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The problem for writers is that most of them have parents. Urgh! And maybe some of them are writers. Argh! Or, maybe they’re just the interested, invested type of parents. Both of mine are paid subscribers here (yes, they actually had to pay - no, they did not opt for Founding Member Subscription). Luckily, I’m too lazy to live a secret life, so I don’t really have any issues with them reading what I write here, but imagine if I had experience that informed my writing that I didn’t want them to know about. What then? I mostly write for children but it is my intention to write fiction for adults; what if it turns out to be depraved and then I have explain that it probably isn’t their fault? More tea, please, Mum.
I’m sure a lot of writers can only create into a space that feel their own parents cannot enter; in the Jo Nesbo interview I recommended last week, he said his mother simply does not read his books and he’s so grateful for that because it allows him to be darker, more violent that he’d want her to witness. When I interviewed the author Christie Watson last week, her mother accompanied her to the event, but had not yet read the novel we were discussing, though she was about to start it. This is different to never reading your offspring’s work, but I can understand an author not wanting their parents to read their book until it is published because you can’t trust them to not be completely, horrifyingly, honest. If a writer presents their parents with an early draft, they’re seeking input or perhaps, permission, but I’d like to think most parents would restrain themselves from giving a published book a harsh critique. Who can say? Yesterday my daughter presented me with an “It’s finished!” picture of a pig and I said but why are the legs coming out of the face? “It’s finished.” She told me again.
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