two things
1. The underlying pathos of a life lived on the edge of madness. The whole horrifying view of the human condition is displayed in this website, featuring Jon all by himself. Garfield the cat, minus G the C.
2. So what do you think of the little signature tags writers put under their names? It's all the rage. I expect there must be many workshops held on how to write damn things.
Remember the big deal a couple o' years ago? Suddenly we all had to learn how to write high concept taglines for manuscripts? Now you have to do it for your whole self. Everything you write. Silly summing up if you ask me, which you didn't. I like the six lines defining us but that's fun. This is just advertising and that's always eye-rolling.
Except the first one I remember seeing was "Get in bed with [author's name here], everyone else does." I really like that one. It's funny and catchy and if I had half a brain, I'd remember who she was.
updated to add: of course. I mean DELILAH DEVLIN! See, that one doesn't make promises.
Fine. I admit I loathe author tagline signatures. They seem silly and overblown and put me into curmudgeon mode .... But then again, I don't even put my blog URL on my emails because I don't like advertising.
In these matters I'm from another stiffer, less fun, more censorious century. And now I'lll glare at you all and say so what about it?
I hated most author tag lines until my friend Sunny ("laughs & love in every book"**) insisted I should have one too. She made it for me. "Quirks, Comedy, & Compassionate Lovers with Summer Devon"
Anyway, I doubt I'll use it consistently but I'm touched that she's read enough of my work to have a clue and that she's all around a really good friend. . . . And it's sure better than the ones that promise readers worlds and worlds of lust or universes of hot shapeshifters or parallel dimensions of endless, limitless love. Also I'm not leaving readers sopping wet or sighing for more.
Bah. It's extremely hard to be a pill about these things when people I know and like indulge in them. But still. You go ahead and have fun. Tell me what your writerly signature tag line is, okay? We'll mock it.
_____
**true--at least the stories of hers I've read.
2. So what do you think of the little signature tags writers put under their names? It's all the rage. I expect there must be many workshops held on how to write damn things.
Remember the big deal a couple o' years ago? Suddenly we all had to learn how to write high concept taglines for manuscripts? Now you have to do it for your whole self. Everything you write. Silly summing up if you ask me, which you didn't. I like the six lines defining us but that's fun. This is just advertising and that's always eye-rolling.
Except the first one I remember seeing was "Get in bed with [author's name here], everyone else does." I really like that one. It's funny and catchy and if I had half a brain, I'd remember who she was.
updated to add: of course. I mean DELILAH DEVLIN! See, that one doesn't make promises.
Fine. I admit I loathe author tagline signatures. They seem silly and overblown and put me into curmudgeon mode .... But then again, I don't even put my blog URL on my emails because I don't like advertising.
In these matters I'm from another stiffer, less fun, more censorious century. And now I'lll glare at you all and say so what about it?
I hated most author tag lines until my friend Sunny ("laughs & love in every book"**) insisted I should have one too. She made it for me. "Quirks, Comedy, & Compassionate Lovers with Summer Devon"
Anyway, I doubt I'll use it consistently but I'm touched that she's read enough of my work to have a clue and that she's all around a really good friend. . . . And it's sure better than the ones that promise readers worlds and worlds of lust or universes of hot shapeshifters or parallel dimensions of endless, limitless love. Also I'm not leaving readers sopping wet or sighing for more.
Bah. It's extremely hard to be a pill about these things when people I know and like indulge in them. But still. You go ahead and have fun. Tell me what your writerly signature tag line is, okay? We'll mock it.
_____
**true--at least the stories of hers I've read.
The only tag line I have is the one I use over at Daily Kos. Pretty snooty stuff, since it's a quote from Borges:
ReplyDeleteWe drew our heavy revolvers (suddenly in the dream there were revolvers) and exultantly killed the gods. -- Jorge Luis Borges, Ragnarok
. . . but I do love that line. If I had to pick one for writing-related stuff, I'd probably choose that Nathanael West line about firing out your novels like cannonballs. I can look it up for you, if you like.
Better 'n dog hair up your nose, Corn Dog.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that'll attract readers.
These freakin' v-words are something else.
I used to have a little tagline that I'd put whenever I remembered (I think Jaynie R was the one who told me -sternly - that I needed to promote myself better. *sigh* She was right.)
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, it was
Sexy sizzle with Samantha Winston
Of course now I feel it should be
Militant Leftist on the Rampage
:-)
I'm iffy on the whole tagline thing. I've really only seen one or two I've liked, and the things they both had in common was that they are short, super-catchy and very open-ended. Every now and again I try to think one up. So far, no luck.
ReplyDeleteI saw a fourteen-line signature the other day, apparently listing everything the author ever wrote including directions to her gynecologist's office.
ReplyDeleteI stick to my url, which includes my name, and usually add "Romance of Dubious Virtue."
Sometimes I misspell "dubious." But never "virtue." Because I'm just that pure.
I don't have a writerly tagline. I do try to come up with one for the books and use that for whatever's current. But an author tagline? No.
ReplyDeleteBesides, if you do what everybody else does, you get the same results, right? And the average author makes $5,000 a year and has no health insurance, so...maybe better to model Bill Gates? Just sayin'.
Charlene, How did you know about my earnings and health insurance??
ReplyDeleteBwaha, Sam! I saw a bumper sticker the other day that so works for writers: "Our health plan: don't get sick".
ReplyDeleteMaybe authors should band together and refuse to use taglines until we get Blue Cross?