Manuscript Drafting Gifts

Colin kept a notebook by his bed to write down any ideas he had during the night... "Genulph hyu donkey slapperthwaite."

"Bah, I could've written a better dénouement in my sleep."

The MBA Draft

"My novel is not a doorstop!"

"Your hunch was right, Officer Garcia. We'll need a good editor to clean up this manuscript and bring his unfinished novel to a satisfying conclusion."

'I'm designing a robot that'll do my drafting homework for me,'

"No—You're thinking dog years—Editor years are twice as many."

"It's about the murder of an editor who refuses to publish a writer's work..."

"For just one monkey in front of one typewriter you've come up with some amazing stuff."

The writers group met every Tuesday for support and fellowship.

"Drop everything, Dominic. I need you to proof this for blasphemy."

"Moby Richard by Herman Melville" "Wonderful! Not sure about the title—let's discuss editor."

"By God, for a minute there it suddenly all made sense!"

Editor.

'You can't reject my manuscript without due process!'

'Thank god for the spellchecker!'

"Remorse sits in my stomach like a piece of stale bread. How does that sound?"

"There's the pressure from my public, naturally, as well as the pressure from my publisher, my agent, and all that. But the real pressure comes from that devil inside that makes me different from other men, that makes me a writer. But, of course, you know all about pressure, grinding out those papers at Sarah Lawrence."

Publisher to writer: 'It was a great read, except I collided with run-on sentences, tripped over broken English and got knocked about by a dangling participle.'

"We do not usually acknowledge unsolicited manuscripts, but we want you to know that we tore yours into tiny pieces. Yours sincerely, The Op-Ed Page."

Man has thrown his computer aside and is writing on a typewriter.

"Your book stinks—we want to publish it."

'No, go ahead and critique my mss. I'm always ok ... after the initial reaction.'

'The first thing we will do is select a block captain.'

'Look on it as... constructive criticism.'

'As is the fashion these days, it's about nothing.'

"We'll publish your book, doctor, but we'll have to get a second opinion."

Rubbish, Poppycock, Balderdash

"See, that's the problem with you new breed. You take rejection too personally."

'Your new book is full of mistakes: the critics will have a field day.'

Proceedings of the club

"We're still pretty far apart. I'm looking for a six-figure advance and they're refusing to read the manuscript."

"Well - and I'm not just saying this because you're my husband - it stinks."

"Right here is where you lost the narrative flow."