Name that market

kinvore · Oct 23, 2006

Hello! I'm new to this so forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong forum. I'm looking for suggestions on which (if any) publishers/agents would be interested in a novel I'm writing.

It's about a hardcore Punk band in the 80s. Like Punk it is subversive and crass and yet (to my surprise) so far the story is also very human and character-driven. I would imagine only a fringe publisher of some kind would be interested in this type of story due to its subject matter. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I would love to post the first couple of chapters but I don't know if it would be considered too obscene for this message board. It IS from the perspective of a leader of a Punk band, so in order to "keep it real" he doesn't exactly have the kindest vocabulary. He launches into tirades that would make [SIZE=-1]Chuck Palahnuik blush.[/SIZE]

Johnny

Carrie in PA · Oct 23, 2006

Hi and welcome! I don't think obscene is a problem here. At all. Go post on Share Your Work!

PeeDee · Oct 23, 2006

We are all very sensetive toward obscenity and perverse jokes. I think someone made a gross joke about three years ago and I nearly passed out.

Also, punk is the music of the devil. Just like hip-hop and heavy metal. Sorry.

(I bet you can find a publisher closer than the fringe. Don't worry.)

arrowqueen · Oct 23, 2006

Yes. I remember that. We had to wave smelling salts under his nose and fan him with an antimacassar.

kinvore · Oct 23, 2006

I was going to post the first two chapters but this message board seems to have some kind of filter that replaces profanity with asterisks. It totally destroys the flow of the story so I'm not going to bother posting it here. Maybe I can dig up something less profane to share later hehe.

Johnny

expatbrat · Oct 24, 2006

You can use $ for s like in a$$. And remove some of the letters so you have words like f--- off.

If it really is all asterisk's I know I couldn't be bothered reading it. For me it simply shows a lack of vocabulary and imagination. I know people who use F--- as an ummm, it just sounds naive and uneducated to my ear.

Stacia Kane · Oct 24, 2006

kinvore said:
Hello! I'm new to this so forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong forum. I'm looking for suggestions on which (if any) publishers/agents would be interested in a novel I'm writing.

Hello!

It's about a hardcore Punk band in the 80s. Like Punk it is subversive and crass and yet (to my surprise) so far the story is also very human and character-driven. I would imagine only a fringe publisher of some kind would be interested in this type of story due to its subject matter. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Why would you be surprised by that? Punks are human, too. (BTW, it's "punk", not "Punk". Only people who were not punks capitalize it.)

Also, punk is not necessarily all crass, and it wasn't then.

I would love to post the first couple of chapters but I don't know if it would be considered too obscene for this message board. It IS from the perspective of a leader of a Punk band, so in order to "keep it real" he doesn't exactly have the kindest vocabulary. He launches into tirades that would make [SIZE=-1]Chuck Palahnuik blush.[/SIZE]

Your character may have a crude vocabulary, but that's just him. Not all punks feel or felt the need to curse every other word. In fact, most of us have pretty decent vocabularies and are pretty intelligent people--even in the 80s. Have you read any old issues of Maximum RocknRoll? Have you seen what punks were thinking and talking about in the 80s? Of course, it depends on where in the country your story is set as to what kind of focus your characters would have--i.e. DC political, LA goofy, destructive and drunk, SF semi-ska driven and socially aware, etc.

When you say "leader" of a punk band, what do you mean? I never met a band with a "leader". And trust me...I knew a lot of bands.

kinvore · Oct 26, 2006

DecemberQuinn said:
Hello!

Why would you be surprised by that? Punks are human, too. (BTW, it's "punk", not "Punk". Only people who were not punks capitalize it.)

Also, punk is not necessarily all crass, and it wasn't then.

Your character may have a crude vocabulary, but that's just him. Not all punks feel or felt the need to curse every other word. In fact, most of us have pretty decent vocabularies and are pretty intelligent people--even in the 80s. Have you read any old issues of Maximum RocknRoll? Have you seen what punks were thinking and talking about in the 80s? Of course, it depends on where in the country your story is set as to what kind of focus your characters would have--i.e. DC political, LA goofy, destructive and drunk, SF semi-ska driven and socially aware, etc.

When you say "leader" of a punk band, what do you mean? I never met a band with a "leader". And trust me...I knew a lot of bands.

Well I'm a poser so I refer to it as Punk

Plus I guess I'm doing this to distinguish it the way you would the Blues, Disco, or any other form of music that is normally capitalized (or is it? Now I'm not so sure). Plus "punk" nowadays has developed a new meaning, so I kinda want to distance myself from that one hehe.

I listened to a lot of hardcore punk in the 80s, the vast majority of which featured lyrics that were heavy on the profanity. The bands that didn't were considered to be posers as it was assumed that they were refraining from cursing so they could get radio airplay. I'm talking about the ones that combined punk with speed metal, stuff that even in the world of punk was considered fringe.

The way I see it punk isn't so much a form of music as it's an attitude. It can be summed up in four words, "We suck, f_ck you".

All bands have leaders, even the ones who think they don't. But in this case the leader is also the lead singer. Then again this is hard core punk we're talking about, I'm not sure if "singer" would be an accurate description.

Johnny

kinvore · Oct 26, 2006

expatbrat said:
You can use $ for s like in a$$. And remove some of the letters so you have words like f--- off.

If it really is all asterisk's I know I couldn't be bothered reading it. For me it simply shows a lack of vocabulary and imagination. I know people who use F--- as an ummm, it just sounds naive and uneducated to my ear.

I don't want to censor the story, it would be contrary to all Punk represents.

It's written from the perspective of a leader of an 80s hardcore punk band so in this case I don't consider the cursing to be gratuitous. I grew up around many of them and I (kinda) hold back from how we talked. The narrator of this story doesn't curse every other word but he doesn't pull any punches, either. However it's the introduction that really serves as a filtering process I think, because after that he mellows (relatively speaking). But to give an example, the first sentence in the book is:

"Listen up, motherf_ckers, you'll be tested on this sh_t later."

If you don't find this amusing (most won't) then this book is not for you.

Johnny

Stacia Kane · Oct 26, 2006

kinvore said:
Plus "punk" nowadays has developed a new meaning, so I kinda want to distance myself from that one hehe.

I certainly can't blame you there.

I listened to a lot of hardcore punk in the 80s, the vast majority of which featured lyrics that were heavy on the profanity. The bands that didn't were considered to be posers as it was assumed that they were refraining from cursing so they could get radio airplay. I'm talking about the ones that combined punk with speed metal, stuff that even in the world of punk was considered fringe.

Ah. I'm not so familiar with speedmetal/punk. The closest I probably came to that would be bands like Life Sentence or hatemongers like MOD (who I didn't listen to, but had a couple of acquaintances who did). (And later stuff like Assuck, but I wasn't a fan of theirs despite having three separate boyfriends who tried to force me to go see their shows. Grgh.)

Name that market

kinvore

<insert witty title here>

Carrie in PA

Write All The Words!

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

arrowqueen

RIP, our sarky besom

kinvore

<insert witty title here>

expatbrat

Look what we made:

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective

kinvore

<insert witty title here>

kinvore

<insert witty title here>

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective