C/d: Reading friends manuscripts

it might be a bad idea.

they might want to know what you think of it.

and that can end badly.

unless they are a genius! are they a genius?

Don't do it! I told an old friend what I thought of his ms in what I considered to be an honest yet constructively critical way and he hasn't spoken to me since (fortunately it's no great loss to either me or the world of popular fiction, but still ...)

When I lived in Austin, I made the decision never to date someone who is in a band, unless I had heard that band previously and did not hate it. I couldn't imagine months of, "No, honey, that was really great." Same thing goes for friends and books. Every time you look at them, you'll see their split infinitives and their use of the word "funner."

I made the decision not to date girls in bands in case they said no when I asked. However, I did once go out with a girl because she had a horse. I even put up with the fact that she looked a bit like one herself.

I do it all the time, provided the MS is short. I'm an editor and a critic, and I make it known beforehand that I don't pull punches (and I have a few friends who look over short MSs of mine as well, and I expect the same candor in return).

I think it all depends on what your friend is looking for. If they say that they think there might be some problems with the MS, you can offer constructive criticism without being harsh on what's already there. If the script is finished and they're sending it out to publishers and you are not in a position to influence it, then your job as a friend is to just be supportive.

Or are you the kind of person who would tell your friends that they look like crap in their new outfit they just spent a heaveload of money on?

Yes, that's right, I said heaveload. I'm not afraid to try new things.

phew. turns out its kind of good (well, 15 pages in). its in a publishers hands and has been reread so i guess i'll just go the supportive way.
(although i keep wanting to say: look! this paragraph is poorly written! or uh-oh, bad grammar page 6 line 8!)

Um, have you checked to see why they wanted you to read it? Were they hoping for criticism or copyediting, or did they just want to share something with you? Obviously if they're not showing it to you for copyediting, you shouldn't make copyediting suggestions, but you could ask (especially since it's early on) whether that's what they want...

I'm glad to read for copy-editing stuff. And for content/construction. But they have to know up front that if they want my opinion, they're going to get it. And no matter how much I believe in constructive criticism I suck at it. I usually ask the person ahead of time what it is that they're hoping to get from me, as that can affect how I read.

i think they just want to find out if i get the jokes, if the story pulls me in etc. i'll leave the copy-editing stuff for a professional.

They say never show a story to friends because they're likely to be too kind. ha. I showed a story to my friends and family and they said it was shit.

i told him his some of his jokes weren't funny.

D! D! D! D!

A friend of mine decided she wants to be a novelist.

(And we'll sidestep all the bullshit about get your own identity, bitch, etc.)

She writes a book and sends it to me, and mentions that she's interested in what I have to say. She's also sent it to all her other friends and demonstrates no more interest in my opinion than any of her other friends. I read it because I feel I genuniely want to help her out.

My background: I work as a professional editor and book critic and have read slush piles and critiqued manuscripts at lit agencies on both sides of the Atlantic, so perhaps my opinion might be valuable, moreso than say, a friend that used to work at Borders and loves all the same John Irving books she does.

I met her for a vacation, armed with the mss. I tried reading it on the train. I spent three hours going through the prologue, writing the same things over and over before I gave up: Pick a tense. Cut the passive voice. Too much exposition. "His eyes, the color of lies" -- are you serious?!?

So I meet her and say in what I think is diplomatic, "Maybe I ought to read the revised version, since you probably made a lot of changes."

Her response: "Oh, the first draft is pretty much it. But all my writer friends love it [note emphasis on writer friends] so it's perfect the way it is."

The next morning, I dumped it into the trash outside the hotel. She didn't really want to hear what I had to say, despite my experience. She doesn't trust me as a reader so why waste my time on it?