tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post6870644275177367014..comments2024-03-26T18:28:06.391-04:00Comments on Evil Editor: Face-Lift 957Evil Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03879826770199639420noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-76205056813363719732011-10-22T12:02:36.626-04:002011-10-22T12:02:36.626-04:00Alaska RC and Anon, I put the line in the query th...Alaska RC and Anon, I put the line in the query that it took time for Julie and her great uncle's look alike (his nephew) to realize they were each the secret in the others journal then canned it as a "spoiler". I'll reconsider.<br /><br />As Phoenix advises, go with the gut. So thanks for helping me. Not quite there but babies, I am working on it. <br /><br />Thanks,great feed back.<br />MacAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-67325642282195336062011-10-22T11:36:09.245-04:002011-10-22T11:36:09.245-04:00Thank you for re-reading and commenting. Julie'...Thank you for re-reading and commenting. Julie's "dead uncle" is actually the son of the dead uncle's sister.That's what was done way back when. This freed the sister to return home, dignity intact. The old guy raised him and hoped one day he and Julie would meet. He tried to arrange that through his will with a little financial enticement, his last laugh as he left the planet.<br /><br />Julie and her younger relative connect and work it out in time as Julie's head heals and her memory returns.<br /><br />Thanks so much.<br /><br />Mac<br /><br />PS Julie and her hubby divorce because he's been a naughty boy with her friend with an unusual body part while Julie was getting a whack on the head.<br /><br />Thanks again all. <br /><br />MacAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-47388416826099158272011-10-21T14:42:31.817-04:002011-10-21T14:42:31.817-04:00Hello Mac,
Your PS needs to be in the query - I d...Hello Mac,<br /><br />Your PS needs to be in the query - I didn't know the great uncle was not the relative who died (or is he?) (or is he even dead?) and the husband is the cousin (or is he?).<br /><br />However EE answers your last question, I feel you could still do a final pass that puts in some voice. This feels very much in the "getting the facts straight" stage with its short declarative sentences.<br /><br />I still am intrigued by the book idea. Luck!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-82076116222473096832011-10-21T14:16:23.214-04:002011-10-21T14:16:23.214-04:00Everything in graf 2 could be said in one sentence...Everything in graf 2 could be said in one sentence.<br /><br />In graf 3, I like the husband she doesn't remember marrying, but is the great uncle the dead guy? If so, add "dead".<br /><br />I think what you said in the PS belongs in the query.AlaskaRavenclawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-65202810160077222822011-10-21T12:11:19.719-04:002011-10-21T12:11:19.719-04:00Dear Agent:
Half Truths and Bursting Bubbles on K...Dear Agent:<br /><br />Half Truths and Bursting Bubbles on Kao San Road is an absurdist novel complete at 90,000 words.<br /><br />Julie stumbles into a few predicaments in Bangkok when she collects an inheritance from a relative she barely remembers. Her inheritance consists of a journal and money. She gets the money if she figures out a secret in the journal. The old man’s practical jokes are legendary in her family. Julie sets off to uncover the secret. She doesn’t get very far.<br /><br />Julie wakes up in the hospital with a concussion she got while being robbed and meets a husband she doesn’t remember marrying. She spots her great uncle outside her room but he’s forty years younger than he should be. An old journal sticks out of his pocket. She’d like to resume her coma but there’s something rather pressing she has to do if she can remember what it is.<br /><br />Julie doesn’t know this distant relative is working out the secret in his journal so he can collect the cash. The two have been put in the finest practical joke the old man ever pulled. Julie’s memory comes back in slivers as she finds nothing runs as expected or as it should in The Land of Smiles.<br /><br />I have an advertising background and teach English in Thailand.<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br /> <br />Evil, if you are writing absurdist, should the query be written in absurdist or kept as a business letter in conventional form? <br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Wilkins MacQueen<br /><br /> <br />PS Minions: It takes time for Julie and her distant cousin to realize they are each the secret in the other's diary.Authornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-45067545509233328632011-10-03T06:01:55.248-04:002011-10-03T06:01:55.248-04:00Certainly not absurdist. We are in agreement.Certainly not absurdist. We are in agreement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-80666906392410272092011-10-02T17:59:05.912-04:002011-10-02T17:59:05.912-04:00Snowden, that was his name. Gah. Took me hours to ...Snowden, that was his name. Gah. Took me hours to recover that.nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415222406280230021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-6345439769305763162011-10-02T14:52:54.208-04:002011-10-02T14:52:54.208-04:00The fact that they were still in the war doesn'...The fact that they were still in the war doesn't mean they hadn't already experienced trauma. In fact, it's absurd to suggest the disorder waits patiently for the end of hostilities.<br /><br />Yossarian's trauma is thinking he's helping the guy whose name escapes me, then discovering that he had a fatal stomach wound all along. That's the part of his life that he keeps reliving in snatches.<br /><br />No doubt the novel is satirical. It is not however absurdist.nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415222406280230021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-38273299082923298652011-10-02T10:03:24.392-04:002011-10-02T10:03:24.392-04:00Beg to differ dear Buffy, Catch 22 satirizes beaur...Beg to differ dear Buffy, Catch 22 satirizes beaurocracy. <br /><br />Reading is subjective, a story can be about whatever you choose. So if you feel it's ptsd, so be it. The characters were in the war making the "post" part a little out of whack.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-23206488168937427932011-10-02T01:50:10.186-04:002011-10-02T01:50:10.186-04:001. written by males, mostly dead.
Which in itsslf...<i>1. written by males, mostly dead.</i><br /><br />Which in itsslf is either impressive, or absurd.<br /><br />Perhaps they channel through a medium.iagonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-35870682520818227882011-10-01T12:52:25.187-04:002011-10-01T12:52:25.187-04:00Catch-22 isn't absurdist. It's a masterful...Catch-22 isn't absurdist. It's a masterful depiction of what we now call PTSD.nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415222406280230021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-38082944274453112862011-10-01T10:39:23.157-04:002011-10-01T10:39:23.157-04:00Thanks so much for your comments. I appreciate the...Thanks so much for your comments. I appreciate the direct questions and your thoughts. <br /><br />As ever Evil, thanks for the steerage. <br /><br />The journal does have more purpose than getting the mc to Bgk. The husband and backbacker dread the mc's memory return because they have to fess up to their shenanigan's while the m.c. was getting a concussion. Right thing to do but the mc doesn't remember either one of them. What they did is as surprising to her as being told she has a husband. <br /><br />The ghost is her cousin, kind of. Illigit son of an uncle by marriage. Through him she gets the memory thing going and figures out what her uncle was trying to tell her.<br /><br />He was trying to tell her his son who was raised on the far side of the planet has a lot in common with her, his favorite little girl years before and hopes they connect. (They do.)<br /><br />Appreciate the technical problems pointed out. <br /><br />Dear Evil, the names of those cities, thanks for the hoots. <br /><br />Thank you all for the thought you put into the comments.<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />MacWilkins MacQueenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05601091849024992561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-68375099834351114142011-10-01T09:37:11.596-04:002011-10-01T09:37:11.596-04:00Hm. From that wikipedia list, absurdist fiction is...Hm. From that wikipedia list, absurdist fiction is <br /><br />1. written by males, mostly dead<br /><br />2. often fairly short<br /><br />3. read when the reader is between the ages of 15 and 23.<br /><br />4. thought at the time (by the reader) to be very deep, but seldom remembered with warmth afterward<br /><br />So I was right... something you have to wait and let other people say about your work after it's published. Possibly long after.AlaskaRavenclawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-65690831282290702402011-10-01T09:32:18.136-04:002011-10-01T09:32:18.136-04:00I suspect that like so much in this business, &quo...I suspect that like so much in this business, "absurdist" is something you have to let others say about your book.<br /><br />Anonymous is right. You have to have a plot.AlaskaRavenclawnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-73107960792831922192011-10-01T09:24:54.272-04:002011-10-01T09:24:54.272-04:00It's still a business letter to someone who is...It's still a business letter to someone who is in business to make money. I don't see that you need to alter your query format a great deal except to spend some of the space you usually devote to plot to describing the MC's situation.<br /><br />The Wikipedia article on absurdist fiction lists the following as examples. (If there's something on this list that no one who's interested in the topic has read, I could add it to the book chat list and we could all practice writing queries for it after the chat.)<br /><br />Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy <br />Edward Albee - The American Dream <br />Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot <br />Albert Camus - The Stranger, The Plague, The Fall<br />Nikolai Gogol - The Nose<br />M. John Harrison - Light<br />Joseph Heller - Catch-22<br />Rhys Hughes - The Postmodern Mariner <br />Eugène Ionesco - The Bald Soprano, Rhinoceros<br />Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis <br />Harold Pinter - The Birthday Party <br />Tom Robbins - Still Life with Woodpecker<br />Tom Stoppard - Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead<br />Patrick Süskind - Perfume<br />Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's CradleEvil Editorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03879826770199639420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-89645466737344051222011-10-01T05:36:10.225-04:002011-10-01T05:36:10.225-04:00You had me until you started to list events. Ther...You had me until you started to list events. There was a narrative there and then it just became a random jumble. <br /><br />I wish we had an Absurdist Fiction agent here to shed some light on this. By the end I was just confused.Xiexiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02265895952183646895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-25871006828710631642011-09-30T18:54:15.005-04:002011-09-30T18:54:15.005-04:00I'm trying to think how you pitch this, too.
...I'm trying to think how you pitch this, too. <br /><br />"I'm seeking representation for my Absurdist Fiction novel, ....<br /><br /><i>When Julie receives a Journal from her late uncle in Bangkok, she has no idea that such a simple thing will launch her on a series of adventures...</i><br /><br />and then start outlining her story. It sounds like she's trying to find herself as she searches for her uncle, but the amnesia intervenes.<br /><br />To be honest, I can't recall a story that successfully utilized amnesia as a plot point. Too many generations of lazy TV writers have ruined it.Khazar-khumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-81591321823878757952011-09-30T18:00:12.523-04:002011-09-30T18:00:12.523-04:00Ok, well, if you're writing for fun, congratul...Ok, well, if you're writing for fun, congratulations, you've got a book! <br /><br />If you're writing for fame and profit, it might be helpful to minimize the dreamy fog stuff and focus on things of a more concrete and sinister nature. Like this scandalous dude she's married to. If you can't make your plot hang together in a 100,000 word narrative, it's ok to work with smaller chunks and wrangle them into short stories. <br /><br />This description sounds like you had a lot of ideas for episodes of a novel but then you connected them with some sort of squishy amorphous material and we don't know why.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-79506012809898259562011-09-30T15:45:38.080-04:002011-09-30T15:45:38.080-04:00Since K-K and I are converging on something, I'...Since K-K and I are converging on something, I'll ask: how DOES a writer pitch absurdist fiction in a business letter? Has anyone ever seen this done effectively?journeytogaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12708633194344557042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-39017398989871315042011-09-30T13:32:31.142-04:002011-09-30T13:32:31.142-04:00The journal seems to be a Maguffin.
Why does Jul...The journal seems to be a Maguffin. <br /><br />Why does Julie get married? Why doesn't her husband have a name? Does it matter? Or is he just 'husband' and interchangeable with anyone else who comes along?<br /><br />'Absurdist fiction' to me means a book full of precious pretension, devoid of plot but containing many 'quirky & fun' characters. It is exceedingly difficult to do well. From this query I can't tell if you've succeeded.Khazar-khumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-36913868164620845542011-09-30T12:07:35.983-04:002011-09-30T12:07:35.983-04:00When Julie got married "in short order,"...When Julie got married "in short order," this stopped having a plot and became episodic. I'm not sure, but I think even absurdist fiction needs a plot. Is this Julie's story, or some sort of ensemble? Why tell us how the husband and girlfriend enjoyed their tryst?<br /><br />Some of the writing needs work. "Absurdist fiction is the closest genre I can come to" means to me that's all you can read or write; maybe it's the best way you can identify or describe it? EE got "missing blanks"; same for "residual afterglow." You may be trying for something, but that mix of prissy ("finding relations exceptionally enjoyable") and slang ("melon smacked") doesn't work for me. Do you mean that Julie has lost her short-term memory or her <i>recent</i> memory? I know someone who had an accident that deprived her of her short-term memory, and she vividly remembers her life before her accident but now forgets everything virtually as it happens.<br /><br />The book may very well be funny and cool. Perhaps you're having a hard time describing it, as seems to happen every time someone brings absurdist fiction here.journeytogaohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12708633194344557042noreply@blogger.com