"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

[iansales]

Doesn't PDF editing software cost money? Whereas most computers have Microsoft Office - or OpenOffice, or access to Google documents - already installed?

Besides, PDFs are only useful because they fix the formatting of the document - and it's the words you should be concentrating on. Approximations to SMF by Word, OO Writer, Wordstar, etc. are close enough.

[I, Brian]

PDF's are evil and well known for crashing Firefox!

It still flummoxes me that on the world wide web, some websites still insist on presenting documents in PDF rather than HTML. It offers nothing for the general user, except frustration if Firefox crashes or freezes, and how much more often do I have to see the message "Adobe Acrobat did not close properly..."

I think PDF's are a great way to pee people off, and absolutely would not send one to any in publishing.

[Montero]

I wasn't intending to send one (unless asked for it ) just wondered why no-one asked.
I find them good for providing a fixed format document - though thinking about it more for sending reports with embedded pictures/graphs in as Word and Open Office can both be annoying in how flaky the picturing anchoring and text flow can be. (So nothing to do with my submissions to agents. )

I like being able to download pdfs from the internet, to store and look at later. They print better than HTML pages as well. Talking tech docs here.

[Heterochromia]

I have a few questions about being published that I am hoping you can answer.

Firstly, if an agent liked your writing but didn't like your book, would they still sign you on the promise of something else?

Also, I have just finished one novel and I'm hoping to start on another over the next month. Had a few ideas, but would like to know if one of them is a complete no-no.

You see, it starts with two characters on the run who are having an illicit affair, a local doctor and a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl (I know this doesn't sound very SF/Fantasy, but that comes later!). I wrote two chapters a while back, but no one on my online writing group would even read them because it involved underage sex.

Would this also preclude publishing? I don't want to bother writing any more if this will never even be read. I just want to stress at this point that I am not a pervert, but I had the idea after I read a similar story in a newspaper. Please don't flame me!

[The Judge]

I'm not sure if John is around at the moment, so I'll have a go at answering.

Originally Posted by Heterochromia

Firstly, if an agent liked your writing but didn't like your book, would they still sign you on the promise of something else?

Highly unlikely, I'd have thought. More likely you'd get a 'No thanks, but keep me in mind for the next one', perhaps with some comments about your writing generally.

Also, I have just finished one novel and I'm hoping to start on another over the next month. Had a few ideas, but would like to know if one of them is a complete no-no.

I don't think anything is a complete no-no, but you surely will limit your options with subject matter which many will find distasteful. This is particularly the case, I imagine, if the doctor is seen as the hero and/or isn't punished in any way for the offence. On the upside, if you did get published, the furore from the outraged moralists will almost guarantee you fame and fortune. If you're really lucky, they will even buy your book for the express purpose of burning it!

I wrote two chapters a while back, but no one on my online writing group would even read them because it involved underage sex.

I don't think you'd have that reaction here, if you wanted to put an extract up for critique. Read the stickies at the top of the critiques forum though, and only post a few hundred words to begin with.

Would this also preclude publishing? I don't want to bother writing any more if this will never even be read.

Is there a reason the girl is only 15? Could you make her older in fact, even if you need the doctor and/or the others in the book to believe she is underage? Is the sex happening on stage, as it were? If so, you are more likely to cause offence, and again create problems in selling the book to an agent or publisher, than if it is happening behind closed doors.

I just want to stress at this point that I am not a pervert, but I had the idea after I read a similar story in a newspaper. Please don't flame me!

You won't get flamed on this site - we have very good moderators here.

J

[Sarahsque]

wow this is a good read! Can we still ask questions?

[Ian Whates]

Originally Posted by Sarahsque

wow this is a good read! Can we still ask questions?

You can ask, Sarahsque, and who knows, you might even get an answer! John had intended to make a return to the Chrons on a regular basis, but I suspect his workload is getting in the way again.

Don't worry, though, there'll always be someone willing to answer!

[Heterochromia]

Originally Posted by The Judge

I'm not sure if John is around at the moment, so I'll have a go at answering.


Highly unlikely, I'd have thought. More likely you'd get a 'No thanks, but keep me in mind for the next one', perhaps with some comments about your writing generally.

I don't think anything is a complete no-no, but you surely will limit your options with subject matter which many will find distasteful. This is particularly the case, I imagine, if the doctor is seen as the hero and/or isn't punished in any way for the offence. On the upside, if you did get published, the furore from the outraged moralists will almost guarantee you fame and fortune. If you're really lucky, they will even buy your book for the express purpose of burning it!

I don't think you'd have that reaction here, if you wanted to put an extract up for critique. Read the stickies at the top of the critiques forum though, and only post a few hundred words to begin with.

Is there a reason the girl is only 15? Could you make her older in fact, even if you need the doctor and/or the others in the book to believe she is underage? Is the sex happening on stage, as it were? If so, you are more likely to cause offence, and again create problems in selling the book to an agent or publisher, than if it is happening behind closed doors.

You won't get flamed on this site - we have very good moderators here.

J

Hey Judge,

Thanks so much for your response. I'm glad this forum is open-minded. I personally believe that no subject should be taboo, and I certainly wasn't planning on portraying this subject in a positive light or letting the doctor go unpunished.

It is pretty important that the girl is actually underage, as her and the doc go on the run because of it. It's only the beginning of the novel, though, the catalyst for everything that happens afterwards, all caused by this shocking act.

Thanks again for your advice. I'll give the first chapter another polish and see about posting it in the critique section.

[The Judge]

Originally Posted by Heterochromia

Thanks again for your advice. I'll give the first chapter another polish and see about posting it in the critique section.

No problem. But, please don't make it the whole chapter! We usually only need around 350-500 words to assess someone's writing strengths and weaknesses in the first instance. If people like your work, then you can post longer excerpts afterwards if you are still looking for help.

J

[Heterochromia]

Originally Posted by The Judge

No problem. But, please don't make it the whole chapter! We usually only need around 350-500 words to assess someone's writing strengths and weaknesses in the first instance. If people like your work, then you can post longer excerpts afterwards if you are still looking for help.

J

Thanks, haven't gotten around to reading the rules properly yet, will do

[dreamhunter]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

I haven't known anyone whose first book was truly awful be successful later.

Sorry John. But David Gemmel did write an awful first attempt, The Man from Miami, in the 70s, which didn't find any publisher. He himself later admitted that the book "was so bad it could curdle milk at 50 paces.”

He later wrote The Siege of Dros Delnoch after he was diagnosed with a cancer which he believed was terminal, in 1976. After he learned that it was a misdiagnosis, he set it aside until 1980.

He returned to make another attempt, and Siege was accepted in 1982, and was published under a new title, Legend, in 1984. The rest, of course, is history.

The Drenai Series, the Rigante Series, the Stones of Power/Sipstrassi Series, the John Shannow series, the Hawk Queen Series and his swansong, the Troy Trilogy.

[dreamhunter]

Originally Posted by Heterochromia

You see, it starts with two characters on the run who are having an illicit affair, a local doctor and a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl (I know this doesn't sound very SF/Fantasy, but that comes later!).

I just want to stress at this point that I am not a pervert, but I had the idea after I read a similar story in a newspaper. Please don't flame me!

Neither am I. But I think, personally, that folks over generalise and are over hung up on the right age for a girl to have sex. I mean, there are plenty of girls of fifteen who are much more mature, both emotionally and physically, than other girls (leave alone boys, who tend to mature much later) two to three years older than them.

To me, it should be a girl's emotional-biological-anatomical stage of development, rather than her pure chronological age, that should be the main limiting criterion.

How about you place the time of your forbidden love back somewhere in the medieval ages? When folks weren't so hung up and so morally pretentious about an imaginary age threshold. Maybe you could use time travel as a device/excuse, if you have to.

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by Heterochromia

It is pretty important that the girl is actually underage, as her and the doc go on the run because of it. It's only the beginning of the novel, though, the catalyst for everything that happens afterwards, all caused by this shocking act.

Originally Posted by dreamhunter

How about you place the time of your forbidden love back somewhere in the medieval ages? When folks weren't so hung up and so morally pretentious about an imaginary age threshold.

Heterochromia wants the act to be transgressive/forbidden, dreamhunter, as this is what sets the plot in train. If the act were merely considered to be "not very nice", and then only to those folks who are "hung up and so morally pretentious", there would be no need for the doctor and the girl to go on the run, would there?




By the way, Heterochromia, in many places - for example France, I believe - a girl of fifteen has reached the age of consent. Is the doctor thinking of travelling to such a country or staying where their relationship remains illegal?

[Peter Graham]

To me, it should be a girl's emotional-biological-anatomical stage of development, rather than her pure chronological age, that should be the main limiting criterion.

Great Scott! That's going to cause a few problems on a drunken Saturday night. Will potential paramours have to forego a swift knee-trembler behind the Mecca bingo hall until the lady has had a full psychological profile and a full medical examination carried out by suitably qualified professionals? Can you actually complete a rorshach test when you are three sheets to the wind on vodka and cheap cider?

Peter

[Boneman]

By Peter Graham
Can you actually complete a rorshach test when you are three sheets to the wind on vodka and cheap cider?

D'you know... I think you probably can... isn't the rorshach test designed to tap the subconcious? And these people will be sub-conscious... (hic!)