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  • Talking about a small, good thing

    Last Friday we were going to link to Stephen King’s review of Carol Sklenicka’s new biography of Raymond Carver.

    But it was a holiday. So we’re doing it today.

    If you don’t know who Gordon Lish was, you will learn. Take note, all ye aspiring writers who someday hope to be edited: Lish did it WRONG. Wrong, wrong, wrong. He was famous and influential, and his name is known throughout editing circles. But he was WRONG.

    If you don’t know who Raymond Carver was, go find out. But please don’t try to imitate him. The best lesson you can learn from him is: write what you know. Drinking and smoking and being broke and divorced was what Carver knew, and he created literature out of it. It wasn’t just there waiting for him. It’s not just there waiting for you, either.

    And if you don’t know who Stephen King is. . .naw, just kidding!

    2 Comments

2 Responses to “Talking about a small, good thing”

  1. Marie Devers said on December 2nd, 2009 at 11:29 am

    Punny blog title. Thanks for linking to that article. It made my lunch infinitely more enjoyable. It also made me wonder how much I would compromise my work to please an editor who held my success in his or her back pocket.

  2. Victoria said on December 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 am

    Yes, Marie, it does throw a whole new light on the publishing industry, doesn’t it? That such a thing could have happened to someone as widely-read and respected as Carver? That Gordon Lish—who has a huge reputation—could have been that freaking ignorant about the whole craft of editing?

    It’s a piranha pool out here, folks. You really need to be prepared.

    And, for the record, a professional editor edits as little as humanly possible while aiming for the highest possible quality. It is not only perfectly possible, I do it all the time. If a piece needs the kind of deep and devastating cuts that King says Lish did to Carver’s work—well, they might as well just send it back. According to King, the cuts weren’t necessary for quality, only to adapt Carver’s work to Lish’s voice. And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say I trust King’s judgment.

    That review’s a pleasure to read simply because it’s so well-written. King’s good.

    Victoria

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Bhaichand Patel is the author of two nonfiction books: Chasing the Good Life (Penguin Books India, October, 2006), and Happy Hours (Penguin Books India, October, 2009). I edited Patel's debut novel, When the Streets Were Dark and Cold.

In 2009 I edited two nonfiction essays for my friend Lucia Orth. (Many years ago, my contribution to Baby Jesus Pawn Shop was simply a peer critique and participation in a standing ovation.)

The poet Chris Ryan is the author of The Bible of Animal Feet (Farfalla Press, 2007). He has recent stories in Pank, Anemone Sidecar, and A Cappella Zoo. I edited Ryan's novel The Ishmael Blade and worked with him on his debut novel Heliophobia and WIP Pogue.