Susan, sounds like you did well, and that it went well. Like Amy, nothing you said sounded remotely trouble-makingish, although I find myself wondering who the editor at Tor is (I know a few of them, at the senior level). (EDIT: whoops - missed the ID upstream. I don't know her, but I know of her; she's supposed to be a sweetie. I'd wondered if it was Natalia Aponte, for a minute.)
Oh, and re paranormal? Apparently, the market is glutted. Don't make Jack into a werewolf just yet.
And I'm a rather big supporter of writing what wants out. If you're channelling a particular voice, and that voice is sitting in the middle of the Pyrenees during the Peninsular campaign, for heavens sake, don't try to be Rita Mae Brown or something; write the voice that wants out. You can always play with other things later.
Oh, and re paranormal? Apparently, the market is glutted. Don't make Jack into a werewolf just yet.
I think someone should write a zombie romance. "They loved with all their heart, but the rest of them was falling off."
I think someone should write a zombie romance. "They loved with all their heart, but the rest of them was falling off."
Sounds like the screenplay for "Shaun of the Dead", or something.
Sounds like the screenplay for "Shaun of the Dead", or something.
Damn! Hollywood always beats me to it.
Shakes fist westward in rage.
Now, if someone wanted to do a musical romantic comedy about zombies...
You know, boy meets girl. Girl is dead and eats boy's braaaaaains. Boy and girl devour various plenipotentaries from local small midwestern town, plus a few cheerleaders and the annoying guy from algebra class.
Then bits of them fall off, someone pulls out a crucifix, and there's a fire.
I'm thinking about whatsername from Gilmore Girls in the lead.
Can I post a few paragraphs to guage whether its an interesting intro? I'm deep into an essay on the mechanics of a fan campaign. I'm gutting some paragraphs that read like stereo instructions, and need to know if the beginning is engaging, because I'm getting confused. I'm thinking the tone is right for where I'm going, but it could be too flowery.
Thanks, deb. Anyone tired of my neediness, look away! Nothing to see here!
The cockpit smells like fireworks and sawdust; the whispy smell-echo of explosions that occurred an hour earlier. The control panel appears to have been lifted from a trashcan by an angry raccoon searching for sustenance. It’s scratched, dented, crusty in spots. Sitting in the pilot’s seat, my feet don’t touch the floor and I have to lean forward to reach the steering wheel. I feel like Lily Tomlin’s Edith Ann being swallowed by that really big rocking chair.
John Gray’s eyes twinkle accomodation as he tells me it’s a go for launch, and Kristen raises an eyebrow and grins. I imagine them steadying themselves as I grab the wheel. I’m the Sally Ride of this particular spaceship, which is anchored to a soundstage on Pico Boulevard at 20th Century Fox Studios.
It took us two months, eight thousand postcards, about five thousand dollars, and four nervous breakdowns to get to this soundstage, which is really just across town on the West side of Los Angeles.
Firefly was a scifi show in danger of cancellation before the first episode ever aired. It was created by Joss Whedon, teevee writer extraordinaire, made semi-famous for creating the cult television shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. My friend Kristen and I read the script for the pilot episode of Firefly months before it was broadcast. We agreed that the show was one big nocturnal emission on sheets of milquetoast. Having been delirious fangurls of Whedon’s previous creations, we were at first disappointed by our fallen hero, and then sort of reveling in juicy mirth similar to that of every non-New Yorker’s glee when the Yankees lose a big game.
If you asked us then if we’d end up spending the holidays feverishly mounting a campaign to save this show from its inevitable cancellation, we would’ve asked you for a hit of that fine crack you had obviously been smoking. What we hadn’t counted on was a guilt-inducing birthday gift, a plea for help from a worried wife, and our own abilities to lead an army of fangeeks into battle.
Susan, sounds like you did well, and that it went well. Like Amy, nothing you said sounded remotely trouble-makingish, although I find myself wondering who the editor at Tor is (I know a few of them, at the senior level).
Anna Genoese--she's an Assistant Editor, runs their paranormal romance list, and edits women's fiction and dark fantasy.
Oh, and re paranormal? Apparently, the market is glutted. Don't make Jack into a werewolf just yet.
Heh. Word at this conference was "Paranormals are selling like hotcakes! Christine Feehan! Christine Feehan! Laurell K. Hamilton!" Though Anna Genoese hinted that vampires were getting overdone, and PLEASE keep the blond Tolkienesque elves in your private fantasies but out of any books you pitch to her.
Go for it, Allyson.
Allyson, I think you're going in the right direction, but it's a tad overwritten in spots. Mostly minor stuff--if I were your editor, I'd take "accommodation" out of the first sentence of the second paragraph, tighten up the ending of the next-to-last paragraph, and stuff like that.
