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Position:Home>Books & Authors> Has she committed literary suicide?Question: Has she committed literary suicide!? I have a cousin who decided to recently break into children's literature!. She recently submitted a children's picture book manuscript to a publisher!. In the cover letter, she mentioned she wrote fanfiction and gave the website!. Now she's freaking out because she mailed it out already and discovered because she did that, she may never be seriously considered a 'real' author!. Any suggestions on what I can tell her!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Anybody can be considered a "real" author, even for, mediocre work such as fanfiction (I don't take fanfics too seriously - I tried to write one and while I got to chapter 3, i decided there were too many things in there to count and fix!. A lot of continuity, A lot of errors !. !. !.!. and mostly a few scenarios that would not make sense!. So I had quit making it fanfiction, and made it original fiction not based on any video game, anime, or anything else that can be written of in the fanfiction "genre"!. Because many publishers (or at least this is what I'm told) don't want writing considered "child's play" which is what, to me, fanfiction basically is !. !. !. She should not worry, but if she did want to really get published, she would have been smart to figure out that most publishers don't approve of fanfiction as a previous writing experience!. However, no, she has not comitted literary suicide!. There are aplenty publishers still out there who will approve of fanfiction as a non-amateur writing experience, and then will take a look at them and the childrens picture book manuscript!., and will judge whether she will be a published writer or not!. Although it is hard to find those kinds of publishers!.!.!.But even if they dont like fanfiction, and she has a unique creative way of writing them, I'm sure they will be appealed by her writing style!. But whether or not she is published, she in no way has comitted literary suicide if she still is willing to write and write and write, no matter how good or bad a critic dub her works be!. So, she can still compose literature whether she is published or not!. also, tell her that if they reject her - tell her not to give up!. She will be receiving a lot of No's from various publishing companies, and if she keeps trying she will get a yes and before you know it her book might be selling on Amazon!.com or Borders in the kid's section!. And another piece of advice if i didnt say so already! !.!.!.!. Tell her to stop writing fanfics and move on to original fiction!.Www@QuestionHome@Com That one publisher will probably consider her entirely unprofessional, for two reasons!. One, she's mentioned something in her cover letter that has nothing to do with what she's submitting!. It says 'amateur' to mention unpaid writing, unless it's a contest win!. Two, if it applies, she's sent the manuscript out without the publisher having requested it!. Three, that fanfiction is considered unprofessional, is a negative but not a deal breaker!. I've written fan fiction!. My regular fiction has been published!. I just don't mention the fanfiction, since it's got nothing to do with anything I want the publisher or agent to consider!. There are a bazillion children's publishers, so even if she blew her chance with one, she hasn't blown her career chances!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Well - that wasn't very smart of her!. A publisher isn't going to give two hoots if you write fanfiction!. They only material they're interested in is if, say, your cousin had another children's book actually published somewhere!. She'll be rejected by the publisher, most likely!. Just have her take out the part about writing fanfiction the next time she sends into a publisher!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Quite a few professional authors of Star Trek fiction (consistent bestsellers) started out writing fanfic!. In fact, for 10 years, the publishers at Pocket Books held a yearly contest and published stories ONLY from non-pro authors of Star Trek fanfic!. This series spawned several new professionals!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Tell her that the next time she submits a manuscript she should omit any mention of fanfic in her cover letter!. She hasn't killed her chances of being published!. She's just stumbled for a moment!. She can easily pick herself up and move on!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |