Purgatory's Pit of Doom

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alias octavia

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Ah, I love that so much. Bad Agent Sydney T. Cat is my new favorite thing!

That agent replied to my tweet, but then she deleted it. I think this was around the time her original tweet started to get lots of play out there in the wild, online world. But I got an email when she replied, here is what she said:

"agreed, 100%. No snark involved but shouldn't we all should be playing by the same rules?"

I almost replied to her again "WTF?" but I exercised restraint. My father always told me never to argue with a crazy or stupid person, someone wandering in might not be able to tell which one you are.

(((4lbs)))

(((Pit))) For anyone I've missed.

I'm on vacation and just found out I won some weird contest thingy on the MSFV this week. Maybe you all saw it? The 1st line grabber. I never do well with these things. You never know when that old, dusty trunked manuscript might come back to life though. My little book zombie.
 

Teriann

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Ah, I love that so much. Bad Agent Sydney T. Cat is my new favorite thing!

That agent replied to my tweet, but then she deleted it. I think this was around the time her original tweet started to get lots of play out there in the wild, online world. But I got an email when she replied, here is what she said:

"agreed, 100%. No snark involved but shouldn't we all should be playing by the same rules?"

I almost replied to her again "WTF?" but I exercised restraint. My father always told me never to argue with a crazy or stupid person, someone wandering in might not be able to tell which one you are.

(((4lbs)))

(((Pit))) For anyone I've missed.

I'm on vacation and just found out I won some weird contest thingy on the MSFV this week. Maybe you all saw it? The 1st line grabber. I never do well with these things. You never know when that old, dusty trunked manuscript might come back to life though. My little book zombie.

Call me dense, but I totally don't understand her response. What did she mean by it? I haven't a clue.

What same rules? I guess your WFT response means you didn't get it either, but does anyone? Is she smoking something?

My favorite part of the cat thing was the comment about the Blogswart School of Agenting and the wand and potion . . . perfect.

yay for dusty trunked manuscripts springing back to life.
 

alias octavia

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Teri, I don't know. I honestly didn't understand what she meant at all. I wondered if there was some subtext I wasn't picking up on.

I like your interpretation, Red.

I've decided I like how twitter shows me the real side of people. I know to stay away. Don't get me wrong, it is still evil, but there are always benefits to evil.
 

Cricket18

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I'm on vacation and just found out I won some weird contest thingy on the MSFV this week. Maybe you all saw it? The 1st line grabber. I never do well with these things. You never know when that old, dusty trunked manuscript might come back to life though. My little book zombie.

AO, congrats! Er, what is MSFV? I'm a firm believer that some trunked mss deserved to be trunked. Others are just taking a nap.

Let's play by the same rules: I'll treat you like you're stupid and you act like you're stupid!

(My interpretation.)

:ROFL:
 

Amarie

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Cricket, that blog is hilarious! I spent way too long reading the older entries this morning.

Alias Octavia, I wish I could draw, because we need a little lurching book zombie picture for the Pit.
 

Teriann

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Cricket, that blog is hilarious! I spent way too long reading the older entries this morning.

I did it too. I read through the whole blog.

What amazes me is that these entries date from before 2010. When I was going through my agent mess and coming to a lot of my conclusions, I felt like I was the only writer in the universe questioning the whole agent thing. All I had ever read at that point was agent-worship with the idea that if an agent is not an actual criminal and sells something to NYC they are legitimate and writers must do whatever it takes to work with them. (Then I discovered DWS "killing the sacred cows of publishing" and was so grateful.)*

My favorite blog entries were the ones that spoke to me personally, like the one about how putting an agent in the middle of a financial transaction add another layer of confusion and delay, and of course:

"No, that editor did not like your book. If they'd liked it, I would have sent it to them."


*then I found you guys and you let me come here and do my negative rants, for which I am still grateful.
 

ink wench

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Cricket, great link!

Octavia, yay on the MSFV thing, and :Wha: to the agent.

For Amarie, post in case of zombie requests:
zombie01.gif
 

SteveCordero

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Mornin', Pit

Muted Yay, Octavia. Which one was it?

LOL, Cricket

I'm usually late on these sorta things, but thanks for the recommendation on Ch1me. I enjoyed the eccentric characters & vioce, but wasn't really engaged by the narrative. Like the twist at the end though.

I also got a chance to read The F@vlt 1n 0vr St@rs which was AMAZING. I know you guys have probably read it, but if you haven't, it's a must read. It's one of the best books I've read in any genre.

For those who don't know (like I've said, I'm usually late on this, so you guys probably know already), it's a dramedy about the romance of these 2 cancer teens, Hazel and Gus. The wonderfully ironic thing is SPOILER ALERT: Gus uses his Wish (like Make-a-Wish foundation) to take Hazel to Amsterdam to see her favorite author and find out what becomes of the characters in her favorite book. The author turns out to be a complete ahole and tells Hazel, essentially, that it's just a book and it's fiction and nothing becomes of the characters. The irony, of course, that when reading TFIOS, you fall in love with Hazel & Gus and the heartbreak is that much worse.

It's funny & gutwrenchingly real too. Wonderful book and already one of my all time favorites.
 
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Snappy

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Cricket, great link!

Octavia, yay on the MSFV thing, and :Wha: to the agent.

For Amarie, post in case of zombie requests:
zombie01.gif

Everything I wanted to say, so +1. :)

Steve, thanks for the recommendation. Adding it to the TBR pile.
 

hester

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Muted congrats AO!

My weekend can be summed up as follows: husband depressed, daughter demanding, son irritable.

Hail to the Monday...
 

fourlittlebees

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Muted felicitations, AO.

It's not about fame or fortune. I don't need a bestseller. I just want SOMEONE to want my writing besides me. Either that or I just want to see if I can give myself a concussion by beating my head against a wall.
 

Roly

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So glad ppl are taking that agent down. As if writers shouldn't protect themselves.

((hester))

4bs, my thoughts exactly. My writing is good. Someone should want it. As writer's we're brainwashed into thinking that if our work doesn't get picked up it's because it's not good enough. But that's not always the case. The fact that I've been getting good feedback paired with mysterious no's tells me that something else is going on here.

Anyway, that's why I really don't mind self-publishing as an option, especially with all the current possibilities. I just need to get my head to focus long enough to put my strategy together.

Gurrrr I really really need to find a way to get these revisions done. DAMN pHD coursework year! It's like they don't want you to have a life outside reading theory and writing stuff. kdsfakjaldkfja

Oh did u know that the writer of N1ck and N0rr@'s I. Playl1st is writing a sci fi YA? Yep, we know what the new trends are...
 

Teriann

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So anyway, having nothing better to do and possessed by a morbid curiosity, I emailed the agent responsible for that award winning twitter.

Here's what I wrote:

I have not been able to find anyone able to explain how "listen up, authors . . .we get it" means "we all need to play by the same rules."
Please, please explain what one has to do with the other.


Here's what she wrote:

The statement was not well stated.
It should have been: Authors should follow the same rules when making a contractual agreement.
As an agency we work within the guidelines of the agreement, authors should not contract an agent, run out and self-publish or vet their own work.
It puts everyone in an awkward position.

Thank you for asking and not jumping….


Then I wrote:

This still makes no sense to me.
Perhaps if you sent me a copy of your agency agreement I would understand it better.
Do you make authors sign an agreement saying they will not self-publish their own work? For how long a period of time? Doesn't the work belong to the author?
What do you mean by "vet." I looked up the word, and found this: "To subject to thorough examination or evaluation: vet a manuscript."
So once an author signs an agency agreement, they're forbidden to let anyone else evaluate their work?
So when you tell authors not to argue contract law, you're telling them to follow the agency agreement and not question the agreement?
Would you mind sending me a copy of your agency agreement?



I feel sort of like I'm squashing a bug. It's really not worth the time. I just wanted to share with my buddies here. I like that she thanked me for not jumping.
 

ink wench

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(((Hester))) It's pittish indeed when Monday brings reprieve.

(((4Bs))) I hear ya.

(((Roly))) Sorry you're so busy. I'm impressed you're doing any writing. I think all I wrote was academic papers when I was in grad school.

Oh did u know that the writer of N1ck and N0rr@'s I. Playl1st is writing a sci fi YA? Yep, we know what the new trends are...
*offers libations to the hellhounds on behalf of her WIP*

Teri, that exchange makes me think of The Princess Bride. I do not think that tweet means what you think it means. :rolleyes:

Off today, and I just cranked about 3k on a SNI that's rapidly approaching WIP status. It's a completely pittish story, and something I'm confident my agent will have no interest in. In that way, working on it is delightfully freeing. I don't care if it's cliched crap that has no chance in hell of getting published. I'm writing it totally for me.
 

Red-Green

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Muted felicitations, AO.

It's not about fame or fortune. I don't need a bestseller. I just want SOMEONE to want my writing besides me. Either that or I just want to see if I can give myself a concussion by beating my head against a wall.

It's true. Wanting people to read your stuff, to want to read it enough to pay for it, it means something.
 

Catwoman

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Off today, and I just cranked about 3k on a SNI that's rapidly approaching WIP status. It's a completely pittish story, and something I'm confident my agent will have no interest in. In that way, working on it is delightfully freeing. I don't care if it's cliched crap that has no chance in hell of getting published. I'm writing it totally for me.

If it's cliched crap, it'll probably get published!

Teri -- you go, girl! Although I wouldn't expect a response the second time around. I'd be really surprised if she sent you any more info.

I awoke this Monday to "Mom, the dog pooped in my room." I hope that's not how the week will go...
 

Catwoman

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Coroner solves mystery of human feet found on beaches

10 hrs ago

A grim mystery has been baffling Washington state and British Columbia, Canada: Why do all these disembodied human feet keep washing up on our beaches? The appearance of 12 feet in rubber soled shoes in five years, with six surfacing in a six-month period, made officials worry that something fishy was afoot. Theories ranged from a serial killer to an aircraft crash. According to London's Daily Mail, British Columbia coroner Stephen Fonseca, who has been studying the phenomenon for years, says the source is a bridge over Vancouver's Fraser River, and most of the feet belonged to suicide victims. Thanks Stephen, now please take a vacation. So, beachcombers, that means there may be more feet washing up in the future. Tread carefully.

I'm sorry, but this story is soooo pittish, I couldn't resist. I mean, that's just gotta go in a story. You can't make this stuff up!
 

Wordwrestler

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Coroner solves mystery of human feet found on beaches

10 hrs ago

A grim mystery has been baffling Washington state and British Columbia, Canada: Why do all these disembodied human feet keep washing up on our beaches? The appearance of 12 feet in rubber soled shoes in five years, with six surfacing in a six-month period, made officials worry that something fishy was afoot. Theories ranged from a serial killer to an aircraft crash. According to London's Daily Mail, British Columbia coroner Stephen Fonseca, who has been studying the phenomenon for years, says the source is a bridge over Vancouver's Fraser River, and most of the feet belonged to suicide victims. Thanks Stephen, now please take a vacation. So, beachcombers, that means there may be more feet washing up in the future. Tread carefully.

I'm sorry, but this story is soooo pittish, I couldn't resist. I mean, that's just gotta go in a story. You can't make this stuff up!

This mystery has been going on for a while. MANY years ago, while I was in college in Washington state, a booted foot turned up in the lake I rowed in every morning with the crew team . . . a few days after we freshmen had jumped off the dock as a rite of passage. Ewww.
 
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