and out they came in a rush.
Her editor had developed a sort of obsession with her, constantly
calling, taking her out for fancy meals, and eventually confessing
his love. Meanwhile, he wasn’t reading the chapters she gave him;
in fact, he was doing barely any work on the manuscript at all. She
wasn’t really into him, though she admitted that if she’d been
more attracted to him, it might have been another story. But for
him, it was escalating. He wanted to leave his wife for her! There
were kids, too, a bunch of them. Still no feedback on the chapters.
Meanwhile he was Skyping her in his underwear from hotel rooms
and complaining about his marriage, and she was letting it go on
because she felt that her fate was in his hands. Nothing really
happened between them—well, maybe a bit of fumbling, but she
kept him at a distance. The thing was that she didn’t want to rebuff
him too bluntly because she was worried about the fate of her
book—worried he’d reject the manuscript, she’d have to pay back
the advance, and she’d never get it published anywhere else.
I’d actually once met this guy—he’d edited a friend’s book (badly).
He was sort of a nebbish, hard to see as threatening. "Did you talk
to your agent?" I asked the woman. I was playing the situation out
in my mind, wondering what I’d do. No, she hadn’t talked to her
agent, for various reasons, including fears that she’d led the
would-be paramour on and that her book wasn’t any good.
Suddenly the editor left for a job at another press, and the
publisher called the contract, demanding a final manuscript,
which was overdue and nowhere near finished. In despair, the
author finally confessed the situation to our mutual friend,
another writer, who employed the backbone-stiffening phrase
"sexual harassment" and insisted that the woman get her agent
involved. Which she did, and the agent negotiated an exit deal with
the publisher by explaining what had taken place. The author was
let out of the contract and got to take the book to another press.
What struck me most, hearing the story, was how incapacitated
this woman had felt, despite her advanced degree and
accomplishments. The reason, I think, was that she imagined she