From: jim@thinkage.on.ca (James Alan Gardner)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Responding to Someone's Manuscript
Date: 28 Jul 92 15:55:07 GMT
Organization: Thinkage Ltd.

In article <1992Jul27.185559.1@eagle.wesleyan.edu> rstepno@eagle.wesleyan.edu writes:
>How do you respond when your date admits that he/she is a novelist
>(unpublished) and offers to loan you her/his last manuscript
>about the previous significant other...

I'm going to sidestep the issue of whether novels should be
autobiographical...well, okay, one comment.  If you are serious
about getting a novel published, it seems the height of folly
to put in a character who is clearly recognizable as your ex.
If anyone is likely to sue you for libel and win, it's going
to be a significant other with whom you have parted on less
than friendly terms.  I have nothing against writing stuff
about former relationships as a form of therapy, but writing
for therapy ain't writing for publication and people shouldn't
confuse the two.

The main question, though, is what to do when someone gives
you his or her manuscript and asks you to offer an opinion.
This happens all the time, both in formal situations like
writing workshops and in informal ones like the one described
in the original posting.  My answer is that it's crucial for
you and the writer to make sure you agree on what you're doing.
Are you supposed to:

   o  Judge the work's suitability for publication?
   o  Suggest a publisher who accepts this sort of work?
   o  Give an emotional reaction to the piece?
   o  Respond to the theme of the piece, or just the writing?
   o  Identify weak points?
   o  Identify weak points and suggest ways to strengthen them?
   o  Give a line-by-line critique, noting things like spelling
      and grammar mistakes, clumsy prose, etc?
   o  Write reactions and suggestions all over the manuscript,
      or put everything on a separate page so that the
      manuscript stays clean?
   o  Look for logic errors in plot, characterization, and so on?
   o  Simply give unadulterated praise because the author
      doesn't want a critique, s/he wants admiration?

It's *very* important that you both understand what the writer
is looking for.  I'm not saying that you should just feed the
author's ego by saying what s/he wants to hear; but some types
of criticism are inappropriate at some stages of the writing
process.  For example, with the first rough draft of a work,
the writer may only care about your reaction to the characters
or to the theme of the work.  Niceties of spelling and sentence
structure may not be very important in the writer's mind, at
this point in writing the piece.  On the other hand, if the
author hands you a manuscript s/he intends to send to a publisher,
the author may only be interested in general proofreading and
may not want to hear your reactions to hard-to-change things
like fundamental theme and plot.

The only way to avoid alienating friends and fellow writers is
to make sure you both agree on your mandate ahead of time.  Then
do what you've been asked, as honestly as you can, without
trying to score points off the other person.  If you accept
a request to help another writer, you should really try to *help*.

		Jim Gardner, Thinkage Ltd.
Newsgroups: misc.writing