anna genoese

When I was regularly doing reports for Tor (and I'd happily do them again; it's curiously satisfying, in a horrific sort of way) I did a one-two page recommendation/analysis (ie: don't do it, it's vile, here's why) and a three-five page synopsis. Of the twenty or thirty submissions I read over the years I was Reading, I think I recommended three for a second read. I read all of them through with the exception of one 900 page behemoth; I stopped about page 540, at the point that, in Dorothy Parker's words, "tonstant weader fwowed up." I still have copies of my readers reports, which were fun to write, because believe me, if you've read a 300 page manuscript about Irish dwarf vampires and their sexual habits, you're not getting paid enough not to be snarky. I think one book that I dissed did get picked up anyway; apparently I had been sufficiently clear about what I disliked that it was clear that the book would work for those who liked exactly that sort of thing.

It's eye-opening, reading slush. Even agented slush. Things you can't imagine anyone would let out of the house are sent out proudly, with joy. Sometimes it's agents sending the stuff, which makes you wonder. Reading slush gives you a chance to articulate what works and what doesn't, which can be really useful to your own writing. Just don't over indulge...