Smart Things: Gene Wolfe Knows The Score
The Commercial vs the Artistic in writing – is there a genuine difference between these two philosophies or are they artifical attributes? Are they in opposition, and if so, can they meet?
The difference seems to me very genuine. The error is to think them antithetical. The purely commercial writer writes for the editor. The purely artistic writer writes for himself or herself. I write for the reader. As long as the editor buys it, I don’t much care what he thinks of it. If it’s a good solid story, that’s enough for me. But if the reader doesn’t like it, it’s a failure.
(From an interview)
Lachlan O’Dea
Someone with a Voice
Trish
Richard B.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
[...] of Gene Wolfe, an interesting quote via Chris McLaren from a recent interview: The purely commercial writer writes for the editor. The purely artistic [...]