Miss Snark

Anglican Jedi · Nov 25, 2006

I am Anglican Jedi, saying hello to everyone here in the Novel section. I've been lurking around here for months, just reading these things and learning a lot.

So, anyone know who Miss Snark is?

icerose · Nov 25, 2006

Meaning her real identity? No.

Duncan J Macdonald · Nov 25, 2006

icerose said:
Meaning her real identity? No.

Well, technically, she does. At least when she hasn't been hitting the gin pail too hard.

David McAfee · Nov 25, 2006

Duncan J Macdonald said:
Well, technically, she does. At least when she hasn't been hitting the gin pail too hard.

Killer Yapp knows.

Bartholomew · Nov 25, 2006

I know who she is.

And I'm never telling.

Homer · Nov 25, 2006

I think a lot of people must know who she is. I'm only a recent and very casual skimmer of her blog, but even I see there are plenty of clues as to her identity. Apparently Ms. Snark is a woman. She's in New York. She works alone. She seems to be a fiction specialist. Except for that she claims to love Pynchon apparently she favors mainstream commercial fiction. I don't see much evidence that she handles any genre stuff. My conjecture is that her taste for Pynchon is personal, and not a model for her client list, nor does she represent him. She seems to dislike controversial or disturbing works. She won't consider long novels. She's very businesslike and bottom line oriented in her outlook. She has a taste for mysteries. Her ostensible infatuation for George Clooney as well as reverence for Pynchon suggests to me someone past 40. This is what I've picked up skimming only her blog for a few weeks. I may be wrong on my facts here and there, but I'm sure those who have read her longer and more closely than I have could identify other clues.

The stuff about the poodle and the gin seem to me likey props. She may have a poodle someplace and she may occasionally enjoy a martini, but I doubt it's like she says. But stuff like her gender, her favorite books, her predilections as an agent, where she works, her ideal man, I doubt she'd lie about just to preserve her identity. The fact that her identity is ostensibly unknown and rarely speculated upon seems to me to say more about culture and norms in the publishing industry (I don't claim to know what they are) than how hard it would be to unmask her if someone really cared to do it.

Homer · Nov 25, 2006

Bartholomew said:
I know who she is.

And I'm never telling.

Just as I said, I'm sure there are many who do.

Bartholomew · Nov 25, 2006

Homer said:
I think a lot of people must know who she is. I'm only a recent and very casual skimmer of her blog, but even I see there are plenty of clues as to her identity. Apparently Ms. Snark is a woman. She's in New York. She works alone. She seems to be a fiction specialist. Except for that she claims to love Pynchon apparently she favors mainstream commercial fiction. I don't see much evidence that she handles any genre stuff. My conjecture is that her taste for Pynchon is personal, and not a model for her client list, nor does she represent him. She seems to dislike controversial or disturbing works. She won't consider long novels. She's very businesslike and bottom line oriented in her outlook. She has a taste for mysteries. Her ostensible infatuation for George Clooney as well as reverence for Pynchon suggests to me someone past 40. This is what I've picked up skimming only her blog for a few weeks. I may be wrong on my facts here and there, but I'm sure those who have read her longer and more closely than I have could identify other clues.

The stuff about the poodle and the gin seem to me likey props. She may have a poodle someplace and she may occasionally enjoy a martini, but I doubt it's like she says. But stuff like her gender, her favorite books, her predilections as an agent, where she works, her ideal man, I doubt she'd lie about just to preserve her identity. The fact that her identity is ostensibly unknown and rarely speculated upon seems to me to say more about culture and norms in the publishing industry (I don't claim to know what they are) than how hard it would be to unmask her if someone really cared to do it.

You're thinking about this entirely too hard.

rugcat · Nov 26, 2006

Hey, everybody likes a mystery and a challenge. It's fun to speculate, and I think Homer's right - if it were really important and you had the time, it wouldn't be that difficult to establish who she is. I can think of several avenues for investigation off the top of my head.

I hope no one who already knows outs her though, and I hope no one else bothers with it. It's more fun to have her anonymous.

expatbrat · Nov 26, 2006

I've decided to own up... It's me.

ETA: The gin pale is a prop, I'm not allowed to drink right now.

veinglory · Nov 26, 2006

You just need to google snark and real name to get who most people seem to think she is.

PattiTheWicked · Nov 27, 2006

I think many of us have our suspicions. If she's who I think she is, she sent me a very un-snarky rejection letter a couple of years ago.

Cav Guy · Nov 27, 2006

I must be one of the minority who doesn't care who she is.

stormie · Nov 27, 2006

I suspect she's in her 40s, works in NYC, is Catholic (lapsed or not), not snarky (it's just her alter-ego), and doesn't drink gin. Wow, this sounds like the game "Clue."

Begbie · Nov 27, 2006

I'm with you, Cav Guy. I just like reading the blog.

NeuroFizz · Nov 27, 2006

My feeling is she's someone who cares about her profession. She uses humor and sarcasm very effectively to make her points. Humor and sarcasm in the right hands are very effective ways to make useful comments. Sarcasm in particular, in the wrong hands, can be very mean. I don't see anything mean here. And, I don't care who she is as long as she keeps entertaining and instructing.

steveg144 · Nov 27, 2006

NeuroFizz said:
My feeling is she's someone who cares about her profession. She uses humor and sarcasm very effectively to make her points. Humor and sarcasm in the right hands is a very effective way to make useful comments. Sarcasm in particular, in the wrong hands, can be very mean. I don't see anything mean here. And, I don't care who she is as long as she keeps entertaining and instructing.

Exactly right. I've learned more from her snarkalicious posts than I have from all the many megabytes of earnest, well-thought-out posts everywhere else. Yanno?

Cathy C · Nov 27, 2006

I hope nobody ever truly outs her, because with anonymity comes the ability to tell the TRUTH about a sometimes very personal industry without stepping on toes that she may have to work with the next day. While the industry is impersonal, the people who work within it aren't. I know people who know who she is (and I trust them not to b.s. about it,) but they won't tell and I would never press them to.

But it is fun to speculate. I suspect she's actually the owner of a dozen cats...

Celia Cyanide · Nov 27, 2006

The only thing that's ever made me wonder is a certain other agent's blog. He claims to know who she is and her real reasons for writing it. He may or may not be full of crap, but his statements made me curious. I don't really care who she is, and I don't know if I believe this other guy, but I do wonder why he believes she writes her blog.

Manxom Vroom · Nov 27, 2006

My guess is that Miss Snark isn't one person, but a group of agents who post under the Miss Snark identity. She's a character who is "played" by someone at a given time, much like Batman has been played by Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney (Snarkly reference) and Christian Bale.

The thing that makes me think this is the sheer volume of posts she puts out. I find it hard to believe that one person could be THAT prolific and a working agent at the same time.

Scarlett_156 · Nov 27, 2006

Hello back to you!

Stacia Kane · Nov 27, 2006

I don't care, either. I think it's fun not knowing.

And I suspect that other agent is just having fun with the whole "real reason" thing. Part of his act.

Miss Java · Nov 27, 2006

I'm here! I'm here!

(Raises hand and jumps up and down.)

Wait a second...did they say....Snark?

(Slowly lowers hand.)

Ahem...never mind.

(Creeps away to get a cup of coffee.)

Kate Thornton · Nov 27, 2006

I love reading Miss Snark - she's my second-favorite blog (Evil Editor has got to be #1)

I guess I don't care about her real identity, except that lunch in New York with her would be such fun!

badducky · Nov 27, 2006

I admit it... I know who the real Miss Snark is:

She's actually a "He", and a clever fellow that likes to smoke and confuse people.

I know we've all suspected for years.

The real Miss Snark is William H. Haskins.

(As writers ourselves, shouldn't we respect the intended anonymity of the author? I know I think it's important to do that.)

Miss Snark

Lost in School Work

Plotting! Not Plodding!

God of Squirrels

Comic guy

Comic guy

Lost in the Fog

Look what we made:

volitare nequeo

Unleashing Hell.

Living in the backstory

storm central

Quite a character

The grad students did it

Crusty Polemicist

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

Joker Groupie

A proper fool

asdf

Girl Detective

Awesome R Us

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

No Time For Chitchat, Kemosabe.