Log In

Home
    - Create Journal
    - Update
    - Download

LiveJournal
    - News
    - Paid Accounts
    - Contributors

Customize
    - Customize Journal
    - Create Style
    - Edit Style

Find Users
    - Random!
    - By Region
    - By Interest
    - Search

Edit ...
    - Personal Info &
      Settings
    - Your Friends
    - Old Entries
    - Your Pictures
    - Your Password

Developer Area

Need Help?
    - Lost Password?
    - Freq. Asked
      Questions
    - Support Area



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...


(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]agilebrit
2009-04-20 05:11 pm UTC (link)
Thanks!

I've got a character that totally took the book over and said "No, this is about me and my issues." I hope he's relatable, I know I hurt for him every time I hurt him (and oh boy do I hurt him)--but even if a character says "RELATE TO ME," we as the author still have to do that character justice so that the reader can relate him/her as well. Some writers have it, and some don't.

In fact, I had to work on my villain's motivation quite a bit, because my original idea had him as a cookie-cutter mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplash "I'm going to take over the world!" type, and that wouldn't do at all. But this is part of the Craft, stuff you need to think about when you're writing, giving characters layers and stuff--even your bad guys. Especially your bad guys.

I've entered every quarter of Writers of the Future since December of '06. It's a great contest, especially for someone like me who's a natural short story writer--I mean, I've been writing pretty much nonstop (got my feet wet with fanfic, thanks, Joss) since 2003, and it's all been less-than-novel length until this latest Thing That Ate My Brain.

Speaking of WotF, I need to get off my ass and write something for this quarter, because June 30 is going to sneak up and bite me before I know it...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]brennalarose
2009-04-20 06:40 pm UTC (link)
Ah, yes, villains. I'm getting better with my villains (thanks to a collaborative fic, but that's another story). My heroes... I'm always afraid they'll come off as whiny and unlovable, or cardboard, but, having read her work, suddenly mine look fantastic.

And I know what you mean by the character takeovers. I had my NaNo crash and burn and then the main character said, "Well, THERE's your problem! Skip the travelogue!" I hate it when my characters are smarter than me.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]agilebrit
2009-04-20 07:40 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, my female characters have a tendency to cry under extreme stress, and I worry about that, because this thing has a lot of extremely stressful situations in it. But I guess if it gets as far as an editor, they can tell me to tone it down if it needs to be.

My characters are frequently smarter than I am. It bugs. Then again, I kind of have the attitude that it's their story and they're just letting me hang around to write it down. And I know that there are other writers out there who will tell me I'm on crack, that it's MY story...but I just can't do it that way. I've tried, and get bolloxed up every time.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]brennalarose
2009-04-20 07:57 pm UTC (link)
Amen to everything you just said!

(Reply to this)(Parent)


(Read comments) -

 
   
Privacy Policy - COPPA
Legal Disclaimer - Site Map