At 01:12 PM 10/27/02 -0800, you wrote:

>I've never much understood the battle between SciFi and SF, but anyway
>... science fiction or SF seems to be the way to go.
>
>As for your other question: Ivory Tower.
>
>When someone lives in an Ivory Tower, they live at a lofty height,
>theorizing about this or that, without getting into the fray, and thus
>tend to have an idealistic view. Also sometimes referred to as
>"armchair critics/academics".

Thank you for your clarification in that.  Like the armchair quarterback
right?   Perhaps I should consider myself an armchair astrophysicist? ;)


>I personally feel that being an armchair critic is really the only way
>to go -- since, once you taste the foodstuff that makes you an actual
>writer ... being overly critical (in the negative sense) seems such a
>waste. Offering genuine critique is not what critics do.  The only way
>to truly appreciate how bad a novel is  -- is to never have written
>one.

How profound.   But I do agree, but in order for you to know what a good
novel is, you have to know what a bad one is, no?  In that case, you'd
have to write a bad novel and then improve?


Edmund



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