3 ms·
relatedly: https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-correspondent.html https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-correspondent.... That is not such a
by hprotagonist 7y ago
relatedly: https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-correspondent.html https://www.nealstephenson.com/why-i-am-a-bad-correspondent....
That is not such a terrible outcome, but neither is it an especially good outcome. The quality of my e-mails and public speaking is, in my view, nowhere near that of my novels. So for me it comes down to the following choice: I can distribute material of bad-to-mediocre quality to a small number of people, or I can distribute material of higher quality to more people. But I can’t do both; the first one obliterates the second.
- Krasnol 7y agoBut his books are quite mediocre too (besides those wikipedia articles he adds to them) so what does it make his speeches?
- rapind 7y agoI love his books...
- Krasnol 7y agoYeah and you are a part of a huge fan base that will downvote me into oblivion. There is nothing bad with that. You can love bad writing. Why not? However it will still not change anything about him being a mediocre writer. His inability to write endings became a meme even within the fan base. His inability to write non-cringe female characters is horrible ans sometimes quite questionable (Snow Crash). Especially these days. The way he stretches nothingness over endless pages is painful and just another sign of bad craftsmanship and yes we get that he likes to deliver some scientific ideas but there are ways to not make it look like you copy a wikipedia article. It's been done in literature. It can be copied and as to say it in Ursula Le Guins words: everybody does it. Much could be done if the editor(s) wouldn't be so afraid of him. I can't explain it otherwise.