My standard for verisimilitude is simple and I came to it when I started to write prose narrative: fuck the average reader. I was always told to write for the average reader in my newspaper life. The average reader, as they meant it, was some suburban white subscriber with two-point-whatever kids and three-point-whatever cars and a dog and a cat and lawn furniture. He knows nothing and he needs everything explained to him right away, so that exposition becomes this incredible, story-killing burden. Fuck him. Fuck him to hell.
An Interview with David Simon – Nick Hornby
Warren Ellis shared this quote on his newsletter Orbital Operations, I think, couple weeks ago and it’s on my mind ever since. Wanted to post it here to save it as a reminder for myself.
Leave a Reply