Publishing Adventures
New fantasy rock-star author Patrick Rothfuss has an amazing first novel, The Name of the Wind, and a shiny new website and blog.
In one of his recent posts, he says that agents are navigators, and for some reason my brain immediately conjured up images of grizzled veteran wilderness guides, armed with only experience and laptops, ready to guide an author through the exotic Outback or Rainforest of the publishing industry.
Only on this trek, they aren’t searching for treasure. They carry the treasure with them, or more precisely, the author is carrying the treasure and the agent-guide is searching for just the right ancient temple or lost city. That treasure will be a long-sought key that will provide entry for the author to that hidden realm they find together.
The catch is, once that treasure, the finished manuscript, is used to gain access to the higher realm, the author has to have the courage to leave what they perceive as a paradise and venture back into the real world. Once back “home” the author will create another treasure and the agent-guide will take them on another trek to find another realm for that treasure to open.
I don’t know why that imagery popped into my head, but I thought it was cool when it did. Only, now I don’t know what adventure metaphor to use for editors…
Editors would be like the jungle guides hacking away with machetes….
April 5th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Hee… that works!
Or, maybe they would be the Gate Guardians of those other realms, where true entry is only granted after the submitted treasure has passed the test of the Red Pencil…
April 6th, 2007 at 12:04 am
you must use your magical prose to keep the red pencil and machetes at bay…
somehow I imagine a whip and bag of sand…
April 6th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
and those red pencils flying out of cavern walls like poisoned darts…
April 7th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Perfect! haha
April 8th, 2007 at 10:47 am