tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post116870375776775311..comments2024-03-26T18:28:06.391-04:00Comments on Evil Editor: Face-Lift 260Evil Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03879826770199639420noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168955736468437262007-01-16T08:55:00.000-05:002007-01-16T08:55:00.000-05:00It's a long stretch to write any story about the G...It's a long stretch to write any story about the God of Luck losing at anything. -JTCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168888554498142692007-01-15T14:15:00.000-05:002007-01-15T14:15:00.000-05:00Godly and mortal plane, perhaps, rather than plain...Godly and mortal plane, perhaps, rather than plain? The farm might be on a plain, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168835520272300922007-01-14T23:32:00.000-05:002007-01-14T23:32:00.000-05:00"O fortuna velut luna statu variabilis"The words t..."O fortuna velut luna statu variabilis"<BR/><BR/>The words that begin Carl Orff's secular cantata - - - "Oh fortune ever changing like the moon." <BR/><BR/>The setup is nice, what happens in the novel? Surely you are writing more than her winning the game with "luck"? That's only the first chapter, maybe less.Dave Fragmentshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17985158361431606939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168829025102746862007-01-14T21:43:00.000-05:002007-01-14T21:43:00.000-05:00The way that Christina gets the job of Luck God re...The way that Christina gets the job of Luck God reminds me a little too much of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series (If you kill the old Death, you become the new Death, etc). My first thought was "Wait - haven't I read this somewhere before?" It might be better to use the old stand-by (she inherits the post) or go with something different (The God of Luck slips on a banana peel that the God of the Wind 'accidentally' left lying around the heavens, falls from the sky, and lands on Christina's Aunt. And, as we all know, if the God of Luck lands on your Aunt, you have to take his place. Or maybe the God of Luck is murdered by another god, and, as luck would have it, Christina stumbles over the body during her rant in the woods.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168755643791520272007-01-14T01:20:00.000-05:002007-01-14T01:20:00.000-05:00Yeah, shades of Bill and Ted. Best 4 out of 7!Damn...<I>Yeah, shades of Bill and Ted. Best 4 out of 7!</I><BR/><BR/>Damn straight!<BR/><BR/>And <I>Johnny Mnemonic</I> had its moments. They were just...more in the idea than the execution. Heheh.<BR/><BR/>I much prefer <I>Constantine</I>.GutterBallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17943760313844692975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168724585039170042007-01-13T16:43:00.000-05:002007-01-13T16:43:00.000-05:00Yeah, shades of Bill and Ted. Best 4 out of 7!This...Yeah, shades of Bill and Ted. Best 4 out of 7!<BR/><BR/>This could have appeal, but you do need to minimize the backsotry. There's nothing inherently interesting (or appealing) about a main character spiraling down a path of angst and self-pity. Keep the set-up to one or two sentences.<BR/><BR/>Actually, now that Keanu Reeves is in my head, Christine's midnight rant reminds me of Keanu's rant atop a mound of garbage in Johnny Mnemonic. "Where's my f***ing room service?!!" Now that I think of it, that was the only tolerable part of the movie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168715071675992452007-01-13T14:04:00.000-05:002007-01-13T14:04:00.000-05:00In cinema they have a little concept called "audie...In cinema they have a little concept called "audience positioning" which literary types seem loathe to discuss but it might be helpful to think about. Your project will do best if you can attact an audience that buys into the story expecting what you're going to deliver. You don't want people buying your book because they want a tear-jerking story about realistically portrayed family dynamics, then throwing it out because the story suddenly morphs into some despised kind of frivolous pagan fantasy. Meanwhile your readers who are despearately in search of humorous fantasy won't buy because they're not about to suffer through a lot of dreary emoting. <BR/><BR/>As with the previous query, this description of your story gives an impression that you haven't yet mastered the fine art of tone control. Tragi-comedy is really really hard to pull off. You might do better making a clear choice of tragic/dark or comic/light.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168713203984871202007-01-13T13:33:00.000-05:002007-01-13T13:33:00.000-05:00I couldn't help thinking of Bill & Ted's Bogus Jou...I couldn't help thinking of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey when they played Twister with Death. The only reason they got out of being dead was they got him to admit he had to play them for their lives if they asked. If you can't come up with a reason the goddess of luck would enter a contest, then you have a logic hole. If some of the other gods are on your heroine's side, it might be them. <BR/><BR/>Make this sound logical and it sounds like something that could sell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168712962419254662007-01-13T13:29:00.000-05:002007-01-13T13:29:00.000-05:00dq wrote: Of course time is on her side! (Yes it ...<I>dq wrote: Of course time is on her side! (Yes it is!)</I><BR/><BR/>[head slap and groan]<BR/>Dear dog, how did I miss that one?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168711561239837092007-01-13T13:06:00.000-05:002007-01-13T13:06:00.000-05:00A few puntuation problems....Yeah, but the speling...<I>A few puntuation problems....</I><BR/><BR/>Yeah, but the speling is good.<BR/><BR/>I have to admit I thought the real GTP was #2. It had that feel of a real plot that EE had gussied up for the GTP entry... and #5 had that feel of something a Minion on too much caffeine and too little sleep concocted. Well, I guess if Gates can drop out of school to become one of the richest people in the world, a girl can drop out of school and become the god(dess?) of luck.<BR/><BR/>As always, EE's comments are spot on. I especially agree with the one about why the current god of luck would engage in a contest with those stakes. My only conclusion is that being god of luck is a really sh!tty thing, and eventually he decided it was better to fade into oblivion than keep being blamed by everyone for anything bad that ever happened to them.PJDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05028687955957107957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168711327909623872007-01-13T13:02:00.000-05:002007-01-13T13:02:00.000-05:00Heh, I wanna read Luck Be a Lady. GTP#6 sounds too...Heh, I wanna read <I>Luck Be a Lady.</I> GTP#6 sounds too fun.<BR/><BR/>I'm usually quiet about what I've "learned" from Mr. Evil's blog and all the other resources I've mined for query help, mostly because all the information in the world doesn't always help with my own queries, and I don't want to sound hypocritical. But one thing I <I>have</I> managed to both glean and implement is this: <I>no back-story</I>.<BR/><BR/>It's hard enough to effectively integrate back-story into a novel without info-dump, but it has no place in a query except perhaps an opening clause, like <I>After the death of her parents and a night of ranting at Fate, Christine/a gets a visit from the God of Luck.</I> That frees a ton of space to answer the important questions Mr. Evil raised. Be specific on the things we need to know, not on the set-up of the novel.<BR/><BR/>Does that make sense?GutterBallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17943760313844692975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26791026.post-1168705673728727612007-01-13T11:27:00.000-05:002007-01-13T11:27:00.000-05:00Of course time is on her side! (Yes it is!)(I gues...Of course time is on her side! (Yes it is!)<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>(I guess that joke was too obvious for you, EE. I have no such compunction.)Staciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07969399927758009095noreply@blogger.com