tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post7598325396475536434..comments2024-03-18T15:17:26.003-05:00Comments on l'astronave: A Smidge More IshtarFrescahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-7557768277970959032009-12-14T14:21:22.380-06:002009-12-14T14:21:22.380-06:00I never saw Ishtar, but you're making me want ...I never saw Ishtar, but you're making me want to.momohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12149328149132703479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-62275216235647142852009-12-14T08:16:55.266-06:002009-12-14T08:16:55.266-06:00That's it, Jen! And can't you tell, in the...That's it, Jen! And can't you tell, in the very first line or two, which it's going to be?<br /><br />When I first started in publishing, I was shocked by the "slush pile": a huge bin of unsolicited manuscripts. I asked, "How can you tell which ones are good or not?" and a coworker laughed and said, 'It's easy."<br />He reached into the bin, pulled a random manila envelope out, handed it to me, and said, "Just read the first line."<br />I read the first line, and said, "Oh. Yeah."<br />It was something like, "Jeannie cried herself to sleep every night after her parents got divorced when she was twelve."<br />Thud.<br /><br />Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, and Paul Dinello cowrote a book called "Wigfield" in bad-genius style. It's hard to do--sort of like trying to sing a song without rhythm.Frescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15323129046492056942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7229875339727095184.post-6935217092481954192009-12-14T07:44:59.868-06:002009-12-14T07:44:59.868-06:00Bad genius, I like that. I agree...I have a frien...Bad genius, I like that. I agree...I have a friend that I read a lot of fanfic with, and there are really two major kinds of bad fanfic. The first are unimaginative, boring...people re-writing their own lives over and over again and just changing the characters' names. And then there are stories so staggeringly bad, full of abysmal elan, that you stare agape and wonder how this person ever had the sheer <i>chutzpah</i> (another good Yiddish word!) to put this out in public. It's awe-inspiring...Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13923745480765984429noreply@blogger.com