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You see a light?
:: tosses MS at hellhounds to hopefully distract them from triceratops' legs ::
Purgatory's Pit of Doom
- Thread starter Branwyn
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You see a light?
:: tosses MS at hellhounds to hopefully distract them from triceratops' legs ::
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Mmmm...maggnog. Here, here! And congrats on 2k Filligree.
Only in the Pit would I notice there are rats in a positive word.
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Oh, sorry it's so big! It's from my iPhone. It's my photo of the sign for Honest Lou's exterminators in West Philly. I always wanted a picture but I felt weird about it until I was taking some photos of an art installation next door, so why not?
My mind always fills in "guaranteed to kill them first (before they kill your baby)," rather than the more actual "guaranteed to kill them first before they get out of control." And now when I drive by, I always slow down so the kids can see the "rat baby."
My mind always fills in "guaranteed to kill them first (before they kill your baby)," rather than the more actual "guaranteed to kill them first before they get out of control." And now when I drive by, I always slow down so the kids can see the "rat baby."
I can't believe I didn't notice the peg leg in the picture.
*waves at Jenn*
here's one of the bad things about the internet-bad advice from someone who is dead keeps getting passed around. On another forum, someone is quoting Charles Bukowski, a writer/screenwriter from the 60s and 70s. This guy put out a list for writers that includes 1) writers shouldn't ask other writers to read their works, 2) if it takes you a long time to write, you shouldn't be doing it and 3) if you have to revise, you shouldn't be doing it. There are many more bits of antiwisdom, but that was enough to make my head want to explode
ARGH!!!
*waves at Jenn*
here's one of the bad things about the internet-bad advice from someone who is dead keeps getting passed around. On another forum, someone is quoting Charles Bukowski, a writer/screenwriter from the 60s and 70s. This guy put out a list for writers that includes 1) writers shouldn't ask other writers to read their works, 2) if it takes you a long time to write, you shouldn't be doing it and 3) if you have to revise, you shouldn't be doing it. There are many more bits of antiwisdom, but that was enough to make my head want to explode
ARGH!!!
All that advice Flaubert gave to de Maupassant . . .rubbish?
I saw a great cartoon once. It's late at night and a guy is typing furiously. His wife says something like, "Are you coming to bed?" He keeps typing and says, "I can't. This is important. Someone on the Internet is wrong."
I saw a great cartoon once. It's late at night and a guy is typing furiously. His wife says something like, "Are you coming to bed?" He keeps typing and says, "I can't. This is important. Someone on the Internet is wrong."
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Yes, because I'm sure we can all name a handful of Bukowski's work that we utterly adore and strive to equal in excellence ...
I've never heard of him, but that doesn't mean much. Does anyone know him? I can't figure out if he isn't well-known, why someone bothered to track down his advice.
I can't name one thing by him that I would recommend to anyone. My ex-husband liked him, but I thought he was kind of cheap knock-off cross between Burroughs and Thompson. Meh.
Does it make me uncultured because I don't know who the hell Bukowski is?
I see that name and I think of Animal House.
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Morning Pit.
+1
+1 but, what light?
Four day work week. Asked the eight ball if I'd get through it and got this response...
+1
+1 but, what light?
Four day work week. Asked the eight ball if I'd get through it and got this response...
That was essentially my point. Bukowski is pretty well a literary nobody. At least, nobody you'd want to take writing advice from.
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Hi, everyone. This is some advice for people thinking about repping themselves.
In response to questions I'm getting, may I post this?
No matter what the guidelines say, choose carefully which editor you think is best and send that editor a letter (best probably is letter + sample chapters + synopsis if it's a first book.)
I'm off to a slow start because last June I pretty much followed guidelines if a house allowed unagented subs. I did what they said. Nothing happened, or sometimes I got form rejects. So after 5 months of nothing, I researched editor names and now I'm getting resposes to send the book from the same places which ignored me when I followed the guidelines. (That's because thousands of people are following the guidelines. Sheep in a herd don't stand out from one another.)
People have said, "If I can't find an agent, I'll try publishers open to unagened submissions."
NOOOOOO. Almost all of them say they're not open.
Other people have asked me, "Which editors are open to unagented submissions?"
Answer: None of them and all of them. Most editors can't resist reading a well-written letter addressed directly to them. If they like your story, they're suddenly open to unagented subs.
My last plea: Before you contact editors directly, make sure your letter and book are professional quality. I say this because if they start getting lots of stuff not ready, this may not work anymore.
ETA: standard disclaimer: Of course, someone out there got published by following the guidelines and the'll pop in and tell me I'm wrong. I'm telling you my experiences. Also, don't think this is easy. Also, I believe it's a numbers game. If you have a publishable book, it's a matter of sticking with it.
In response to questions I'm getting, may I post this?
No matter what the guidelines say, choose carefully which editor you think is best and send that editor a letter (best probably is letter + sample chapters + synopsis if it's a first book.)
I'm off to a slow start because last June I pretty much followed guidelines if a house allowed unagented subs. I did what they said. Nothing happened, or sometimes I got form rejects. So after 5 months of nothing, I researched editor names and now I'm getting resposes to send the book from the same places which ignored me when I followed the guidelines. (That's because thousands of people are following the guidelines. Sheep in a herd don't stand out from one another.)
People have said, "If I can't find an agent, I'll try publishers open to unagened submissions."
NOOOOOO. Almost all of them say they're not open.
Other people have asked me, "Which editors are open to unagented submissions?"
Answer: None of them and all of them. Most editors can't resist reading a well-written letter addressed directly to them. If they like your story, they're suddenly open to unagented subs.
My last plea: Before you contact editors directly, make sure your letter and book are professional quality. I say this because if they start getting lots of stuff not ready, this may not work anymore.
ETA: standard disclaimer: Of course, someone out there got published by following the guidelines and the'll pop in and tell me I'm wrong. I'm telling you my experiences. Also, don't think this is easy. Also, I believe it's a numbers game. If you have a publishable book, it's a matter of sticking with it.
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On the other subject, I've never heard of Bukowski either.
My first thought (after what stupid advice -- writers have always learned by getting advice from more established writers) so anyway, after thinking how stupid, my first thought was to wonder why he doesn't like feeback from other writers.
My best reader (lifetime best friend who reads everythign I've written) is not a writer and part of what makes her advice so good is she reads like a reader, and she's smart and insightful. She always knows where a story goes off the rails. She isn't good at telling me how to fix the problem.
I've always thought that the most dangerous critic is one who knows just a little bit, who is applying a few rules. I've thought it better for the beta reader to be a really good writer -- or not a writer at all. Better not to know the basic rules -- or be able to think past them. Did that make any sense?
What he's saying pretty much makes writing classes worthless because isn't the teacher usually a writer?
My first thought (after what stupid advice -- writers have always learned by getting advice from more established writers) so anyway, after thinking how stupid, my first thought was to wonder why he doesn't like feeback from other writers.
My best reader (lifetime best friend who reads everythign I've written) is not a writer and part of what makes her advice so good is she reads like a reader, and she's smart and insightful. She always knows where a story goes off the rails. She isn't good at telling me how to fix the problem.
I've always thought that the most dangerous critic is one who knows just a little bit, who is applying a few rules. I've thought it better for the beta reader to be a really good writer -- or not a writer at all. Better not to know the basic rules -- or be able to think past them. Did that make any sense?
What he's saying pretty much makes writing classes worthless because isn't the teacher usually a writer?
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It made perfect sense to me. I think it's something I've seen with query letters on another forum where I used to post them. People who knew the basic "rules" but didn't really read the query past those. When you get in those places, there's lots of picking apart for the sake of picking apart rather than furthering.
Oops Sorry Kell. I don't know why I thought that pic was from Red. Shows how alert I was yesterday.
I think Bukowski was a raging alcoholic. His writing was rather dark if I recall.
I think Bukowski was a raging alcoholic. His writing was rather dark if I recall.
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