That reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me - upon meeting Justin Achilli (who's heartily sick of hearing about people's characters) at the White Wolf booth one GenCon, he asked, "How would you like to *not* hear about my character?"
I can't believe the number of comments by idiots who think he's out of line for saying the things he's said. If he doesn't owe it to his close friends to read their scripts (which he certainly doesn't), he can't possibly be expected to owe it to a near stranger.
I hadn't read the comments but I just went back and took a look. OMG. That's some of the most "I think the lady doth protest too much" reaction I've ever heard. Way to miss the point, dudes.
I recall that sleigh recently posted that some total stranger went to the trouble of tracking down his phone number and calling him out of the blue to ask him to read his manuscript. It just astonishes me that people think people who make their living by writing would spend their valuable time on other people's writing, for free.
Perhaps the way to discourage such importunity is to reply, "I will be glad to provide you with that professional service as soon as I have time available after meeting my higher-priority professional obligations. My fee for critiquing manuscripts is $100 per page." (The per-page fee may have to be higher than $100 to discourage the profoundly clueless.) That reply would probably offend the importunate wannabe as much as "I will not read your fucking script," of course; it also might, just might, get through their thick skulls that writing is a business and expecting a business to provide services at no charge is Just Not Done.
What a terrific article--and especially the part where he talks about a real writer being someone who can take criticism. (And people really so rude as to walk up to a complete stranger and press their writing on them? They deserve whatever they get.)
Interesting article. Not an angle I'd considered before, to be honest, but interesting none the less (I'm more of the opinion that if I ask someone to do something professional - ie, give me a professional opinion, I should be paying them for the service. I pay my friends for time they spend helping me with my soapmaking business, even if it is 'just proofreading' a flyer.)
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The same should be applied to role-playing.
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That got a laugh out of Mr. Achilli. :)
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(wow, 25 words and two edits... that might be a new record *g*)
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Perhaps the way to discourage such importunity is to reply, "I will be glad to provide you with that professional service as soon as I have time available after meeting my higher-priority professional obligations. My fee for critiquing manuscripts is $100 per page." (The per-page fee may have to be higher than $100 to discourage the profoundly clueless.) That reply would probably offend the importunate wannabe as much as "I will not read your fucking script," of course; it also might, just might, get through their thick skulls that writing is a business and expecting a business to provide services at no charge is Just Not Done.
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Thank you for posting that.
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