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Avocado ([info]white_serpent) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2009-04-17 16:05:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:authorwank, elitism, publishing, special snowflake syndrome

But why isn't your book selling?
It's all the fault of literary agents, who are single-handedly destroying literature everywhere!

Excerpt:

The substantial and nearly unassailable wall that separates you from us has been under construction for decades. You can find the names of its architects and gatekeepers on your telephone-callers list, and in your email in-box. They are the literary agents—that league of intellectual-property purveyors who bring you every new manuscript you ever see, those men and women who are so anxious to gain access to the caverns of treasure they believe you sit upon like some great golden goose that they would likely hack one another’s heads off were they not united by one self-serving mission: to ensure that quality fiction never hits your desk.

Just a tiny bit of entitlement, elitism, and self-delusion.

And some responses...


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[info]platedlizard
2009-04-19 02:38 am UTC (link)
I have the same problem. Lately I've started taking the main theme of my story and making that the title, which seems to work (but then all I've been writing lately has been fanfiction).

I suppose you could do that, and if you sell it you could just tell the editor that you aren't married to the working title. A lot of times the publisher will rename the book anyways, or so I've heard.

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[info]kaesa
2009-04-19 06:43 am UTC (link)
I too have been mostly writing fanfic lately. Alas, the main themes of the Lovecraft-does-romcom thing seems to be social awkwardness. Which... yeah. But if I end up writing anything original with an acceptably title-y main theme, maybe I'll try it.

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[info]beckyh2112
2009-04-20 08:57 pm UTC (link)
Original comment removed because it occurred to me I was misreading. Still! Interested in Lovecraftian romcom! I offer cheerleading services as necessary to get the story written.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]kaesa
2009-04-20 09:44 pm UTC (link)
I didn't see anything wrong with your original comment, and really wish I hadn't accidentally implied the Lovecraftian romcom was originalfic. It's post-WWII Harry Potter fic, of all things. (All the mains are OCs, though, so there probably won't be much interest. These characters just wouldn't leave me alone.)

It's not really as Lovecraftian as it could be -- the PoV character has this great talent for ignoring things -- but it was the closest approximation I could think of, considering the genresquish involved in "this story is about teenage awkwardness, privilege, and a love triangle," and "this story is about scientific ethics, insanity, and when it is time to stop following orders," and "this story is about fungus monsters, film noir, and maybe there will be time travel."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]beckyh2112
2009-04-20 09:58 pm UTC (link)
Oooooooooooh!

I still want to read. And cheerlead. *pets shinyfic*

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]kaesa
2009-04-20 11:18 pm UTC (link)
Eep. Well. I'll try to get it finished/bash it into submission after finals/graduation/ohgodtherealworld.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]beckyh2112
2009-04-20 11:28 pm UTC (link)
Whoo! *hugs*

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