Down to three unanswered queries out of my list from early February. I have Some Thoughts about this process, but it’s not considered polite to vent about agents while querying, so I won’t. I do notice it’s very similar to certain job interviews, wherein one tries to strike the balance between assertive but not too assertive, and trying to prove one’s work history without coming across as a grandiose jerk. Even if some of the good stuff really is true, you may have to downplay it in front of an interviewer.
Do guys have to do that shit? Because women still do, even when (often, especially when!) interviewing with other women.
In better news, I’ve narrowed down editors and cover designers. One of the really daunting things about prepping to do a self-published series, and not just one book? I have to ‘brand’ the covers and title styles of a proposed 8 – 12 books to create a cohesive look. This is basic publishing stuff, but so important that I’d like to remind my fellow prospective self-pub authors: even if you are only writing standalones, your ‘brand’ needs to be similar from book-to-book.
Related to covers: I’ve made the snap decision (but backed by 15 years of publishing exposure) that if a romance or women’s fiction book has a cartoony cover, I’m outta there. And bribes probably won’t make me read it. If the cover features a Barbie-clone, I can’t get away from the feeling that it may signal the level of the writing. Sorry, cartoon-cover novelists. Take heart that you are not alone in my loathing: I’m also very skeptical of manga-style covers. Some can be gorgeous, but there are some artists who just turn me off.
I’ll be digging out a lilac-colored shirt in a few minutes (though skipping the towel, alas) for the combined observance of Wear The Lilac and Towel Day. Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams were founding patrons of my SFF reading. It hurts to think they’re both gone.
Jack Kirby’s ghost must screaming at Marvel right now. Some group of idiot wanna-be-edgy writers decided that:
Nope, we cannot possibly make Steve Rogers have a romantic relationship with Bucky Barnes.
But we can make Steve Rogers a deep-cover Hydra operative.
Whut.
There goes any last remaining guilt I may have had at doing Cap/Anybody fanfiction. Steve Rogers is supposed to be the scrappy, steadfast Everyman, the best face of America…and he’s been turned into Alexander Pierce?
I put forth that the plot twist to make Cap into a Hydra goon is a retcon scheme put forth by Hydra itself, and possibly the Trump campaign.
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of slashfic, I say.