I recently started rereading Gate if Ivrel, C.J. Cherryh’s first novel. The introduction is by Andre Norton, at the time a very successful author. Cherryh, in that novel, is doing the sort of thing Norton did, but doing it much better. And Norton, to her immense credit, realizes it and is willing to say so. The end of the introduction:
My personal question rises:“Why can’t I write like this?”I very much wish that I did.
How many successful writers would have the humility to say that, in print, about a new author?
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