Oh, yes. It’s out of hand.
Buy my manuscript for $150,000 on eBay!*
[Not *my* ms, silly-- or couldn't you tell that the crayon-written cover page was Not Written By Me? Or the rambling, nonsensical description? Or the offer to have someone buy this unfinished manuscript and publish it under their own, far more reputable, name?]
spud31 wrote:
Thanks for sharing that gem. I’m sure all ‘well known, authors’ are lining up to buy that one after reading that description.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 3:47 am | Permalink
beginning wrote:
Oh, come on. I’d read it. This alone completely blows my mind. It leaves me yearning to know where “the other place” really is. Must be some deep metaphor I’m Not High Up Enough to understand…
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 3:55 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
You mean Not High Enough, don’t you?
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 3:59 am | Permalink
bobert225 wrote:
so pathetic. thanks for making my day
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 4:03 am | Permalink
beginning wrote:
Nope, I meant what I said. I’m perfectly fine not having the world’s best grammar. Somehow, I’ve survived.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 4:04 am | Permalink
ciannait wrote:
I got a real kick out of the actual paragraph.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 4:23 am | Permalink
coffeechica wrote:
I regret that I don’t have $150 grand, but I do have this box of line breaks that he can have FOR FREE.
“Everything comes to an end with a absolution and a twist, making sense in a reality way.”
Coincidentally, I like my Absolut with a twist.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 4:47 am | Permalink
wibbble wrote:
That has to be a spoof, right?
Please, please tell me that’s a joke.
…
Please?
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 5:11 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
If it were a joke (no ms., or whatever), eBay would pull it down, and it’s been up for 6 days.
I don’t think it’s a joke. I think it’s amazing what some people think about writing and publishing. But it’s not a joke.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 5:24 am | Permalink
wibbble wrote:
I meant a joke in the sense of not seriously expecting anyone to bid on it.
There’s nothing to suggest that it’s breaking eBay’s guidelines. It could just be someone looking at last year’s NaNoWriMo novel and deciding it would be a laugh to auction it off.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 6:05 am | Permalink
halfawake wrote:
Thanks for sharing, that’s incredibly amusing. That guy is living in the past, with a manuscript written in crayon. Clearly he isn’t a real writer; all the real writers use computers these days. The publishing companies wouldn’t have it any other way.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 6:15 am | Permalink
kr8vkat wrote:
OMG this is too hilarious! What the heck is this guy thinking? And just how old is he, anyway? Is it his 7th grade English teacher that thought it would look good on film??
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 6:20 am | Permalink
junglemonkee wrote:
He’s right. “It’s a story to reconcile with.”
Hope he’s reconciled himself and his three kids to that swell apartment.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 6:24 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Au contraire. Many writers still compose and submit their work on typewriter or longhand. I can state authoritatively that Ursula Le Guin does not use a computer at all.
That said, no unpublished writer would dare.
Oh, and it’s only the cover written in crayon. The rest appears to be typed (on 10×13 paper, though?)
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 7:39 am | Permalink
isabeau wrote:
Nope.
He appears to be quite serious about the offer, and about the ‘fact’ that Stephen King doesn’t ever write his own novels (just sends his agent out to find something, and slaps his name on it), and, uh, stuff.
Given that the other option he’s halfway considering (according to the ebay writeup) is a vanity publishing company who will publish anything as long as the money is flowing in the writer-to-publisher direction (rather than the other way around) … I kind of feel sorry for the guy.
But my amusesment outweighs the pity *grin*
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 8:13 am | Permalink
isabeau wrote:
I love the way the English teachers were “telling [him] that they could not put [his] book down after the first chapter.” Well, yeah — I woudln’t be putting it down either, I’d be reading to see how bad the train wreck could get. *snicker*
ahem.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 8:18 am | Permalink
mortaine wrote:
Oh. Dear. God. Lookout, I’d better privitize my entry– he might SUE!
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 8:39 am | Permalink
halfawake wrote:
With all the editing writers do, I imagine that the number of writers that do still compose their work longhand or using a typewriter is very small. Although I know a writer who used to do it that way, but he eventually switched to typing because it was easier for the publishers.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 10:52 am | Permalink
slamlander wrote:
In fact, I don’t think that I have even been sufficiently high to pop 150G’s for unread schlock.
Posted on 30-Sep-04 at 4:46 pm | Permalink
jencottrell wrote:
Okay I am not an English person but even I noticed some pretty bad grammar and such. I only skimmned and he needed help.
Interesting concept….selling your soul….wonder who would buy his soul for that price?
Posted on 01-Oct-04 at 2:57 am | Permalink
skinglist wrote:
and wondering where the first paragraph break would be!
Posted on 01-Oct-04 at 2:40 pm | Permalink
isabeau wrote:
*snorfle*
Actually <random tangent> there was one time that I was on a list where people posted Buffy fanfics, and one of the fics was posted with /no/ paragraph breaks (or rather, each scene was one loooooong paragraph, with a break at the scene change). Despite the fact that most fanfic authors receive any constructive-criticism-type comments with less grace than our dear friend Daniel Rice, I sent them a “er, you might want to paragraph this” note. And they actually responded, thanking me profusely, and their future fics were paragraphed properly. I just about fell over from shock. </random tangent>
Posted on 01-Oct-04 at 2:44 pm | Permalink
skinglist wrote:
it’s always nice when people pleasantly surprise you. And yes, constructive criticism to fic writers can be a touchy subject.
I’ve found I can deal wit small bits of Net Speak, but my eyes just cannot process long non-paragraphed text.
Posted on 02-Oct-04 at 11:45 am | Permalink