By Phoebe Maltz Bovy @tweetertation - New Republic 4 August, 2014
Let’s say you find yourself at a dinner party with Philip Roth. It could happen. And let’s also say you’ve avoided the major etiquette pitfalls (i.e. liver jokes), but are still wary of saying the wrong thing to a man who is, after all, a big-time writer. What does one say to a famous writer if one doesn’t want to offend, or—worse—to reemerge as an irritating minor character in his or her next work?
Last week, a Twitter hashtag—#TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter, launched by the accomplished novelist Joanne Harris—sprang up to answer the question. It’s a mostly lighthearted array of complaints from writers across genre and success level about the annoying things people ask them about their work, money included. The overarching theme of the entries was that writing is, in fact, work. While it most certainly is, there are more and less effective ways of conveying this. Pointing out that writing isn’t lounging, and ought to be compensated, helps. Scoffing at those who’d dare imagine that a published writer would have additional sources of income, not so much.
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Last week, a Twitter hashtag—#TenThingsNotToSayToAWriter, launched by the accomplished novelist Joanne Harris—sprang up to answer the question. It’s a mostly lighthearted array of complaints from writers across genre and success level about the annoying things people ask them about their work, money included. The overarching theme of the entries was that writing is, in fact, work. While it most certainly is, there are more and less effective ways of conveying this. Pointing out that writing isn’t lounging, and ought to be compensated, helps. Scoffing at those who’d dare imagine that a published writer would have additional sources of income, not so much.
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