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A review by leesmyth
The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination by Ursula K. Le Guin
4.0
I bought this originally for the essay on The Lord of the Rings, but there is a lot of good and fun stuff in here. Some bits I noted toward the end:
p. 269: "People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within."
p. 230 & 231: "Most best-sellers are written for readers who are willing to be passive consumers. The blurbs on their covers often highlight the coercive, aggressive power of the text—compulsive page-turner, gut-wrenching, jolting, mind-searing, heart-stopping—what is this, electroshock torture? [...] If there's any use in the grab-'em-and-wrench-their-guts-out school of advice, it's that it at least reminds the writer that there is a reader out there to be grabbed and gutted. [¶] But just because you realise your work may be seen by somebody other than the professor of creative writing, you don't have to go into attack mode and release the Rottweilers."
p. 231: "Readers who have only been grabbed, bashed, gut-wrenched, and electro-shocked may need a little practice in being interested. They may need to learn how to tango. Once they've tried it, they'll never go back to the pit bulls."
p. 269: "People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within."
p. 230 & 231: "Most best-sellers are written for readers who are willing to be passive consumers. The blurbs on their covers often highlight the coercive, aggressive power of the text—compulsive page-turner, gut-wrenching, jolting, mind-searing, heart-stopping—what is this, electroshock torture? [...] If there's any use in the grab-'em-and-wrench-their-guts-out school of advice, it's that it at least reminds the writer that there is a reader out there to be grabbed and gutted. [¶] But just because you realise your work may be seen by somebody other than the professor of creative writing, you don't have to go into attack mode and release the Rottweilers."
p. 231: "Readers who have only been grabbed, bashed, gut-wrenched, and electro-shocked may need a little practice in being interested. They may need to learn how to tango. Once they've tried it, they'll never go back to the pit bulls."