View single post by in media res
 Posted: Sun Dec 21st, 2014 08:28 pm
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in media res

 

Joined: Sun Jul 2nd, 2006
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Mana: 
 Ran across this brief review of a writing book, by John Casey, winner of National Book Award for his novel, "Spartina."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/master-class_821848.html?nopager=1


There are some marvelous tidbits contained in the review. Two are below.

“I can’t teach someone to write,” he stipulates upfront, with a gruffness audible on the page, “but I can sometimes teach someone to rewrite.”

And:

“On sparing words, Casey recalls that his agent and his editor both judged a 604-page novel he’d sent them as much too long, so for several months he reworked it, cutting 100 pages but adding a few in the process. When he sent it back, now 640 pages, the agent and editor wrote him, separately, “Good. It’s much shorter.”


Best,

IMR