WHY O WHY: because
Jan. 22nd, 2008 12:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaAbout those rejections . . . Dennis writes (and I reply here because the commenting system won't let me do such a long comment):
>>Funny, isn't it, that the complaint was about age discrepancies, but the existence of the Marfa Lights was not a suspension-of-disbelief issue.
*Grin* That's because this was Stephany Evans, who lives half the time in Marfa herself and has seen the Marfa lights (and thus is presumably a believer.) No problem with that being odd at all. *grin*
She said I got the West Texas vibe just right. The way she said that was to lead off her letter by writing, "Thank you for letting me see work from a fellow West Texan!" Well . . . Richardson is a typical suburban Yuppietown. We're nowhere close to the Western vibe. I have NEVER seen anyone wear a cowboy hat here except my crazy church friend Marcus, who used to wear Western shirts and boots as well and say, 'Yee-ha!" I think he affected all that so the girls would flock around (and they did!) I am pleased that she thought I had even BEEN to West Texas. OR maybe that was just her way of leading off with something gently encouraging because she's a nice person and likes to open letters with something other than "Go away." Can't read too much into it.
>>These nit-picks that you get . . . there's nothing consistent about
them.
No, but with me it's always *something.* It indicates that I am still laboring under the general curse/hex of "fail" and "never publish." I know that my life took a general turn for the crapper after I left the church that I loved because the guy I loved (who had brought me into that church) dumped me for a newcomer to the church and I eventually decided that I needed to get away because it was bad for my self-esteem to see them constantly in the row ahead flaunting their marriage and pregnancy, etc. with everyone raving about how much better she is than I am (and not just "better for HIM"), etc. Yes, I bailed, but not soon enough, as the entire experience ("You aren't good enough--here, I'll show you who's good enough!") still damaged my self-image pretty badly. There doesn't seem to be any way I can fix that event that angered the Universe, but at least I'm still alive, can still see, had a successful medical answer for both me and hubs, etc. God hates it when I whine and say it isn't fair, so I'll shut up about that.
>Ari and Zoë are the wrong age? Where's your target readership on the age scale? Make them that.
Well, that was what I did originally, but then my backstory had to make sense. Coneycat, I think, caught this. Here's why I can't just make them in their thirties. I claimed that Ricky fell ill at age eight, and that Zoe had him at sixteen and was kicked out of the house by her mean cold parents to fend for herself (which hardened up Ari as well, seeing the parents were doing this for the wrong reasons and seeing this all getting branded "ToughLove" when her sister had to go on welfare and live in a weekly hotel for a while because the baby's father was nowhere to be found) and that Ari is the younger sister. Well . . . that means that if Ricky died last year, he was nine, and nine plus sixteen makes 25 for Zoe. But Zoe worked hard and endured, and is now part owner of the daycare business where she originally got a job (because she could keep Ricky there and work as well). She has pulled herself up by her bootstraps. As the series opens, she's a hermit 'cause she's still reeling from Ricky's illness and death. She will come out of her shell as this series progresses as part of the result of helping Ari. I planned ahead. That's why the ages are as they are.
I'm sure that Ari *doesn't* act like the typical scatterbrained 23-yr-old, but I thought I had given enough of a tour inside her mind to explain to readers why she is older than her years. I can't exactly attract an audience writing books that star 100-year-old sages. So the Snoop Sisters are young. However, their SOULS are older. They behave like people in their thirties with better sense. It may be unusual, but I have known people who are that way--older and wiser than you would expect because of coming up the hard way. I guess that's because it's true what a few intuitives have said of me--that I'm an Old Soul and have been from childhood. (Don't be jealous, as the newborn airheads and simpletons and people with no connection to the mystical are so much better off--they don't agonize, they don't care so much, and their faces are unlined because they don't worry about the philosophical implications of it all, but just have another toot or another snort and yee-ha. They are MUCH better off and happier, trust me.)
BUT! Having a character who works against type in any way is simply not acceptable from "a first-time author" who "can't possibly know how to portray characters properly," so I get thrown into the recycle bin. No one considers that yes, these kinds of people exist and are special *because* they are different, and a book should be about someone special enough so that it's worthwhile for you to spend time reading about her instead of about some schlub off the street who never has a thought that the TV didn't put there . . . but I digress. The point is, they don't think they can sell the book to an editor who will have to convince the marketing people that the book will appeal to the widest fan base, and so that's that.
My idea of why a book is worth reading and THEIR idea of why ("it might sell in this market") is completely different, of course, because they are in it to try to make a career and a living. I just want to be read and have the books say something significant that stays with readers afterwards. Different goals.
But anyhow, those are just the excuses that came to the agent's mind as the first flaws. My reasoning is that if she'd liked the rest of the book, she'd have merely said, "Make the girls in their thirties." But there were other issues, so she just dumped it all.
Which is her privilege. She's not obligated to tell job applicants anything.
They have all the power. Writers have none. I am amazed to see that the writers' strike has had ANY effect at all on television viewing, as writers are NOT seen as being the driving force behind the dialogue, characters, et al, that they create. I figured no one really cared because they think the actors make that all up as they go along. . . .
>>Funny, isn't it, that the complaint was about age discrepancies, but the existence of the Marfa Lights was not a suspension-of-disbelief issue.
*Grin* That's because this was Stephany Evans, who lives half the time in Marfa herself and has seen the Marfa lights (and thus is presumably a believer.) No problem with that being odd at all. *grin*
She said I got the West Texas vibe just right. The way she said that was to lead off her letter by writing, "Thank you for letting me see work from a fellow West Texan!" Well . . . Richardson is a typical suburban Yuppietown. We're nowhere close to the Western vibe. I have NEVER seen anyone wear a cowboy hat here except my crazy church friend Marcus, who used to wear Western shirts and boots as well and say, 'Yee-ha!" I think he affected all that so the girls would flock around (and they did!) I am pleased that she thought I had even BEEN to West Texas. OR maybe that was just her way of leading off with something gently encouraging because she's a nice person and likes to open letters with something other than "Go away." Can't read too much into it.
>>These nit-picks that you get . . . there's nothing consistent about
them.
No, but with me it's always *something.* It indicates that I am still laboring under the general curse/hex of "fail" and "never publish." I know that my life took a general turn for the crapper after I left the church that I loved because the guy I loved (who had brought me into that church) dumped me for a newcomer to the church and I eventually decided that I needed to get away because it was bad for my self-esteem to see them constantly in the row ahead flaunting their marriage and pregnancy, etc. with everyone raving about how much better she is than I am (and not just "better for HIM"), etc. Yes, I bailed, but not soon enough, as the entire experience ("You aren't good enough--here, I'll show you who's good enough!") still damaged my self-image pretty badly. There doesn't seem to be any way I can fix that event that angered the Universe, but at least I'm still alive, can still see, had a successful medical answer for both me and hubs, etc. God hates it when I whine and say it isn't fair, so I'll shut up about that.
>Ari and Zoë are the wrong age? Where's your target readership on the age scale? Make them that.
Well, that was what I did originally, but then my backstory had to make sense. Coneycat, I think, caught this. Here's why I can't just make them in their thirties. I claimed that Ricky fell ill at age eight, and that Zoe had him at sixteen and was kicked out of the house by her mean cold parents to fend for herself (which hardened up Ari as well, seeing the parents were doing this for the wrong reasons and seeing this all getting branded "ToughLove" when her sister had to go on welfare and live in a weekly hotel for a while because the baby's father was nowhere to be found) and that Ari is the younger sister. Well . . . that means that if Ricky died last year, he was nine, and nine plus sixteen makes 25 for Zoe. But Zoe worked hard and endured, and is now part owner of the daycare business where she originally got a job (because she could keep Ricky there and work as well). She has pulled herself up by her bootstraps. As the series opens, she's a hermit 'cause she's still reeling from Ricky's illness and death. She will come out of her shell as this series progresses as part of the result of helping Ari. I planned ahead. That's why the ages are as they are.
I'm sure that Ari *doesn't* act like the typical scatterbrained 23-yr-old, but I thought I had given enough of a tour inside her mind to explain to readers why she is older than her years. I can't exactly attract an audience writing books that star 100-year-old sages. So the Snoop Sisters are young. However, their SOULS are older. They behave like people in their thirties with better sense. It may be unusual, but I have known people who are that way--older and wiser than you would expect because of coming up the hard way. I guess that's because it's true what a few intuitives have said of me--that I'm an Old Soul and have been from childhood. (Don't be jealous, as the newborn airheads and simpletons and people with no connection to the mystical are so much better off--they don't agonize, they don't care so much, and their faces are unlined because they don't worry about the philosophical implications of it all, but just have another toot or another snort and yee-ha. They are MUCH better off and happier, trust me.)
BUT! Having a character who works against type in any way is simply not acceptable from "a first-time author" who "can't possibly know how to portray characters properly," so I get thrown into the recycle bin. No one considers that yes, these kinds of people exist and are special *because* they are different, and a book should be about someone special enough so that it's worthwhile for you to spend time reading about her instead of about some schlub off the street who never has a thought that the TV didn't put there . . . but I digress. The point is, they don't think they can sell the book to an editor who will have to convince the marketing people that the book will appeal to the widest fan base, and so that's that.
My idea of why a book is worth reading and THEIR idea of why ("it might sell in this market") is completely different, of course, because they are in it to try to make a career and a living. I just want to be read and have the books say something significant that stays with readers afterwards. Different goals.
But anyhow, those are just the excuses that came to the agent's mind as the first flaws. My reasoning is that if she'd liked the rest of the book, she'd have merely said, "Make the girls in their thirties." But there were other issues, so she just dumped it all.
Which is her privilege. She's not obligated to tell job applicants anything.
They have all the power. Writers have none. I am amazed to see that the writers' strike has had ANY effect at all on television viewing, as writers are NOT seen as being the driving force behind the dialogue, characters, et al, that they create. I figured no one really cared because they think the actors make that all up as they go along. . . .
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-22 06:48 am (UTC)The book I spent a year writing has been looked at and read by less than 10 people. I've been submitting, and not even getting rejections. :)
Lots of people go through this. Although I'm coming to the conclusion that making connections at conventions might be a good thing, which I've been avoiding because I'm terminally shy face to face when it comes to my writing.
Best of luck!!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-22 05:53 pm (UTC)This book is worth saving. Colorful settings _and_ characters, action and romance, a good solid mystery to be solved . . . and written in your smooth, fast-flowing narrative style. A very attractive package, and if it requires some tinkering with timelines, well, you're up to that.
An aside: I don't believe in hexes or curses. They're devices that people of a rather primitive sort use to control others. If we buy into that, we tend to blame _everything_ that goes wrong on "the hex." You might laugh at a Sicilian who has "il malocchio" (the evil eye) aiming it at you, or a Voodoo sorceress conjuring up a fatal curse, but there are plenty of people who believe in such things . . . and there have been many who have shriveled up and died for no medically determined cause after being so cursed, _but only if they knew they'd been cursed_. In other words, you create your own fortune and, in the worst cases, you bring about your own doom. Getting dumped all those years ago must have hurt a lot and I'm very sorry that it happened to you, but you're not being fair to yourself, blaming every bad thing that has happened to you since then on a long-ago romantic breakup and your subsequent changing of churches. They're all God's house, right?
Anyway, you have a terrific book on your hands (quite a few, actually) and this one certainly seems easily fixable enough. Just remember, your only mathematic constant is Zoë's age. There is no reason Ricky couldn't have been taken ill as a teenager. Bingo! A 34-year-old Zoë and a 32-year-old Ari.
You can _do_ this, and someone is going to have the smarts to know how good the book is.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-22 07:56 pm (UTC)Sometimes you're your own worst enemy.
There is no such rule, and no such generalisation plastered to people's minds. It's a much simpler equation, made up of: 'Do I like it?' 'Does it hang together?' 'Is it well execute?' 'Can I sell it?'
They're all somewhat subjective. All of publishing is, and it can't be anything else - the efforts to rationalize it do more harm than 'I really love this and I want to share it with readers' ever has done.
I think there's a difference between 'make them thirty' and 'My suspension of disbelief didn't work. I couldn't believe in the circumstances because they were too odd, and Ari seemed much older than the 23 she's supposed to be.'
From what little I've seen, the circumstances of the inheritance *were* odd, but the other thing is one of these fine nuances. 'make them thirty' would be something I'd interpret as 'this isn't going to work, readers will bounce off the circumstances', so I'd go and look for ways I could age them. (Pregnancy at seventeen. illness at nine-and-a-half. Make Ari a little bit older, and she could be twenty-six.) 'Ari seemed much older' would mean to me that I didn't write her realistically enough. She might have an old head on her shoulders in many ways, but there would be others in which she would act her age, or act younger - so I'd look for ways to emphasize that, or look to make it clearer _why_ she's so level-headed and back it up with flashbacks from her past, or maybe wishes that she could be/could have been totally carefree - but then, she must have been in constant terror of her parents disapproving and throwing *her* out as well, so she never learnt to let her hair down. Maybe she'll learn to relax a little during the book.
They have all the power. Writers have none.
Without good writers, they'll go bust. Agents *want* writers to offer their work to them, in the hope that they'll discover the next bestseller. And they want to eat in fifteen years' time, so they want to snag promising writers _now_. Editors *want* to find the Next Big Book, because their careers depend on them. They might try to manufacture content - by asking agents to ask their writers to produce things, or by going to book packagers - but after last year's Plagiarism scandal, they might feel a little burnt, and the 'pay a ghostwriter and put a celebrity name on it' ploy went a bit sour with OJ, too. As did - recently - the reliance on 'solid midlist author churning out four books a year, guaranteed fanbase.'
There's a number of editors out there who right now must feel rather scared.