tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post3280591084770392603..comments2024-01-06T05:28:46.111-05:00Comments on Matt Paust's Crime Time : THE GLASS CHARACTER – Margaret GunningMathew Pausthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-92113462117772322312017-02-03T15:19:31.053-05:002017-02-03T15:19:31.053-05:00"...too literary for a literary press." ..."...too literary for a literary press." Good luck with DAO WEI'S GIRL!Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-35138667918878169972017-02-03T06:48:48.787-05:002017-02-03T06:48:48.787-05:00Sorry re typos, must not rely on dictation app. It...Sorry re typos, must not rely on dictation app. It's an idiot, makes me look the same. Trust me, I am actually still at least functionally literate.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00205414059932536211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-34649987947502314912017-02-03T02:11:11.197-05:002017-02-03T02:11:11.197-05:00Sorry to say, the editors of Canada's boutiqu...Sorry to say, the editors of Canada's boutique literary presses, the only kind us word-peons have a hearing with, are absolute monarchs of their tiny realms. The presses are heavily subsidized by grants from The Canada Council for the Arts. In other words, the financial success or sales numbers matter little. The writer is often, always?, victimized by a Don't Care attitude. Whar? Us spend our loonies and toonies on promotion n, reading tours, haha, you got to be kidding!<br />Because they are the only shop in town, oh yeah, the members of this God-like country club know each other, they have the power to insist on idiotic revisions that weaken a story. They can insist on using their unsuitable, unattractive titl. And even worse, the writer gets stuck with some ugly meaningless cover design that fails to present the book.<br />Margaret is an incredible writer who has been badly served by the system. I have constant ly urged her to skip Canada, submit directly yo the U.S. market, or England. Or do indie selfies and go for it all.<br />On the other hand she has encouraged me to add "GIRL" to the working title of my very strange fantasy novel about myself, A Treatise on David West as Most And nder Valued Poet, and an Inquiry into His Later Emergence as The Great Dao Wei.<br />So it might involve some POV changes, to include some narrative of The Revolution by women of his Girl Guards Brigade, of the 12 Route Army, by one of Dao We's Girl's. The title suggested and liked, "DAO WEI'S GIRL."<br />Dao Wei Tsi, I might add is a transliteration of David West's name in Mandarin. It means Big Guardian West. Dao Wei Tsi.<br />So what do I do with an unfinished MS. of over 300 pages, doubled sided, in largely illegible fountain pen script? Find an illustrator and a pair of scissors perhaps?<br />Dao Wei retu ns from the dead, again and again, thanks to the DNA evolving virtues of the Mother Wyrt plant, and gis disciples have the means and the motive.<br />Unfortunately, the story is chunks of fragments, puzzles, and clue challenges for the very advanced reader topit the pieces together.<br />How could such a secret be kept for so long, deep under the Cavalry Museum, in the lab complex of The Midland Group, in the very midst of Ft. Riley, Kansas? Well, why not?<br />The dark fire teams killed for it fair and square. Who expected the he suddenly unleashed power of DW's Route Armies to reveal if the legends of the Mother Wort are true.<br />Well it turns out that something ressurectes Dao Wei every time he is caught and execyted. You just can't keep a great Canadian poet, neglected or not, trodden down or even dead.<br />No publisher or agent, subsidy or not, will touch this one. It's too literary for a literary press, too off the wall wacky for the mainstream north American market.<br />So England or an indie it is.<br />Right on Margaret, GIRL it is!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00205414059932536211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-13934916596839782472016-10-12T11:37:18.278-04:002016-10-12T11:37:18.278-04:00Evidently one must go with the market flow in orde...Evidently one must go with the market flow in order to reach an audience, Tracy. I believe you'd enjoy Margaret's novel. Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-8158269245171011602016-10-11T22:28:24.335-04:002016-10-11T22:28:24.335-04:00With the proliferation of books with Girl in the ...With the proliferation of books with Girl in the title, I would avoid them too. But I admit that more people are reading them (or at least buying them) than not, or that type of title would be used less. <br /><br />The Glass Character does sound interesting. TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-38890565960548172752016-10-08T16:45:52.285-04:002016-10-08T16:45:52.285-04:00Hehe, I felt the same way, Yvette, until I finally...Hehe, I felt the same way, Yvette, until I finally read a couple of "girl" books by David Bell, to see what all the fuss was about. They were moderately entertaining, but not especially well written. More recently I read <i>Gone Girl</i>, which was a tad better. Haven't seen any of the girl movies, tho, and have no desire to. Oddly, and perhaps only coincidentally, the very first query I sent out with my new title, <i>The Girl Who Tasted Bacon's Blood</i>, (three days ago) produced a hit, with the agent asking for six chapters. I only had one of the dozens of queries with the previous title, but that one ultimately fizzled. The agent said she might be interested to see a rewrite, without giving me any clue as to what she had in mind, and I didn't follow up. So we'll see. At this point I'm considering it more an experiment than anything else.Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-58828142031127432412016-10-08T15:46:54.897-04:002016-10-08T15:46:54.897-04:00I never read novels with titles like THE GIRL WHO....I never read novels with titles like THE GIRL WHO....THE GIRL ON THE......THE GIRL WITH THE..... For me they are nothing but book club books for people who do not read anything but book club books. I'm sorry, but there it is. But I get your point. Nice post, Mathew. I like the title THE GLASS CHARACTER and the cover. But obviously I don't know what I'm talking about since everyone else is on the 'GIRL WHO' bandwagon. (I won't see the movies made from these 'girl who' books either. I'm stubborn that way.)Yvettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08919246184376538331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-57582446576232721012016-10-06T10:27:37.158-04:002016-10-06T10:27:37.158-04:00Might you try another publisher? Or seek an agent?...Might you try another publisher? Or seek an agent? I do believe the title, as well as the cover, makes a difference in grabbing even sophisticated professionals' attention, else why the sudden splurge of books with girl in the title? After reading the articles referenced above, I have changed the title of the novel I've been hawking to agents for several months now from <i>Bacon's Blood</i> to <i>The Girl Who Tasted Bacon's Blood</i>. I hate pandering, but evidently when one is trying to break into the market these days a little compromise with one's standards is in order. Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-34708882366206139502016-10-05T23:18:11.503-04:002016-10-05T23:18:11.503-04:00(A point I just thought of) I can't picture my...(A point I just thought of) I can't picture my publisher, having pretty much taken a bath on this, being willing or able (even financially) to run thousands more copies with a different title (and, I trust, a better cover) and then redistribute them all over again to stores, libraries, reviewers, etc. on the gamble it would do better this time. Frankly, I have never heard of this (publishing twice) at literary press level where everything is on a shoestring. It would be confusing to the modest readership I have to buy another book with my name on it and have them say, "Heeeyyyyyy!" (this is the same goddamn book under a different title!) Under the terms of my contract, it would likely not even be legal. I do get the part about steak and sizzle and all that, and what the public wants, as opposed to what I want to write. But I don't think inserting "girl" would be enough to change things. I need a press agent and a publicist and all those things that writers have who DON'T NEED a press agent and a publicist. Meantime, the book exists and I will continue to seek some way to get it made into a movie. They can call it what they want so long as they spell my name right on the cheque.Margaret Gunninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16281594044624096600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-18726461665832237862016-10-05T22:38:07.274-04:002016-10-05T22:38:07.274-04:00I'd do better changing the cover, I think. I c...I'd do better changing the cover, I think. I can't see where the title would make a difference. At any rate. . . it was pretty depressing reading this.Margaret Gunninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16281594044624096600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-9571819256120188212016-10-04T14:55:12.392-04:002016-10-04T14:55:12.392-04:00I wouldn't have written this if I didn't t...I wouldn't have written this if I didn't think it would help, Margaret. I trust you want it to be a success, and it's not too late to make it one. If changing the title can spark the interest it takes for the right people to read the novel, why not give it a shot? Your publisher should have seen that up front. Your novel truly is a steak, a filet mignon, no less. A crying shame to see it fade away for a marketing fluke. Mathew Pausthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06157135006791553019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-87199425187780586002016-10-04T14:35:24.186-04:002016-10-04T14:35:24.186-04:00Just one more thing - this column is a fine idea i...Just one more thing - this column is a fine idea if you stick to writers you don't know personally! Margaret Gunninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16281594044624096600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547065615486762917.post-70657211365780680232016-10-04T14:30:16.014-04:002016-10-04T14:30:16.014-04:00Nice piece, Matt - and I really appreciate all the...Nice piece, Matt - and I really appreciate all the help you gave me with the book. But it still hurts (a lot) to see my baby in a column called Friday's Forgotten Books. No matter how true it may be in the eyes of the world, no one wants their novel described as a "flop". I am proud of the fact that, having decided I would never write another book, I worked on this one, completed it, sent it out and had it published. No one helped me with publicity. Yes, it got no reviews, but oh how much it hurts to be reminded of that. I don't know whether a sexier/catchier title would have helped (and the cover was simply atrocious!). In any case, it just doesn't feel good. At all. Now I am more depressed than ever.<br />Margaret Gunninghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16281594044624096600noreply@blogger.com