Recently I read an interview with William Gibson in the Paris Review. It's pretty good stuff, even if every single science fiction writer he lists is a guy. I like when he talks about the end stages of writing a book, when "the state of composition feels like a complex, chemically altered state that will go away if I don’t continue to give it what it needs. What it needs is simply to write all the time...downtime other than sleep becomes problematic." I'll raise my glass to that.
The Paris Review hasn't called me for any interviews lately, but in my phantom interview, I was asked about what my friends and family thought of my work. This was a pretty horrifying question. Why on earth would I show my work to friends and family? It's like, "What do your friends and family think of your underwear?" or "What do your friends and family about your bank balance?" Because (1) I wouldn't share my underwear habits or my bank balance and (2) I sincerely hope they don't show me theirs.
Maybe underwear and bank accounts aren't apt analogies, so let's try a baby picture. You have a baby, and you show a picture of it to your friends. You are not asking them for honest feedback. You are asking for praise. You are asking for acknowledgement of this wondrous and sleep-depriving and drooling and amazing thing in your life. Any friend or family member who says, "This kid's pretty ugly" is bound to get a big black mark in that secret ledger of your heart, even if it's true.
(I remember thinking Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were the homeliest toddlers I'd ever seen. Guess they took that to the bank, huh?)
I don't want my friends and family to read my work because I protect the baby (and my own ego). But also, showing it to them would start to change the work - I'd be seeking approval, consciously or unconsciously, instead of being true to whatever inner voice I've listened to so far. Writing the difficult, the strange, the uneasy or the weird is hard enough without worrying if Aunt Jennifer or your best friend from high school will "like" it.
The only one in my family who reads my work is my Mom (hi, Mom!) and that's only after I've sold it. I value the feedback and input of my critique group and writer friends, but only after I've gone over the draft enough to be know my own goals and intentions. Some other special readers offer advice, too, and I'm always grateful.
But it's like the saying goes: friends don't make friends read their stories.
The Paris Review hasn't called me for any interviews lately, but in my phantom interview, I was asked about what my friends and family thought of my work. This was a pretty horrifying question. Why on earth would I show my work to friends and family? It's like, "What do your friends and family think of your underwear?" or "What do your friends and family about your bank balance?" Because (1) I wouldn't share my underwear habits or my bank balance and (2) I sincerely hope they don't show me theirs.
Maybe underwear and bank accounts aren't apt analogies, so let's try a baby picture. You have a baby, and you show a picture of it to your friends. You are not asking them for honest feedback. You are asking for praise. You are asking for acknowledgement of this wondrous and sleep-depriving and drooling and amazing thing in your life. Any friend or family member who says, "This kid's pretty ugly" is bound to get a big black mark in that secret ledger of your heart, even if it's true.
(I remember thinking Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were the homeliest toddlers I'd ever seen. Guess they took that to the bank, huh?)
I don't want my friends and family to read my work because I protect the baby (and my own ego). But also, showing it to them would start to change the work - I'd be seeking approval, consciously or unconsciously, instead of being true to whatever inner voice I've listened to so far. Writing the difficult, the strange, the uneasy or the weird is hard enough without worrying if Aunt Jennifer or your best friend from high school will "like" it.
The only one in my family who reads my work is my Mom (hi, Mom!) and that's only after I've sold it. I value the feedback and input of my critique group and writer friends, but only after I've gone over the draft enough to be know my own goals and intentions. Some other special readers offer advice, too, and I'm always grateful.
But it's like the saying goes: friends don't make friends read their stories.
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