Re: intelligence of the author vs. intelligence of the characters

Cecilia -- if *all* the MFA does is give you time to develop your craft (and,
I would add, force you to write regularly), then it does a great deal. I
already said the degree won't make a bad writer good, and that you need to be
pretty good to begin with to even get in. Speaking as a published writer
myself, the comments of intelligent and likeminded readers are indispensible
for my development at this stage. There may and hopefully will come a time
that I cut myself loose from other people's opinions (this actually happens
when I finally decide what problems need to be addressed and what are not
problems to begin with), but that may or may not be a good thing -- I'm always
writing for readers (please, none of this I'm writing for myself crap. If
you're writing for yourself, why publish?), so what they think needs to count.

Jim

Cecilia Baader wrote:

> --- James Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu> wrote:
> > John, you should go back and read my post about two posts back. If
> > they're a waste of time, they still managed to turn out quite a few
> > pulitzer prize winners, a nobel prize winner or two, and people like
> > Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver, John Irving...
>
> That means nothing, as far as I'm concerned. I've got a friend who went
> to Iowa, a very talented friend who studied poetry under Jorie Graham and
> just managed to win a big prize that means publication by Random House.
> His opinion? All an MFA does is give you time to develop your craft. The
> great writers were great before they got in there, and the MFA didn't make
> the bad ones good. Even at Iowa, the Holy Grail of writing schools.
>
> Best,
> Cecilia.
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
> http://finance.yahoo.com
> -
> * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
> * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH