Barbaric yawp, part XVII

[shalanna]

Let's try again and see if I can post. LJ ate my last two tries. It claimed I had no text to post, although I pasted it in again and again. Six-falls-apart!

But perhaps it'll take posts now.

The wait is over! I believe God has accepted my "deal" (to let my little dog get well and live, and just flush the books down the dunny), and I appreciate it--it's a fine trade. Our dog is happy and fine, and I got the rejection I was expecting from that agent (the one from the Fast Pitch contest at Mystery Writers of America or whatever that conference was called) today. Fair enough*. The book probably wouldn't have turned her on anyhow even without the bargain, although she seemed very excited by the query letter and the pitch. Maybe the query and pitch imply somehow that there's a lot of humping in the book, whereas there isn't. So it goes.

* [Obviously, I do not agree with whoever it was who said that Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is worth any number of old ladies.]

This explains, in part, why I've been feeling very sad for two or three days and have badgered hubby to go to the mailbox as soon as he got home for a week or more now, because I had the sense that this was coming. It doesn't matter; maybe the book ISN'T publishable in today's marketplace. I don't believe that means it's a bad book; most people don't like or appreciate books that used to be part of the Western canon in the past, and don't like books that were best-sellers even ten years ago, and those books haven't turned rotten and sour over time. (People don't even want to read Ayn Rand nowadays, just because her books are 1,100 pages of preachy, even though her two major novels were very influential and philosophical. But that don't mean they's bad books, honeychile. How many people want to read Oscar Wilde--even if they're not being made to read _Salome_ in the original French? Did you know that Wilde wrote that in French so he wouldn't get arrested for publishing "obscene" stuff in English? Did you care? I didn't think so.)

What used to hurt me so much about these rejections was the implication that because the industry didn't want my book(s), QED I had no talent and the books were bad. I no longer believe this. I believe that I do have talent (and that talent means little to nothing nowadays, as there's no telling what'll sell and what they'll BELIEVE will sell) and that my books are good. If they had a chance, I believe they'd build a readership. But as everyone says, a lotta people got talent and never get recognized, and a lotta ants build nests that never get appreciated. So it goes. Poo-tee-weet?

The wise and ever-brilliant
larbalestier (Justine Larbalestier) notes:
"[W]hat is a successful writer? There are many genius writers who made bugger-all writing during their lifetimes. You can’t tell me that Joseph Conrad and Emily Dickinson and Philip K. Dick weren’t successes. They’re still in print and they’re still read unlike gazillions of best sellers over the years. Who’s reading Coningsby Dawson and Warwick Deeping now?"

I might be, if I could find 'em. I'm reading Richard Prather and finding him more to my taste than John D. MacDonald, who has stayed in print. Did you know that the Travis McGee novels were brought on board to replace the Shell Scott books in the marketplace? Did you care?

There's always still that Tony Hillerman Mystery Conference contest that I'm in. That doesn't announce until November. I think that particular book--the one about Ari and the Marfa Lights--is pretty good, and it's certainly different. But who knows? That one may go down the dunny, as well. As Leonard Cohen wrote, "If it be Your will that my voice be stilled," then that's what I'll accept. So be it.

I was thinking of doing some more posts here regarding the stuff I "learned" at the conference, though. I'm good at analysis . . . or at least I've always believed that . . . although it's apparent that what I think I'm good at, others don't agree that I'm good at, so who knows? However, I may still do the posts. Y'all can suffer.

Along with those posts, I'll use some examples from another mystery I've got here on the back burner. It might as well get used someplace, after all. I just made it up as I went along, so it has a Really Exciting beginning and I have no idea where to go with it. Maybe I should do one of those "you tell me what to write next" web stories with it. Why not? Why ask why? If not now, when? If not me, who*?

* Not the same Who that Horton heard, of course. That one's trademarked.

Man, look at the time . . . and I have physical therapy at 8:15 in the morning.

Comments

[coneycat.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry about the agent not working out. But I'm glad your dog is improving. Good luck with the physio!

PT at 8:15 in the morning

[dennismhavens.livejournal.com]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!! That should be an actionable offense. But what I REALLY wanted to write about is the incredible enthusiasm that getting back to work on COLOR RADIO has generated. It's almost as exciting as learning that Australia has issued a Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie postage stamp. (Be still, my foolish heart.)

No, seriously. I'm excited about COLOR RADIO. After fixing a few little spots in the first four chapters, I plowed into the brand-new Chapter 5, which introduces the principal female lead, phases out the Bad Girl (though we'll hear from her again), and concludes with an absolutely spectacular humping scene involving neither young woman. And now, on to Ch. 6, because this thing, happy as I am about it, isn't going to write itself.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

What a pity the agent didn't like the book. :( I think the main problem is there are too many accountants calling the shots. If a book won't sell a gazillion copies, the publishers don't want to know. There might be lots of people who would like your book, but "lots" isn't enough any more.

At least that's what my last agent said when he wrote to tell me he'd failed to sell the fantasy whodunit.

But I was glad to hear the good news about your dog. I also hope your knee is coming on all right.

Bugger-all

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

Actually Philip K. Dick made quite a lot of money from his writing eventually, especially once he started selling the movie rights. You'd just never know it because he lived in a small apartment in a bad neighborhood and drove a clunky car--and gave much of his money away to charities. When his affluent friends ask why he didn't want to buy "up" to their material standards, he just would say flatly that he wasn't interested in all of those trappings (or some variation thereof).

Just give me lots of books, a dry space to put them, and some woods. I'll still drive my '95 Honda Civic and wear jeans and t-shirts any day. :D

>>What used to hurt me so much about these rejections was the implication that because the industry didn't want my book(s), QED I had no talent and the books were bad. I no longer believe this.<<

Good! One revelation was when I got to start meeting editors who'd turned down my stories...they actually remembered my stories (in enough detail so that I knew they weren't fudging) and told me they really did like them--they just weren't right for the magazine / publisher. That happens a lot more than you might realize.

Re: Bugger-all

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

Yes, after _Blade Runner_ Phil did come into some cash, yet he died soon after, without ever seeing the film, if I remember correctly (sigh) . . . and most of his life he sold books for the minimum amount and didn't make much money. Now, of course, everybody steals from Phil (often without any attribution), and I can only hope that his children/estate will enjoy whatever they get from the films that are being made, because that's only fair. Of course, Phil seems to me (from what I've read and the research I've done--he's kind of a pet project of mine) to have been the consummate bullshitter and breeze-shooter, a philosopher who loved to sit around the house with a circle of people at his feet and discuss the meaning of life and various other things that he wonders about. That seems to have been what he did much of the time--attracting "disciples" and others who wanted to listen to whatever he wanted to say. Wish I could've been one of those who sat and listened. My dad and his professor friends used to get together for klatsches like that, but I was just a little kid (it all happened before I was eight or so, and then things changed) and came away with very few actual details about what they SAID, but with the ideas that (1) they knew everything, and (2) I wanted to be like that. You could ask them ANYTHING, and they could make an educated guess or discuss it and figure out how you could arrive at the answer or find some friend who would know. This was the result of huge "knowledge bases" about everything from opera to Newtonian mechanics to mathematics, and it showed me that all knowledge can be connected and will eventually percolate to produce some volume of wisdom. I know there are probably people like my dad and his cronies who are "out there" in the world, but I'm not in an environment to meet any of them any more. However, LiveJournal is a great place to find them from afar!

I wish my work could be right for *any* publisher. I suspect it never will be. Regarding becoming a published novelist, Mama and her friends said the other day, "You want it too much, which means it would be bad for you, and it'll never happen, so get over it."

By the way, congratulations on your new book coming out! I like that yellow cover. It would make me pick it up off a shelf to flip through, and that's the best thing a cover can do!