It must be Monday. I went back to the gym, Happy Hour of the Damned in tow. The author, Mark Henry, remarked that people usually react strongly to the book. I am amused, much in the same way I was when I watched the American Werewolf films. Sure, the characters are shallow and undead, but it’s laugh out loud funny. You have to truly enjoy dark humor. Or be perverse. Or both. So yes, if that’s you, I’m recommending this one.
***
Some internet things (it’s all about me!)
Another dollop of Blood is Thicker than Water
A reflection on Takarazuka, the all woman Japanese theater troupe
***
Finally, another soapbox on why it’s useful to send out your novel even if you’re rejected: learning the players.
Many new writers feel that they want an agent. ANY agent. I begin to think of an agent as getting a job when you enter any field. At first, you want a job. Then you want a better job. You might even have a dream job in mind, and you decide to work toward it.
There are plenty of places to learn about disreputable agents, and that’s not what I’m talking about here. If you stick with Agent Query, Query Tracker, and various places that tout reputable agents, if you watch Preditors and Editors, you will probably find a legitimate agent. What I’m chatting about is a good match from that wide field of legitimate agents.
Personally, I’d like a great agent from word go. I’d like an agent that fits me like a glove, that I enjoyed, that matched me in pace and concern for my work. Since that didn’t happen with my first teaching job, I will be delighted and surprised if it happens with an agent.
What I am learning as I work through the rejections and learn about authors and agents is that there are distinctly some agents that aren’t my flavor. Besides the agents who don’t like the flavor/genre of what I’m sending out, I’m finding that there are some agents who represent writers whom I don’t like the flavor/genre of. It takes all kinds, and I like that. I’m also discovering that there are slow agents, unconcerned agents, agents that help authors overextend themselves, funny agents, famous agents, agents on their way up, well, you get the idea.
So, on the day when I get an offer, however long that takes (because tenacity is our best friend, fellow newbies!), I will know a little more about whether the offering agent is reputable, whether the agent or his/her agency is respected in the field and among his/her clientele, and what is generally said by clients and ex-clients.
Information. Collect it. Love it. Even though it feels like we beginning writers are petitioners, we must remember that we’re actually interviewing agents as much as we are being interviewed by them, if we’re going to make it.
Catherine
