Saturday, August 20, 2005

A funny essay about novel-writing

by James Hamilton-Paterson at the Guardian. Here's the best paragraph:

Hitherto, to the despair of publishers, agents and readers alike, I have tried never to write the same kind of book twice, my entirely selfish reason being that I don't wish to bore myself. Now, for the first time, I am breaking my vow and have been induced to write the one thing I had always promised myself I never would write: a sequel. Sequels are surely dread things, because if they meet with any success something still dreader lurks ahead: a series. And, of course, once one has launched into a series the iron law of the marketplace takes over, and suddenly that interior mill-owner is cracking his whip. Being by nature a lotus-eater, I hope to avoid this fate.

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