When Being A Fangirl Pays Off
Sep. 5th, 2007 03:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladymirthLadies and gentleman, (that means you, davinator) we now announce the latest writer to go the way of our other illustrious BNFs, thegraybook(Cassandra Claire), madlori(Lori Summers) and ladyjaida(Jaida Jones). As in they are all people who won major book deals after spending long years churning out the Crown Jewels of Harry Potter Fanfiction. (For those who have been living under a rock for the past five years and have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm referring to The Draco Trilogy, The Paradigm of Uncertainty series and The Shoebox Project)
And the lucky lady is....Sarah Rees Brennan, a.k.a Maya, a.k.amistful! Name seems familiar, people?
That's because I've been her self-proclaimed Official Fanfiction Pimp for the past ten entries. My One True God Queen, remember? Yes, our own beloved Maya! So excuse me while I SQUEEE!! the living daylights out of LJ!!!
Author Joan Swann, says it all:
I was browing the most recent Lunch delux from Publishers Weekly. I always like to see what things are selling, to whom, by whom and of course, how much they're going for.
For those of you who don't subscribe to PW or get their free Lunch every Tuesday, they break down the reported sales figures by $ amount. Here's the scale:
"nice deal" $1 - $49,000
"very nice deal" - $50,000 - $99,000
"good deal" - $100,000 - $250,000
"significant deal" - $251,000 - $499,000
"major deal" - $500,000 and up
I, personally, think its a little screwed up. I think the "good" and "nice" should be switched -- to me, a "nice" deal sounds better (like bigger bucks) than a "good" deal.
But...that's beside the point.
As I'm scanning through romance and then general fiction, I see a lot of "nice deal"s. A "very nice deal" or two.
Then BAM--I hit this:
Sarah Rees Brennan's debut urban fantasy trilogy starting with THE DEMON'S LEXICON, about two brothers hunted throughout England by a powerful magician's circle after their mother steals a charm and when the eldest is marked by a demon, the younger uses swords and dark arts in an effort to save him but unwittingly uncovers the darkest of secrets, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a major deal, at auction, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (world English).
The key words in here are DEBUT and MAJOR DEAL.
Translated that is her FIRST BOOK sold for over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.
Okay...excuse me, but H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T.
Frankly I'm astounded...that it has taken so long for the person who wrote If You've A Ready Mind to be discovered. Maya is a writer who starts out wth honest intentions of writing crack fic and inadvertently ends up writing classics. You have to know this about her, or at least keep a fairly open mind, when beginning her work though. It's a trend. I first discovered her through her post DH fic Coda to the Epilogue, even though I had read and ruptured a few internal organs laughing over her Harry Potter movie parodies beforehand.
However, I didn't get reading the rest of her stories at once, mostly because they were Draco-centric,and mostly Harry/Draco. I had lost interest in that pairing for years now, and it has been my painful experience that very few epople can write fanon Draco without getting annoying or starting bashing Weasleys. And the premises all looked like crack fic. Her stories included the following:
Drop Dead Gorgeous. This is a Veela! Harry fic. Yes, you heard me right. A fic wherein the grown up, Auror Harry not only is irrevocably homosexual and partnered with Mulder! Draco but also finds that his mother was a part-Veela and his own latent Veela powers are going haywire. This is a crack fic, right? A little, although apparently not altogether. Normally I would find this kind of fanfic as appealing as the Black Plague, but heartened by the knowledge that the author who wrote Coda wouldn't be that barf-worthy, I delved in bravely. My sanguine nature has never been more rewarded. Not only was it side-splittingly hilarious, but it was genuine and heartfelt and totally addictive. To my dying day I shall be baffled at the fact that I became a hard-core H/D shipper after reading a Veela! Harry fic, of all things.
Quality Of Mercy. A post-HPB fic which featured Draco Malfoy being embraced by the Weasley family Even if I had had any interest in reading post HPB fics after reading Deathly Hallows, this kind of fluffy premise would be anathema to my very soul. But one rainy morning I made myself give it a try and....it was unbelievable! Not only was it written in a completely convincing and serious manner without ever forsaking her trademark undercurrent of hilarity, but it proved that Maya was far from being simply a comic writer. Her handling of angst, emotion and morality is intricate and phemomenal. This is best highlighted in her dark one-shot, Your Every Wish.
After that, I learnt to not to judge a story by its premise, ever. Her premises continue to put me off to the point that I have to persuade myself to read it, and am bowled over every time. The Badger Series is a trilogy is centered on Zacharius Smith, of all people. Draco Malfoy, The Amazing Bouncing Rat made me weary just reading the title, because the whole Draco-as-ferret-like-rodent deal has been just about beaten to death by fandom by now, besides being a Dramione fic. If You've A Ready Mind is an AU which explores what might have happened if Draco was sorted into Ravenclaw. My reaction to that premise was that he would probably have turned into an academically-inclined narcissistic git, instead of being merely a narcissitic git, yawn. And that turned out to be the story that cemented my love for Draco Malfoy forever and for always. The only work I haven't read yet is her debut fic, which contnues to be her most famous, Underwater Light.
Go check them out.
Now, we all know I can't write worth a dime myself. Or at least, that my gnat-like attention span is singularly unconducive to carrying out the ambitious epics my brain insists on presenting me with. However, the universe has compensated by giving me a accurate pimping proclivities, and a capacity for unabashed, unreserved, enthusiastic, creepy, border-line stalkerish admiration of those who I deem CAN write. That's right folks, I'm a fangirl waiting to happen. And it just so happens that I fangirl the winners. Those FoLCs on my flist will remember the house-elf like devotion I continue to bestow upon one Lynn M, that peerless pearl of Lois and Clark fanfiction, who gifted us with gems such as The Butterfly Legacy, Rage and Haunting Eden, and then left to pursue original fiction a year back. I also predict great things for my current favourite Rachel, a.k.a SmirkyRaven of Darkest Dreams fame.
Which means that if my instincts remain true, the next in line ismissile_envy! Because she did the impossible a few days ago and made me read and love an actual Severus/ Hermione fic. (It's Never That Simple) How about it Dasha?
davinator) we now announce the latest writer to go the way of our other illustrious BNFs, thegraybook(Cassandra Claire), madlori(Lori Summers) and ladyjaida(Jaida Jones). As in they are all people who won major book deals after spending long years churning out the Crown Jewels of Harry Potter Fanfiction. (For those who have been living under a rock for the past five years and have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm referring to The Draco Trilogy, The Paradigm of Uncertainty series and The Shoebox Project) And the lucky lady is....Sarah Rees Brennan, a.k.a Maya, a.k.a
mistful! Name seems familiar, people? That's because I've been her self-proclaimed Official Fanfiction Pimp for the past ten entries. My One True God Queen, remember? Yes, our own beloved Maya! So excuse me while I SQUEEE!! the living daylights out of LJ!!!
Author Joan Swann, says it all:
I was browing the most recent Lunch delux from Publishers Weekly. I always like to see what things are selling, to whom, by whom and of course, how much they're going for.
For those of you who don't subscribe to PW or get their free Lunch every Tuesday, they break down the reported sales figures by $ amount. Here's the scale:
"nice deal" $1 - $49,000
"very nice deal" - $50,000 - $99,000
"good deal" - $100,000 - $250,000
"significant deal" - $251,000 - $499,000
"major deal" - $500,000 and up
I, personally, think its a little screwed up. I think the "good" and "nice" should be switched -- to me, a "nice" deal sounds better (like bigger bucks) than a "good" deal.
But...that's beside the point.
As I'm scanning through romance and then general fiction, I see a lot of "nice deal"s. A "very nice deal" or two.
Then BAM--I hit this:
Sarah Rees Brennan's debut urban fantasy trilogy starting with THE DEMON'S LEXICON, about two brothers hunted throughout England by a powerful magician's circle after their mother steals a charm and when the eldest is marked by a demon, the younger uses swords and dark arts in an effort to save him but unwittingly uncovers the darkest of secrets, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a major deal, at auction, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (world English).
The key words in here are DEBUT and MAJOR DEAL.
Translated that is her FIRST BOOK sold for over HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.
Okay...excuse me, but H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T.
Frankly I'm astounded...that it has taken so long for the person who wrote If You've A Ready Mind to be discovered. Maya is a writer who starts out wth honest intentions of writing crack fic and inadvertently ends up writing classics. You have to know this about her, or at least keep a fairly open mind, when beginning her work though. It's a trend. I first discovered her through her post DH fic Coda to the Epilogue, even though I had read and ruptured a few internal organs laughing over her Harry Potter movie parodies beforehand.
However, I didn't get reading the rest of her stories at once, mostly because they were Draco-centric,and mostly Harry/Draco. I had lost interest in that pairing for years now, and it has been my painful experience that very few epople can write fanon Draco without getting annoying or starting bashing Weasleys. And the premises all looked like crack fic. Her stories included the following:
Drop Dead Gorgeous. This is a Veela! Harry fic. Yes, you heard me right. A fic wherein the grown up, Auror Harry not only is irrevocably homosexual and partnered with Mulder! Draco but also finds that his mother was a part-Veela and his own latent Veela powers are going haywire. This is a crack fic, right? A little, although apparently not altogether. Normally I would find this kind of fanfic as appealing as the Black Plague, but heartened by the knowledge that the author who wrote Coda wouldn't be that barf-worthy, I delved in bravely. My sanguine nature has never been more rewarded. Not only was it side-splittingly hilarious, but it was genuine and heartfelt and totally addictive. To my dying day I shall be baffled at the fact that I became a hard-core H/D shipper after reading a Veela! Harry fic, of all things.
Quality Of Mercy. A post-HPB fic which featured Draco Malfoy being embraced by the Weasley family Even if I had had any interest in reading post HPB fics after reading Deathly Hallows, this kind of fluffy premise would be anathema to my very soul. But one rainy morning I made myself give it a try and....it was unbelievable! Not only was it written in a completely convincing and serious manner without ever forsaking her trademark undercurrent of hilarity, but it proved that Maya was far from being simply a comic writer. Her handling of angst, emotion and morality is intricate and phemomenal. This is best highlighted in her dark one-shot, Your Every Wish.
After that, I learnt to not to judge a story by its premise, ever. Her premises continue to put me off to the point that I have to persuade myself to read it, and am bowled over every time. The Badger Series is a trilogy is centered on Zacharius Smith, of all people. Draco Malfoy, The Amazing Bouncing Rat made me weary just reading the title, because the whole Draco-as-ferret-like-rodent deal has been just about beaten to death by fandom by now, besides being a Dramione fic. If You've A Ready Mind is an AU which explores what might have happened if Draco was sorted into Ravenclaw. My reaction to that premise was that he would probably have turned into an academically-inclined narcissistic git, instead of being merely a narcissitic git, yawn. And that turned out to be the story that cemented my love for Draco Malfoy forever and for always. The only work I haven't read yet is her debut fic, which contnues to be her most famous, Underwater Light.
Go check them out.
Now, we all know I can't write worth a dime myself. Or at least, that my gnat-like attention span is singularly unconducive to carrying out the ambitious epics my brain insists on presenting me with. However, the universe has compensated by giving me a accurate pimping proclivities, and a capacity for unabashed, unreserved, enthusiastic, creepy, border-line stalkerish admiration of those who I deem CAN write. That's right folks, I'm a fangirl waiting to happen. And it just so happens that I fangirl the winners. Those FoLCs on my flist will remember the house-elf like devotion I continue to bestow upon one Lynn M, that peerless pearl of Lois and Clark fanfiction, who gifted us with gems such as The Butterfly Legacy, Rage and Haunting Eden, and then left to pursue original fiction a year back. I also predict great things for my current favourite Rachel, a.k.a SmirkyRaven of Darkest Dreams fame.
Which means that if my instincts remain true, the next in line is
missile_envy! Because she did the impossible a few days ago and made me read and love an actual Severus/ Hermione fic. (It's Never That Simple) How about it Dasha?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-05 07:44 pm (UTC)I didn't know Lori got a book deal! Did that happen recently?
I liked in your last post with the picture that one of the others at that site has a centrepital force comic at the bottom:
http://xkcd.com/123/
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-06 04:00 am (UTC)Now that I think about it, she hasn't actually been published yet. She's wrote her book, called "Third" and she has an agent, so it's probably only a matter of time. Still, there's something wrong with a universe where Lori is not yet published. Still, it's heartening to know that not everybody who gets published is my age. Jaida is, you know, and Maya is only three years older than me. It makes me feel panicky, like I could've done more with my life but didn't.
Hee hee. That was hilarious, wasn't it? Personally, I cracked up every time he mentioned Jurassic Park.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-10 10:23 pm (UTC)I only figured Third hadn't been published because Lori hasn't mentioned it and I check Amazon every so often when it occurs to me.
Incidentally, I'd likely say, "Ohhh, what are you up to, hmmm?" with a grin as opposed to "stop that." ;-)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-11 09:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-12 02:31 am (UTC)