Jan 16, 2025
"There used to be a very popular theory, now steadily lessening in popularity because it has been proven incorrect over and over again, that a writer must start by writing genre novels such as Gothics or Westerns, and that he should then set his sights on "better" goals by writing novels of the general mainstream type, and then graduate, finally, to "literary" works. But this theory, which sounds perfectly logical until you examine it closely, fails because of one obvious fact: no man can do his best at a job he dislikes."
Writing to Sell by Scott Meredith, 4th edition 1995, originally published 1950. Emphasis mine.
