Justine, Speaking Wisdom
Posted on July 2, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 2 Comments
Justine Larbalestier explains why blurbing a book is harder than it looks. And not just because you have to, you know, read the whole novel.
The book Justine’s talking about, incidentally, is Ekarina Sedia’s upcoming The Alchemy of Stone, which I would also agree is a lovely book.
The more I get a handle on this writing thing, the more I am convinced that practically anyone can vomit out a novel, but that the required skill for a quality piece increases as its length decreases. (I find short stories a lot harder to write than full-length novels.)
It’s awfully hard to come up with a one-paragraph blurb that’s meaningful and original. It’s like a mini-essay and sales pitch all squeezed into one.
My favorite short take on a bit of fiction is Abe Lincoln’s review of a god-awful bit of fiction. He said, “This is the sort of thing those who enjoy this sort of thing would enjoy.”
The publisher never sent Abe another copy of the author’s work for review.