Wednesday, May 21, 2008

a regular lunch bucket guy

Over at The Elegant Variation, Jim Ruland asks "If James Frey says he's never read Bright Shiny Morning, why the hell should you?"

But the shocker came when Pesce asked if he ever looked at his work the next day and went "blech!" (An astute reader that Molly Pesce). Here's what Frey had to say:

I don't ever read what I write. You know. I don't read it while I'm writing. I don't read it when I'm done. I've never--except for public events--I've never read my first two books. I've never read that one. I never will. I don't have really any interest.

Pesce's jaw hangs open for most of the exchange. "That's fascinating! That's really unbelievable!" she says, prompting Frey to continue:

I think if you read what you write you just want to change it. (Ed. Note: That's a good thing, Frey.) You get stuck in this trap where you never move forward. I try to make things what I want them to be the first time through.

While it's tempting to take Frey at his word that he doesn't read his own work or do any of the things that go with it (revising, rewriting, rethinking, caring), I call bullshit.
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