tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post1143195010215229927..comments2024-03-18T09:09:59.625-04:00Comments on Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Bro-authorsJanet Reidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00615380335938685231noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-47410315675826319942016-09-30T02:58:32.642-04:002016-09-30T02:58:32.642-04:00Aw, shucks, Joe. Thanks, mate =)
Heard about the ...Aw, shucks, Joe. Thanks, mate =)<br /><br />Heard about the train accident. Sounds terrible and while I'm relieved to hear our writing community is safe, my thoughts go out to those families who weren't so lucky.AJ Blythehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04529233142099749005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-33047051024781986512016-09-29T23:28:14.662-04:002016-09-29T23:28:14.662-04:00"I only care about the writing.
I only care ..."I only care about the writing.<br /> I only care about the writing.<br /> I only care about the writing."<br /><br />I'm trying to read between the lines here cuz I know there's a secret message that I'm just not seeing. Damn, how it eludes me. I shall walk, and come back with a fresh outlook.<br />John Davis Frainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18020019400599228492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-82407000906659161902016-09-29T18:50:39.544-04:002016-09-29T18:50:39.544-04:00Janet, I'm glad to hear The Duchess and Mr. So...Janet, I'm glad to hear The Duchess and Mr. Somers, as well as your colleagues, were not injured this morning. I hope those commuting home to NJ tonight are able to do so safely.<br /><br />I've only collaborated on a writing project once, and it was with a sibling. My older sister and I wrote a eulogy for our dad-- 12 pages, double-spaced. So, what is that, roughly 3000 words? I'm pretty sure the only reason we didn't kill each other in the process was because we were both numb with grief. To this day, there are parts neither of us remember writing. There were parts I wrote but made her deliver because I knew I couldn't get through it.<br /><br />I share many of the same concerns mentioned by others here. It gives me pause that your brother "doesn't have time" to write and assumes you do. That hardly sounds equitable, as coming up with ideas is the easy part. Another concern is that you're both inexperienced as writers. Maybe that will put you on equal footing, but it might also double the potential for making the mistakes every single new writer makes. I wish you all the best if you decide to proceed.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-31495752554076136112016-09-29T18:43:26.896-04:002016-09-29T18:43:26.896-04:00My stars, what a horrible train crash. I'm gla...My stars, what a horrible train crash. I'm glad everyone we know is all right and thank you to Janet for reporting in. JulieWeathershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01361549099072091350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-28305744962133062082016-09-29T18:11:16.045-04:002016-09-29T18:11:16.045-04:00On a side note. James Patterson Book Factory? You ...On a side note. James Patterson Book Factory? You so sweet. Personally, I prefer, "I only put my name on the cover and maybe write a sentence. But I'm getting paid! Boo Ya! Suckers."<br /><br />But maybe that's a little too honest.Ardenwolfehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14053900506482830292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-75384329867660662442016-09-29T16:37:04.713-04:002016-09-29T16:37:04.713-04:00Oh Carolynnwith2Ns , yuck! The words "my par...Oh <b> Carolynnwith2Ns </b>, yuck! The words "my parents" (or any subset thereof) and "romance" do not belong in the same sentence. That, my dear, is a recipe for eyeball gouging and/or brain bleaching. abnormalalienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08666555569560028852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-9284102335388740662016-09-29T16:26:45.024-04:002016-09-29T16:26:45.024-04:00JR- thank you for the update! JR- thank you for the update! Janice Grinyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14363741660626407979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-76992893320144415162016-09-29T16:24:50.204-04:002016-09-29T16:24:50.204-04:00GAH nothing more annoying than "wanna-be"...GAH nothing more annoying than "wanna-be" writers. Of course, the only reason why its annoying to me is because I was once one too. OPIE, We all started out as 'wanna-be's." But the ones who write, put in their time, write, put in MORE TIME and then patience, practicing writing skills, self-control, practicing more writing skills etc etc etc can be called writers. Others who just contemplate "what-ifs" are wanna-be's. <br /><br />OPIE- do your time. Just like all writers do. Write. Study, Read, talk to people in the publishing industry, write & read more. Join conversations/forums/comments where writing is the topic. Read more. Write more. Study it like a french girl. JR gives top advice, but you got to do the time to get paid for the crime. <br /><br />So hey, if you truly want to be a writer, first off, you will stop calling yourself a wanna-be writer. Second off, start writing.Janice Grinyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14363741660626407979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-6033969368050474752016-09-29T14:05:44.130-04:002016-09-29T14:05:44.130-04:00Just going to work.
Deadly.
Stay home and a plane ...Just going to work.<br />Deadly.<br />Stay home and a plane flies into your house.<br />It's true, live life like this is the last day of your life.<br />It just might be.Carolynnwith2Nshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18394998702410764388noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-35260700530302815212016-09-29T13:42:31.452-04:002016-09-29T13:42:31.452-04:00The perfect tag line for this novel: The bloodiest...The perfect tag line for this novel: The bloodiest feuds are between brothers.Annhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15547422195174076581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-47048940647790920242016-09-29T13:27:00.561-04:002016-09-29T13:27:00.561-04:00Just to throw this out there, I read 'I am Num...Just to throw this out there, I read 'I am Number Four' and was totally captivated by the first half. It seemed like a very believable mix of fantasy and realistic teen drama. <br /><br />Then the second half tanked: long paragraphs of action-text that was hard to follow and only half interesting, and the teens' conversations and actions seemed very staged. (Don't run in and out of the school ten times, guys, it doesn't make the monsters go away or solve anything). <br /><br />It's like it was written by two totally different people, I thought, and then looked up the author. Lo and behold, it was not just one guy. I don't know how exactly they divvied up the writing but the end product sure annoyed me. I haven't read any of the others in the series. <br /><br />So, I guess what I'm saying is, obviously it can be done but just make sure you keep the tone and quality consistent throughout. <br /><br />Saying prayers & thinking of all those involved in the crash :/ Glad it doesn't seem to involve anyone one here. Lennon Farishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03570629350169504234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-41557701310754517142016-09-29T13:15:57.803-04:002016-09-29T13:15:57.803-04:00THANK YOU, Janet. I was concerned. I'm relieve...<b>THANK YOU</b>, Janet. I was concerned. I'm relieved you, Jeff, and your NL colleagues are fine, but I continue to pray for those who are not. :(Colin Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03292997431935215499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-46412520397150549832016-09-29T13:14:00.877-04:002016-09-29T13:14:00.877-04:00Totally off topic
AJ Blythe recently helped me on...Totally off topic<br /><br />AJ Blythe recently helped me on my novel. I've thanked her privately but I want to thank her here, too. Bloody Oath, mate!Joseph S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07437663031050410028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-62732350015866392122016-09-29T13:10:02.582-04:002016-09-29T13:10:02.582-04:00Hoboken alert: Jeff Somers is fine, as is his love...Hoboken alert: Jeff Somers is fine, as is his lovely wife The Duchess, who does commute to work but not via the PATH train.<br /><br />Our New Leaf staff who commute from NJ are also fine.<br /><br />I am thankful they were spared. Others of course were not, and my heart is with them.Janet Reidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00615380335938685231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-56218232499835940032016-09-29T13:03:08.294-04:002016-09-29T13:03:08.294-04:00OP
Any co-writing suffers from “agency costs.” The...OP<br />Any co-writing suffers from “agency costs.” There are inefficiencies, different visions, coordination problems, etc. I’m a co-author of an academic book where the publisher wants a new edition every three or four years. My co-author and I switch halves nearly each edition (not this last time). I’d say half or two-thirds of my time goes to undoing or changing what he did, and I’d guess the same goes for him as to what I did. We’ve never met and seldom communicate, so we don’t argue. Luckily, we’re both competent<br />Joseph S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07437663031050410028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-66709001794762508002016-09-29T13:01:43.564-04:002016-09-29T13:01:43.564-04:00I want to scream “Don’t do it” but since I don’t k...I want to scream “Don’t do it” but since I don’t know anything about the relationship between the brothers I have no idea if they should co-write. His my-brother-has-no- time line is a red flag though.<br /><br />I just read Sandra Brown’s “Envy” about ‘best friends’ living together to write and that’s scary enough.<br /><br />I saw in practice examples of Janet Reid’s “the bloodiest feuds are among family members.” In both cases the brother were in business together (not as writers). The persons who seemed to suffered the most were the mothers who could never get their families together for the holidays or other family celebrations. In the end, all most mothers want is to have their family together around her, and that was denied. (Family bad blood feuds last decades)<br /><br />In my teaching days I read bad blood cases. Since I didn’t know the participants personally, those were funny.<br /><br />Joseph S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/07437663031050410028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-35538233690801331242016-09-29T12:21:27.842-04:002016-09-29T12:21:27.842-04:00T.C. Galvin: "Given that I struggle to agree ...T.C. Galvin: "Given that I struggle to agree with myself when writing" — yes, yes, wait no, yes.<br /><br />2Ns: OH NO. Nooooo. Nope. No. (All of me agrees on that one.)<br /><br />By the way, I ran across a <a href="http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-unexpected-ending-tweets/?page_numb=1" rel="nofollow">collection of tweets</a> with twists that might be useful inspiration for our flash fiction contests. Here's number 16:<br /><br />"The England team visited an orphanage in Brazil today. "It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope," said Jose, age 6.<br />@PeterNurse1Brigidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13768090206152536761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-80801266000016058332016-09-29T12:15:40.597-04:002016-09-29T12:15:40.597-04:00Author Joanna Penn has a book on this topic called...Author Joanna Penn has a book on this topic called (appropriately) "Co-writing a Book." <br /><br />I haven't read it so I can't endorse it, but there's probably a few books, blog posts or articles out there from experienced authors you could learn from before jumping in whole hog.<br /><br />Good luck!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00331026594971237758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-77914925737680026892016-09-29T11:13:37.342-04:002016-09-29T11:13:37.342-04:00From a writer's perspective I think a collabor...From a writer's perspective I think a collaboration could be fun, and help keep enthusiasm for the project going. For the pitfalls, see all comments above. My two cents is take your brother out for a beer and throw a bunch of the above what-ifs at him and then if it feels right and you both are gung-ho do the legal mumbo-jumbo. <br /><br />And when you get to the querying stage, figure out your strategy ahead of time. <br /><br /><b>Colin and Susan</b> love Columbo even though I have no cool international stories or the ability to recall specific episodes with such clarity!<br /><br />I, too, just turned on the TV. Praying for those affected by the train crash in NJ.RosannaMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06399732751877180737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-35225640821913082212016-09-29T11:08:01.267-04:002016-09-29T11:08:01.267-04:00I work on a team at my day joy, so I relish the &#...I work on a team at my day joy, so I relish the 'me' time I get when I write and cannot imagine sharing it with someone else. <br /><br />However, if OP moves forward I do have a suggestion: make sure any agents you pitch know it's a partnership. Of course, you say, both of our names will be on the query letter, but what if you pitch at a writers' conference? <br /><br />Having run the pitch sessions at a few conferences (NOT as glamorous as it sounds) I often encountered partners who failed to make me aware they wanted to team pitch. I had one agent who refused to listen to the pitch because she did not want to rep co-authors (I suppose for her it wasn't just about the writing). Another agent told me that trying to listen to two authors ramble over each other made for an easy rejection. Based on my observations the most successful teams did not pitch together, but pitched individually. If the agent was interested, then the author made the agent aware that there was a co-author. <br /><br />I know this is way down in the weeds, but it is worth considering as you put everything in writing. Good luck. K. Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15018562571421785494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-2008416044901467262016-09-29T11:07:45.202-04:002016-09-29T11:07:45.202-04:00Co-write, schmoe-write, my brother just wanted me ...Co-write, schmoe-write, my brother just wanted me to write his life story, on spec. Mark Ellishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17262292085318047939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-83485446239000729932016-09-29T10:54:00.676-04:002016-09-29T10:54:00.676-04:00Susan I loved your story. Thanks for sharing.
Den...<b>Susan</b> I loved your story. Thanks for sharing.<br /><br /><b>Dena</b> Spot on. Everyone's heard this a million times, but Diana Gabaldon wrote <i>Outlander</i> while she was working two jobs, three actually and the mother of three small children. She'd get up in the middle of the night when it was quiet and write for a few hours.<br /><br />My former editor used to edit all the stories the other writers wrote each week, do her own stories, write an award-winning editorial column, sell more advertising than the rest of the sales staff combined and still managed to do stories for <i>Chicken Soup</i> and some other things. She wrote one thriller and was working on an inspirational book that was really well done. Since she was forcibly retired, she doesn't "have time" to write.<br /><br />OP and brother are going to have to have a serious sit down and decide how they're going to handle all the things Dena brought up. If you two are committed to this project, then both of you are going to have to work on it. JulieWeathershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01361549099072091350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-51262225092924843552016-09-29T10:36:37.812-04:002016-09-29T10:36:37.812-04:00On topic, hah! (Although I must say that Colombo i...On topic, hah! (Although I must say that Colombo is a fave! I digress.) On topic, I've wavered so much about the collaboration issue. My son truly wrote my ready-to-sub book with me. I did the physical writing, but his ideas and feedback molded the writing. I feel like he's a co-author. He says he's not. It's a sincere quandary for me. I know you can't solve this for me, but reading the column and comments today makes me realize that collaboration can take many shapes.Sherry Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04326605891373049617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-74730684087364528492016-09-29T10:32:56.962-04:002016-09-29T10:32:56.962-04:00OP
One of the more unusual author teamings, to me...OP<br /><br />One of the more unusual author teamings, to me, has always been Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer on their romance novels. Mayer is a graduate of West Point, Green Beret, survival expert. He writes thrillers, science fiction, and historicals mostly, but everything has a lot of action.<br /><br />If you and your brother think you can work on this together, sit down and really plan out how you're going to do this. Then get things in a legal agreement. Even if you have two POVs, the story and writing styles have to flow seamlessly. You'd be surprised how easy it is to pick out someone's writing even if you don't see a name attached.<br /><br />At the magazine I used to work for we did short stories on races that had a $10,000 purse and below. We didn't do interviews, but still did pretty full stories on them, but there were no bylines. Even so, I'd still get a call occasionally from an owner or trainer thanking me for the nice story.<br /><br />This happens. Even as brothers you will have different ways of expressing yourselves.<br /><br />When it comes to querying, I would probably have one person query so you aren't driving agents crazy. Be organized. Do a goggle spreadsheet so both brothers know which agent has been queried and all the data on the query.<br /><br />"And don't even try to tell me "oh he's my brother, we won't do that" because the bloodiest feuds are among family members."<br /><br />Yup. That's why I'm not going to Surrey and one reason I didn't go to Oklahoma and Texas to research Cowgirls this summer. The other being I was on babysitting duty all summer while son tried to finish up some schooling and work. <br /><br />My father died almost three years ago. The trust was supposed to be settled no later than 18 months after his death. It by the terms of the trust was supposed to have been settled a year ago. This is a simple trust since everything had already been converted to cash except one vehicle, three if you count the two that were left to me, but my brother decided illegally to put in the trust.<br /><br />Since he obviously has no intentions of settling the trust, I'm now supporting lawyers. His last stalling tactic was to get the other brother wound up by telling him I took a valuable gun and coin collection. Dad had two guns, a 22 and a 30-06. The 30-06 was a rifle my ex loaned him since he didn't have time to hunt anymore. Now, if my two upstanding brothers think they're entitled to my husband's rifle, I'll be happy to give them his address, but they should realize trying to take guns away from Texians is what started the Texas revolution. <br /><br />And as for the valuable coin collection, well, the various presidential dollars, state quarters, Danbury Mint replica coins and poor quality genuine coins (or whatever the name of that ripoff place is) is interesting, but not that valuable. But, I'm sure it's enough to get another lawyer involved to keep me from getting control of the trust, getting an accountant involved, and getting it settled. The value lies in the fact Dad loved to sit in the nursing home and shop on tv. He loved getting mail. When I look at them, I see him getting out his strong box and lovingly showing me all his treasure and explaining this is a genuine gold coin commemorating the tall ships or that's a genuine gold doubloon and giggling because he got them for only $49.99.<br /><br />Anyway, get it all in writing. Once you have it in writing, there's no chance for misunderstanding. Even if one arises, then you've got something to go back to and save the debate.<br /><br />I wish you both much luck. When my youngest son came back from Iraq, he had the most wonderful idea for a thriller. He told it to me, but didn't have the skill to write it. I said we should do this. Some disaster came up and we got sidetracked. Both of us forgot what it was to this day. If you have an idea about something, for pity sake, write it down.<br />JulieWeathershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01361549099072091350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17040756.post-65643447120722486422016-09-29T10:25:44.589-04:002016-09-29T10:25:44.589-04:00Hot damn, the correct venery terms for gators and ...Hot damn, the correct venery terms for gators and cobras. Cool.<br /><br />Writing with someone else would make interactive dialogue so much easier.<br /><br />There is something off with this question though. I am not sure what it is. Maybe it is just the putting the cart before the horse thing. I think you should give it a shot before wondering if it will work. If the writing is great you can surmount many obstacles.<br /><br />The hard part will be in who gets to suppress their ego when it is a necessary thing.Craig Fhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07157301156577795781noreply@blogger.com