hates Dickens . . .] -- T Cox ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!benn benn%sphinx@uchicago.bitnet
ccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick Heli) (02/15/86)
"There's an unwritten compact between you and the reader. If
someone enters a bookstore and sets down hard earned money
(energy) for your book, you owe that person some entertainment
and as much more as you can give.
That was really my intention all along."
Frank Herbert
preface to God Emperor of Dune
--
--rick heli
... {ucbvax,lll-crg}!ucdavis!ccrrick