AUTHOR

Big day is here.  Brother is a sessional lecturer and grad student in English Lit.  He's done reading my 350 page novel.
Today I'll hear the verdict.  I buy us each a latte and we settle in, watch trendy shoppers float by.
"We-ll Taslima, first it's excellent setting.  Lotta good script describing the sights back home.  That's nice, but not in terms of marketing.  See real Afghans already know this, you're wasting their time.  White readers, well most are busy people.  They'd much prefer 250 pages, doable if you unload a lotta this setting."
I groan inwardly thinking of the work.
"Character dialogue, you're caught in the middle.  Your white reader will miss most of the nuance.  Your Afghan, feel insulted as you explain the obvious."
Oy.
"Plot, come on Taslima.  Why not an assassination, marketing black market nuclear devices, a big drug shipment or something important?  Most exciting thing in your book is someone smuggling a suitcase full of watches.  Bor-ring."
Ouch. 
"Characterization, again caught in the middle.  Your white is gonna view all this as fiendishly complicated.  Why?  Simply it's unfamiliar names, much more difficult for them to keep track.  Your Afghan is gonna groan, too over-simplified."
"Suppose I succeed in cleaning this up? Your guestimate on royalties?"
"I'd really be surprised if you could pull in a thousand.  No market demand for this genre."
"So I've wasted my time?"
Gentle smile, "not really, lotsa good jokes in here to share with your friends."