To be totally honest, I'm not as pie-eyed in love with David Foster Wallace or Infinite Jest as most of my fellow Infinite Summerians, but I'm hanging in there and keeping up with the page count. I said at the start, I thought I'd be a better reader and a better writer by the time I get to the end of this book, and one of the reasons is the great commentary on the Infinite Summer blog. Today, Kevin Guilfoile speaks to the all-important reader/author connection at the heart of a great read:
When I teach writing workshops I tell students that one of the biggest mistakes I think writers make, even some experienced writers, is not doing enough from the start to build the trust of the reader. Many writers seem to expect people will read their novel just because they wrote it, which is insane. Reading a novel of any kind requires a commitment and in a marketplace of infinite choices a novelist needs to convince the reader that he not only has a great story to tell but that he can be relied on to tell it well. And he has to do that immediately. He has to promise.
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