Word of mouth now has a unprecedented influence because it spreads so far and so fast.
I don't think I make much of a distinction between the 'real' and the 'fantastic.' They both seem to be threads in the same cloth as far as I'm concerned.
It's weird to take your work into a room and everybody reads it. Then comes the terror part, the dissection.
Network cable reads are always kind of stressful because it's the first time everyone's read through it out loud.
Margot Livesey, my dear friend, reads all the drafts of what I write, and I read hers. We have an intense working relationship. I've been really lucky to know her. She's a great reader and teacher as well as an astonishingly good writer.
At the end of the day I'm a basketball player. I'm going to try and shoot more threes than mid-range or long twos or whatever. But if someone gives you a shot, you're a basketball player, you got to make reads and play.
Computers may save time but they sure waste a lot of paper. About 98 percent of everything printed out by a computer is garbage that no one ever reads.
Every year, I give my dad an advance copy of my latest book. He reads it over the next several nights and says something incredibly supportive. Then he clears his throat nervously and changes the subject.
My mum reads every script before I go for it.
I find the idea of the recap page to be something of a waste. It's the page nobody ever reads and it's even worse because it doesn't tell you who anybody really is.
