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Joined: 3/2/2013
Posts: 5
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Hi Everyone,
I kind of dived into the deep end of this site, reviewing, reading, even posting, but I feel as if I might have gone a little quickly and might have avoided a rather confrontational first exchange with a member if I'd enjoyed all that the site has to offer a little more first.
So why am I here? I met someone from Penguin at a holiday party for a schmancy lit publication. I mentioned that I am woking on a fantasy novel, and she mentioned Book Country and encouraged me to join. It took four months and one false start to gus up the chutzpah, but I did it. . .
So who am I? I am a former English professor who lives in NYC--I DJ, work in social media intelligence, and am writing a sword-and-sorcery fantasy novel. I am frank in wanting to write for publication--I want to put something in print carrying the logo of one of the imprints that so enriched my own readerly life.
Why SAS fantasy? I was a voracious reader growing up, and this was my favorite genre. When I become a scholar as an adult I focused ore on modern and contemporary book-length poetry (the so called novel-in-verse). . .but I noticed that all of the contemporary book-length poetry that I liked best had fantastic elements. Then I taught in the same department as well known sci-fi author John Kessel, I began rereading fantasy more seriously, deciding eventually that I no longer wanted to write poetry (oh yeah, I was a poet up to that point) and would turn my hand to developing a story loosely inspired by Ancient Egypt's 25th Dynasty. virtually a lifelong student of the ancient world the plotline merged with an alternate world that I first created as a teenager, and had never quite abandoned.
So, um, yeah. . . .
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Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353
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Welcome, MLW!
We're happy to have you here. =)
Who is your favorite sword and sorcery writer? I love David Gemmell, but he's not caught on much in the United States.
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Joined: 3/2/2013
Posts: 5
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Hey Colleen! There are so many fantastic writers of sword and sorcery . Current fav is probably Guy Kay or Tad Williams, but I'm mostly reading Robert Howard's stories these days. For inspiration, Im planning to reread Michael Moorcock as I write.
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Joined: 6/18/2012
Posts: 228
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Hello and a belated welcome! I echo Colleen -- we're glad you're here.
I hope that you meet your goal -- I look forward to seeing your book with a great logo on the spine.
I'm not sure if this will help you or not, but Nevena Georgieva, our fabulous Book Country Assistant, wrote a nice beginner's guide to Book Country: https://www.bookcountry.com/Industry/Article.aspx?articleId=139379.
I'm sorry to hear that you experienced some confrontation. Everyone's an adult here, but if you feel someone is getting out of line, please let me know. Also, please reach out to me if I can help with anything. I'm on here, on twitter as brandilarsen, and over email as brandi at bookcountry dot com.
Best,
Brandi
Book Country Director
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Joined: 11/17/2011
Posts: 1016
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Welcome MLW!
I love your phrase readerly life. I'm a kleptomaniac when it comes to delightful turns of phrase. That one's in my pocket and I'm walking out the door. See ya!
Oh yeah, I will take a look at your book.
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I have ducked away, looked into your review, and I’m back. I’ve received many harsh assessments myself. All I can say is, consider carefully what is said. Much of it you will find useful, after you reflect on it. This is the grand thing about this site. By and large, you do not get the happy talk that you see elsewhere. I believe it is because the members here are sharp, and serious, and see no advantage to feel-good drivel. The folks that I used to see handing that crap out seem to have made themselves scarce, thankfully. You get solid advice here. Listen, one review does not a disaster make. Hold on, eh?
I would not call Timothy's comments confrontational. This is par for the course here. Diplomacy is not a necessity. Honesty is.
The more points of view you get, the better. And you'll soon see that they often don't agree, and then you have to decide, what do I take to heart and what do I dismiss? That really gets you thinking, and that's good, right?
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Joined: 3/2/2013
Posts: 5
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Thanks for the welcomes--been a hectic couple of weeks or I would have responded sooner!
Brandi--This site is such a wonderful resource to feel connected with other writers and I am finding that it inspires motivation and self-critique. My book is actually already improving as a result of being on this site, and I am beginning to take a more structured approach to my writing as I begin to feel that there are people out there who'll actually read it. That makes a huge difference.
Mimi--First of all, take any phrase you like: I find it total flattery. I don't disagree with you about the critique, and even tried to say that in my responses. I am here to get input on improving the work, so don't need all of the your-baby-is-so-ugly stuff to get me to think about the imperfections of what I'm posting. I'm already here for that, so after a while I'm like--stop calling my baby ugly! =)
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