Linda and I “attended” a conference (virtually) this weekend, and I think it went well. For those who don’t read my FB page, I posted that it’s a good thing I’m pathologically early.
I was under the impression my one-on-one would begin at 2:10, and when I showed up at 2:03, I was thrown right in with my industry professional. But that’s beside the point, which is how it went and what I was able to glean from the experience.
As with other conferences, there’s a lot of information. Much of I won’t have access to for another week. That’s okay. As long as I’m motivated enough to actually get to the recorded sessions there will be a lot to absorb.
During my one-on-one, I was told The Brotherhood was obviously done by someone who knew how to write. The trouble is the story is told in a non-standard way, which will make it difficult to get interest by agents or editors. If I were a total newbie that would concern me.
New writers frequently experiment with non-standard storytelling. The issue comes in when there’s no particular reason to have that voice. “I just wanted to do something different” isn’t sufficient reason to have run-on sentences with no punctuation or paragraphing. It’s simply hard to read, and if there’s no compelling purpose to doing that it’s just annoying.
The Brotherhood, on the other hand, is told by “the bad guy,” and narrated as if to “the good guy.” The reason for that storytelling method is to have the reader more easily identify with the protagonist, and to enhance the “creepy” factor of also being inside the head of the antagonist - to think what he’s thinking, and know what he knows.
That’s going to make it hard to get industry professionals interested. After all, my name isn’t Stephen King. And while I’m not exactly a total beginner, I’m not very well known. King could write what I did and nobody would flinch at reading it.
But as I mentioned, I’m not Stephen King.
My name is Mark Meier and I wrote The Brotherhood. If I must, I will self publish.
I believe in this project that much.
I’ll keep you updated as things unfold.
OH! I almost forgot!
Based on a recommendation I submitted to another agent today.
