Answer-Men

My boss asked if I agreed with a point he made earlier that day. As I was collecting my thoughts, he tells me that he wanted my actual opinion. "I don't want to be surrounded by yes-men."

Another employee was walking by at the last comment and sprang in with a jocular 'no'. My boss replied with, "I don't want any no-men either. I want answer-men."

I liked that. We should surround ourselves with people who have answers. People who only have problems, or people who give thoughtless responses are useless burdens.

As writers, we should be doing the same thing. Have people who can give you answers to your problems. That's what a good reader or editor will do for you. They can do more than just tell you that they don't like it. They can tell you why something doesn't work, how it is falling short, and most importantly, what you can try in order to fix it.

It is not always easy to find such people, though you should look for them. They are worth the time and effort spent to find them.

If you are not so fortunate though, then you do still have one more option: Be your own answer-man. I know it's easier said than done, but it is still doable. If you can tell when something isn't right, you can use your own resources to figure out how to fix it. And if you can't tell when something isn't right, then you can still make use of a reader who can point them out to you, even if they can't fix it.