I was recently in Madagascar for a year and to avoid boredom in down time read anything in English I could get my hands on. I was constantly angered by the atrocious writing that gets some people published and stunned that people chose to read such things.
HAH. I may not have read THAT book,the one with the seven figure advance, but I've read books that come from the same damn family - first cousins, mayhap - and I've had much the same response to them. There are times that I try like hell to understand publishing and I fail utterly - books I've read in MS are rejected because "this book won't sell a minimum of 25 000 copies" (like, how would they know?) and books I've read as heavily promoted shiny volumes with embossed covers hold my attention for the first ten pages if that and then I can probably dictate the rest of the plot to you without EVER having read the rest of the book (and these WILL sell 25 000 copies? WHY?)
(I would LOVE to hear your take on my own YA series...)
times that I try like hell to understand publishing and I fail utterly - books I've read in MS are rejected because "this book won't sell a minimum of 25 000 copies" (like, how would they know?)
Because they think they know the market.
(and these WILL sell 25 000 copies? WHY?)
Because shit floats.
(I would LOVE to hear your take on my own YA series...)
I still think that "this thing will sell 25 000 copies" - as a PUBLISHING CRITERION - is idiotic. So few books DO, so in other words even the stuff that they THINK is going to sell a shitload often does not. It's ALL up to the reader and if the reader can't find it to read it of course sales are going to tank...
(And re. my books - that was a wish, not a suggestion [grin] should you get around to it that would be fabulous and I would be utterly delighted - but books and lives have their own schedules, of course, and it is entirely possible that those will never quite manage to cross....)
My copy (fortunately it was free), goes to the paper shredder. It'll make good packing material.
Yeah, if you put it in the cat box, it'd probably give Hubero an allergy.
I teeter on a needle tip, wondering if I can write YA without abandoning one of the few things that makes me a decent writer: my voice.
Yes. Kathe Koja. Tanith Lee. Ysabeau Wilce. Alan Garner. Elizabeth E. Wein. That's just off the top of my head; I'm sure I'm forgetting even more striking examples. But there are any number of YA authors who are also distinctive stylists: I wouldn't let that be an impediment to the evolution of Blue Canary.
Which reminds me, I neglected to mention last night's sex dream involving quantum entanglement.
Yes. Kathe Koja. Tanith Lee. Ysabeau Wilce. Alan Garner. Elizabeth E. Wein. That's just off the top of my head; I'm sure I'm forgetting even more striking examples.
Thank you. I've read none of Kathe's YA, or any of these other authors, but I will. I should also note that both Lanagan and Zusak has distinctive voices.
Yeah, if you put it in the cat box, it'd probably give Hubero an allergy.
I've read none of Kathe's YA, or any of these other authors, but I will.
As a very short list, I'd probably recommend Koja's The Blue Mirror (2004), Lee's Black Unicorn (1991) and Piratica (2004), and Alan Garner's Red Shift (1973). Ysabeau Wilce is responsible for Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog (2007), whose bouncily Dickensian title somewhat belies its depth and worldbuilding, and while the rest of the series is worth following, Elizabeth E. Wein's The Winter Prince (1993) is one of the best and darkest Arthurian retellings I have ever read.
I'd probably skip the Arthurian, as I've read too much of it in my life. And I'll see what's on Audible, as ebooks help with time (I hate to say that).
No, no, no, if the unnameable awful book made you laugh out loud it goes not to the shredder but to me for possible inclusion in Kirk Poland. I will not credit you for the discovery.
Oh, and think about renting Winter's Bone a week from tonight; that's when Bob and I will be watching and I certainly hope sovay will join us.
No, no, no, if the unnameable awful book made you laugh out loud it goes not to the shredder but to me for possible inclusion in Kirk Poland. I will not credit you for the discovery.
Will do! Actually, there's a line that Spooky suggested last night would be perfect for the Kirk Poland.
And now I'm wondering how a book would hold up to a baseball bat. Another use for bad writing! "Beat on the brat bad, beat on the bad, beat on the bad with a baseball bat," as The Ramones may have sung...
Comments 78
Reply
I was constantly angered by the atrocious writing that gets some people published and stunned that people chose to read such things.
Shit floats.
Reply
(I would LOVE to hear your take on my own YA series...)
Reply
times that I try like hell to understand publishing and I fail utterly - books I've read in MS are rejected because "this book won't sell a minimum of 25 000 copies" (like, how would they know?)
Because they think they know the market.
(and these WILL sell 25 000 copies? WHY?)
Because shit floats.
(I would LOVE to hear your take on my own YA series...)
I might get to it, but I can't make any promises.
Reply
I still think that "this thing will sell 25 000 copies" - as a PUBLISHING CRITERION - is idiotic. So few books DO, so in other words even the stuff that they THINK is going to sell a shitload often does not. It's ALL up to the reader and if the reader can't find it to read it of course sales are going to tank...
(And re. my books - that was a wish, not a suggestion [grin] should you get around to it that would be fabulous and I would be utterly delighted - but books and lives have their own schedules, of course, and it is entirely possible that those will never quite manage to cross....)
Reply
I still think that "this thing will sell 25 000 copies" - as a PUBLISHING CRITERION - is idiotic.
Well, we are talking about publishing.
Reply
Yeah, if you put it in the cat box, it'd probably give Hubero an allergy.
I teeter on a needle tip, wondering if I can write YA without abandoning one of the few things that makes me a decent writer: my voice.
Yes. Kathe Koja. Tanith Lee. Ysabeau Wilce. Alan Garner. Elizabeth E. Wein. That's just off the top of my head; I'm sure I'm forgetting even more striking examples. But there are any number of YA authors who are also distinctive stylists: I wouldn't let that be an impediment to the evolution of Blue Canary.
Which reminds me, I neglected to mention last night's sex dream involving quantum entanglement.
That sounds like it could have been awesome . . .
Reply
Yes. Kathe Koja. Tanith Lee. Ysabeau Wilce. Alan Garner. Elizabeth E. Wein. That's just off the top of my head; I'm sure I'm forgetting even more striking examples.
Thank you. I've read none of Kathe's YA, or any of these other authors, but I will. I should also note that both Lanagan and Zusak has distinctive voices.
Yeah, if you put it in the cat box, it'd probably give Hubero an allergy.
Hells yeah.
Reply
As a very short list, I'd probably recommend Koja's The Blue Mirror (2004), Lee's Black Unicorn (1991) and Piratica (2004), and Alan Garner's Red Shift (1973). Ysabeau Wilce is responsible for Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog (2007), whose bouncily Dickensian title somewhat belies its depth and worldbuilding, and while the rest of the series is worth following, Elizabeth E. Wein's The Winter Prince (1993) is one of the best and darkest Arthurian retellings I have ever read.
Reply
Thank you.
I'd probably skip the Arthurian, as I've read too much of it in my life. And I'll see what's on Audible, as ebooks help with time (I hate to say that).
Reply
Go for it. YA could use more writers like you :)
Reply
Go for it. YA could use more writers like you
Let's hope the Gatekeepers agree.
Reply
Oh, and think about renting Winter's Bone a week from tonight; that's when Bob and I will be watching and I certainly hope sovay will join us.
Reply
No, no, no, if the unnameable awful book made you laugh out loud it goes not to the shredder but to me for possible inclusion in Kirk Poland. I will not credit you for the discovery.
Will do! Actually, there's a line that Spooky suggested last night would be perfect for the Kirk Poland.
Reply
*understands*
Because bad writing should lead to some good!
And now I'm wondering how a book would hold up to a baseball bat. Another use for bad writing! "Beat on the brat bad, beat on the bad, beat on the bad with a baseball bat," as The Ramones may have sung...
Reply
Leave a comment