Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Reading Yourself


Zadie Smith, a brilliant novelist (if you haven't read On Beauty, you're missing out), offers future novelists some advice on the science blog The Frontal Cortex.

It reads, in part:

When you finish your novel, if money is not a desperate priority, if you do not need to sell it at once or be published that very second - put it in a drawer. For as long as you can manage. A year of more is ideal - but even three months will do. Step away from the vehicle. The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer.

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