Old Journal! (Assistance requested!)
Actually, knowing me, I’ll screw it all up and post a new journal in a week, but whatever.Anyway, the point of this journal (yes, there’s actually a point!) is that I’ve been researching this whole process of finding an agent and it’s waaay more complicated and formalized than I would have ever guessed. Turns out that there’s very specific methodology to writing a query letter with, naturally, differing opinions on the smaller details. I’ve been learning what I can and am starting to work on a couple versions of the query letter (and then I need to do a proper synopsis, yay!) but one of the big suggestions that one guy (an agent and author himself) puts out is that I should be comparing my book to something in a similar vein in so far as story, setting, etc.
The trick to this is that you need to find something that if you going with another book, you want to find something that the agent represented; something that he’s definitely familiar with and has already found success with; something that will make the query more personal to him. The problem is... I really don’t do a lot of reading. I’m a slow reader (I write faster than I read
) and don’t find a lot of time for reading... and I can’t think of anything that really parallels Maelstrom’s story.There’s a couple of movie franchises which I think are in the same spirit (action and adventure with a good dose of humour) but the setting is completely different as they aren’t “high fantasy” genre. I won’t mention them by name so as to avoid locking them into your brains. Why? Because I need help!
Not just the mental variety.
Any of you know a book which holds some comparisons to my work? List ‘em for me so I’ve got something to look at, at least! Movies and such as well; I’ll take anything to get me started. If nothing else, it’ll be interesting to get to know a bit about how you view it.
Of course, I’m taking a big leap of faith that I’ll get more than two responses, but hey... every bit helps.
Okay, and now that I’ve made you read through all that... here’s some quick features!
*OmeN2501 consistently blows my mind with his amazing work and any fantasy fans will be able to appreciate his skills in this piece. Personally, though, I’m cheering for the dragon!
It takes a lot to impress me enough to fave a piece of fanart (just not my usual thing) but ~kerko’s painting of Mononoke is just pure beauty. I especially love that it gives her a more realistic look. Oh, yeah, and I freakin’ love that movie! *ahem* That is all.
~A2wildFox is a great person with a lot of talent but is vastly under-appreciated. She’s also got a story behind pretty much everything she draws (paints or whatever), so there’s some reading material there too. Yay!
And last but far from least, if you aren’t watching *Radojavor then you need your head checked. Of course, I am watching him but still probably need my head checked. Either way, the guy’s frickin’ brilliant. And once you’re done gawking at the pretty pictures... answer my questions! Now!
Fine, you’ve got one minute, but I’m timing you!
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My family on DA! My lovely and entirely wonderful wife
and my still-young-but-already-brilliantly-talented sister 
!!~
I'm a Bobling, he's a Bobling, she's a Bobling! Wouldn't you like to be a Bobling too?
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Content
Devious Comments
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Science, like nature. must also be tamed, with a view towards its presevation --- Rush, Natural Science
Wouldn't you like to be a Bobling too?
[link]
Now that I think about it, there is one thing that reminds me of Maelstrom. It's a novel/manga/anime series called Slayers. Maybe you've heard of it, or watched it, but I'll assume that you haven't and draw a few parallels between the two, the way I see it (I feel like typing right now
The main two characters are Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev. Lina is a wandering 15 year old genius sorceress notoriously known for using much too powerful spells than needed and wrecking havoc in the process (only in the anime, though), and she's also a skilled swordswoman. Gourry is a magnificent swordsman, but painfully slow and unbelievably forgetful, and also kind, loyal and more than a bit naive.
The parallel I'd pull between Lina and Maellory is that they're both skilled with swords, both use offensive spells, have strong, somewhat bossy personality and short temper, although no physical resemblance (Lina is a short redhead, and one of the running gags is the size of her bust). Even though Maellory is much more normal and down to earth character, there's certainly a likeness between the two personalities.
As for Canaer and Gourry, one uses a bow and the other a sword, but both of them are skilled almost beyond match. Each have their own quirks that make them humorous characters (Gourry is less irritating, IMHO
Taking the series as a whole, I think I've read somewhere someone referring to them as dramedy - half comedy, half drama (action), which I think precisely describes Maelstrom as well. The comic scenes, mostly caused by Gourry, are followed by intense action scenes. It's hard to imagine the similarities if you've never watched/read it, but if you have, I think you'll agree with me about the similarities.
Now, after I've wrote all this, let me simply add that I doubt it to be a good practice to compare your book with a manga/anime, there's a great chance that the person reading the letter never even heard of Slayers
p.s. when I think about movies, Pirates of the Caribbean comes to mind... I wonder what you'll say to that
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Hi, my name is Tanna and I'm an emotoholic...
The only problem is that Justina Robson is a British writer, with (I would assume) a British agent, and isn't very well known over here, let alone in the US.
Well, I hope there's something helpful in there.
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"In matters of the heart, the greatest sorrow is to lose that which is dearest to you. The greatest crime is to take it for granted." -- Me
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I'm a Bobling... wouldn't you like to be a Bobling too? [link]
PotC seems a decent comparison in terms of the spirit of things and some of the general characters, but as with the two movie series I had in mind (Indiana Jones and Mummy, btw), I'm worried that mentioning them might make people think that Maelstrom takes place in a more modern or "real" world. Also don't want people thinking it's got anything to do with archeology, so PotC might have an edge in that respect. Might be able to do something else that was suggested for these, though, and say that it's like "Pirates of the Caribbean meets Eragon" or something. Except that Eragon didn't really impress me too much.
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"In matters of the heart, the greatest sorrow is to lose that which is dearest to you. The greatest crime is to take it for granted." -- Me
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I'm a Bobling... wouldn't you like to be a Bobling too? [link]
"Legend of Earthsea" could also be a good choice, not only it's a decent movie but it was based on a book by Ursula Le Guin, and even though I haven't read it yet (it's definitely on my "to read" list
What about "PotC meets Dungeons and Dragons"? Something in the line of "Dragonlance" book series or similar... I think Maelstrom falls better under "Sword and sorcery" than "High fantasy" like LotR - firstly, because high fantasy is mostly about saving the world, and secondly, because of the use of magic. I've been going through wikipedia the other day (I wanted to know the difference between a wizard and a mage) and found that in most fantasy works the ones usually to use magic are old wizards that only act as advisors or tutors to main characters (Gandalf, Merlin...) - the only reason Ursula K. Le Guin wrote the "Wizard of Earthsea" is to prove that a wizard can be a main character. This is not the case with Maelstrom, where magic is used on daily basis by a variety of people. On the other hand, Sword and Sorcery has got a really bad reputation at the moment... Maybe you should first select a subgenre that best suites Maelstrom, and then something from that subgenre to compare it with, and you should choose it very, very carefully...
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Hi, my name is Tanna and I'm an emotoholic...
Hope it helps!
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~ Timeo Hominum Unius Libri ~
And suddenly she was... OPEN FOR COMMISSION!
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"In matters of the heart, the greatest sorrow is to lose that which is dearest to you. The greatest crime is to take it for granted." -- Me
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I'm a Bobling... wouldn't you like to be a Bobling too? [link]
Either way, the PotC meets D&D was actually one suggested by my wife as well, so might give it a shot, at least. I remember the Earthsea movie (if it's the one I'm thinking of) and it was pretty good. And, yes, I would never compare Maelstrom to LotR since it's not that "epic, save-the-world" type of fantasy. I was actually hoping to avoid that, since it just seems so overdone. You never know, she might save the world one day, but that's a distant future.
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"In matters of the heart, the greatest sorrow is to lose that which is dearest to you. The greatest crime is to take it for granted." -- Me
~
I'm a Bobling... wouldn't you like to be a Bobling too? [link]
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