Saturday, June 04, 2011

"Hello, I have come to kill you"

This blog post about Megladon did a couple things.

First, it made me laugh so hard I had to put down my coffee lest I destroy yet another keyboard.  Given he's writing about fierce predators, laughing that hard is a sign the guy can really write.

Second, because the guy can really write, I immediately hunted down the "about the author" button.  Further investigation revealed that of course he'd already been snapped up by Farley Chase of the Waxman Agency, but if he hadn't I was ready to lob an offer over his gunwales.

What this means for you:  good blog writing gets attention.  The kind of attention you as a writer want.  Notice there's nothing in that blog post about query stats or his book. You have to, in fact, HUNT to find the book.

Yup, that's EXACTLY the kind of writing I'm looking for, and there's a drooling, slavering pack of agents right behind me looking for the same thing.

10 comments:

leegomez said...

That was HILARIOUS. Dude's brilliant.

Marsha Sigman said...

That was incredible.

My favorite line EVER:

"Megalodon was like the Great White's badass awesome uncle who rides into town every once in a while on a Harley, gets hammered and smashes beer cans on his head at the family reunion, and then burns rubber out of there with your brother's topless wife riding on the back seat."


I'm pretty sure that uncle is on my husband's side of the famly.

Stephanie Barr said...

Funny, though maybe a little light on reality. Reality is plenty scary already.

Still, it reminded me of a blog by a witty and iron-stomached marine biologist called "This week's sci-fi worthy parasite."

My husband was so freaked by the ameobic meningitis (Naegleria fowleri) that he wouldn't let me use it. In a science fiction novel.

Don't read it right before you go to bed. Especially the loa loa worm. You've been warned.

Val said...

As a goat owner, I appreciate the line: "They're like the goats of the ocean, only they're gigantic, not hilarious looking, and constructed from pure evil made manifest into flesh."

In perusing Thompson's Hall of Badassitude, I see that most of his badasses are people. I guess that's because humans are more consciously predatory than animals.

I found two badasses on my back porch this week: a Luna moth, and a Dolomedes tenebrosus (fishing spider). They were each about five inches across. That was badass enough for me to snap a picture of both.

m----- h---------- said...

This reminded me a bit of my three year old nephew utterly freaking out in gory delighted glee over Tyrannosaurus Rex. (Except my nephew is not allowed to say "fuck.")

Anonymous said...

How did you come across this blog? You mention that you "noticed" he was represented and had written a book. . . so what brought you to the page?

Steve Stubbs said...

Wow. When most people refer to someone as "chum," the word is a synonym for amigo.

I guess when sharks refer to someone as "chum" they mean something else.

CathrynLouis said...

Loved his post - and learned a lot about sharks too.

Kristin Laughtin said...

I love that blog!

And it's definitely true that good blogging can get you noticed by agents. The girl who writes Hyperbole and a Half mentioned a book deal a while ago, and I've heard of more than a few non-humorous bloggers getting signed as well. It also helps that all of these blogs have a focus/theme and don't just detail day-to-day life.

Wendy said...

That was a great post. However, my four year old checked it out with me (and I let him since he can't read the profanity yet) and he claims that he saw a Megalodon at the state fair in a tank and that when I wasn't looking he put his hand in the water and that the Megalodon didn't do a thing about it.

So, one of those two is wrong about their Megalodon badassery facts.