Tuesday, January 10, 2006

György Spiró has discovered the EU Commission for European Standards guidelines for writing a novel. It contains gems such as Art. 13 D):

"Positive Main Characters recommended exceptionally strongly:

a) A grandmother who underwent many terrible tribulations before the advent of the EU with her spiritual and moral integrity remaining intact, and who now educates her grandchildren single-handedly in such a manner that they become upright, law-abiding citizens of the European Union who meet the challenges of business life."

or

Art. 5 & 6:

5) The Novel must contain Dialogue and Author's Text. A work lacking either of these will not qualify as a Novel and will not be supported.

6) The ideal ratio between Dialogue and Author's Text is 2 : 1. A maximum divergence of + or 12 per cent is tolerable. Any divergence of a larger order will result in the disqualification of the work from European Union support.

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-10-03-spiro-en.html

 

2 comments:

Eric Gordy said...

Brilliant!
Though it seems that the standards for romance novels have been left out, it needs to be sent back to committee.

zdenka pregelj said...

Agree with Eric!