About Writing

[la_samtyr]

So, there was a segment on the news that a guy submitted a manuscript (unsolicited, of course -- as any struggling writer probably would) to a number of publishers and it was rejected by almost everyone. "Dated", "boring", "dull", "uninteresting". The catch? He had submitted "Pride and Prejudice" (iirc, and yes, *the* novel by Jane Austen) and hardly anyone noticed. Of course, whether or not it was even read is kind of a moot point, unsolicited manuscripts tend to be tossed, regardless. Though it does seem that *someone* actually read the beginning of it, realised that it was A Classic, and wrote him a nasty note. Yet there is a bright side -- it sounds as if he has a deal to write a book about his little experiment.

Which reminds me of a related incident: back in the 1980s, a certain classic film's script was sent to a number of major studios and production companies under its original title, "Everybody Comes To Rick's". Some studios recognized the script but most did not. ::SNERK:: Many complained that the script was "not good enough" to make a decent movie. Others gave such complaints as "too dated", "too much dialog" and "not enough sex". The movie? Casablanca, of course.