HOW IT WORKS

First, I read the work. Then I read the work again.

The first time through, I try to assume the perspective of the intended reader: bought an action novel for a long flight; wants huge opening-weekend box office; works for a media conglomerate that wants bestsellers and Pulitzer-contenders only; hopes to read some stories with kid over a vacation. The focus of Phase I is big issues: structure and strategy. I like to send short updates as I read, as to where I am and how I see things evolving. Once I finish reading, I draft a memo that details my reactions. I have a lot to say about most things I read, a lot of it positive, all of it intended to be constructive. On a novel of 400-500 pages in typescript, this memo will generally run 8-10 single-spaced pages. We usually break that into two installments, so the author has a chance to weigh in once I’ve laid out the broad-strokes big-picture thinking.
At that stage, we talk. The aim of combining write-up and conversation with the writer is to touch on everything that hits me, because what strikes me as of minor importance may strike the author as the crux of the whole thing.
Some writers then go back to work on the text, or to thinking about revising.
Most writers elect to go Phase II.
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