I have a friend who just finished working on a sci-fi novel that he’s been talking about for years–literally, years. So I’m really proud of him. He asked me if I would read it and tell him where it needs to be polished up before he sends it out, because I’m a constant reader, and I sometimes do copy-editing stuff at work. I started reading it and…it’s terrible. Like really, really bad. The plot doesn’t make a lot of sense, and characters come in and out randomly, and on top of that, the writing just isn’t great. What should I do? I feel like I’ll crush him if I tell him all this, but I wouldn’t be a very good friend if I just said “it’s awesome, I bet tons of people will buy it,” would I? More
