Pulp Fiction

Tony Ellis · 11 May 1999, 09:39 · from urth-v0026.mbox · original

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From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: (urth) Pulp Fiction
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 10:39:57 +0100
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David Lebling joked:

> ...All the
> talk we hear about multiple drafts is just publicity; he races through ea=
ch book
> like the early-career Silverberg, and lets the errors fall where they may.
>
Actually, there may be a germ of truth to this. Not about the multiple
drafts, obviously, but the "racing through" bit. I can still remember a
long ago Gene Wolfe  interview in Interzone in which, talking about
Severian fishing Dorcas out of the lake, Wolfe said "I had a hell of a
time working out who she was and how she got there."

The implication being that he really does make things up as he goes
along, and then papers over the cracks, as opposed to working to an
elaborate, preconceived plan. Personally speaking, that's always been
the impression I've got from his novels in any case: they have that
fast-paced, picaresque style symptomatic of a writer who doesn't have a
clue what's going to happen next.

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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