Ron Carlson Says. . .
Ron Carlson is one of the finest short story writers working today. (If you haven’t read him, check out A Kind of Flying, his collected stories. . .particularly “Plan B for the Middle Class” and “Oxygen.” If you’re a writer–or just interested in how writers should work, read his short book on process, Ron Carlson Writes a Story.)
At any rate, here’s something that Carlson once said about first drafts and that my friend, Kenny Cook (The Girl from Charnelle and Last Call) sent me:
“Have faith in yourself, finish your work, survive the draft….The road to hell is paved with unfinished manuscripts. There’s not a writer alive who doesn’t have an abandoned manuscript in a drawer. What that means is that you’ve allowed the critic to enter into the process before genius has had time to do its work. What you learn by finishing your work is how not to drown.”
