Quote:
Originally Posted by DMcCunney
You're an editor. You get a manuscript submitted by a Big Name author. You want to buy it, because you know it will sell. If you don't buy it, the author can sell it elsewhere in a heartbeat. How likely will you be to tell the author she "has no clothes on"?
The relationship between author and editor is complex. No authors I can think of like editors mucking in their prose, but the smart ones recognize the value of it. A good editor can help make a good book a great one by helping to refine the focus and tighten the prose. How well this works depends on the author and the editor. The author must trust the editor's skill and judgment, and be willing to work with the editor.
Tom Clancy is my Horrible Example of a writer who needs a good editor, but has become popular enough to reject editing. The last Jack Ryan book had at least one sub-plot that went nowhere and could have been excised without being missed, and could have been considerably tightned in other areas as well.
Forget "quality writing". Someone out there thought it would sell, because Heinlein wrote it. They were right.
______
Dennis
(Who agrees that later Heinlein isn't quite as good as early works, but doesn't see them being as bad as some folks like to claim.)
|
Maybe it's a chick thing. But, I really honestly thought they were so awful, I wished I could get my money back. I felt like I had wasted the time I spent reading them ... that sort of awful.
And, I know that authors write for the money ... even the greats. But, it just bothers me to see a great author turn out dreck just because people could make money on the dreck.
However ... life being what it is .... I suppose I'll just have to get used to it and learn to shut up.