The back of your novel...
Fri, 2005-01-21 10:31
#1
The back of your novel...
You know you get quotes from various media on the back covers of novels like
"A stuning visual tour de force"
The Observer
or
" Possibly the finest poetic prose writer of his generation"
The Times
Of course they only include the good ones.
Well what would be on the back of yours? And we can cheat and add bad reviews too! Mine would be:
"As a spokesman for the chemical generation, Eydmann shows via extensive ramblling what damage ecstasty does to the brain"
"A vivid portrait on modern club culture...a must for anyone who has ever danced on a podium"
"Depraved, malcontent, depressing...a helpline should be set up for post traumatic stress syndrome arising from the concepts of this novel"
All I have to do now is finish writing it!
jude
Dan
"Frankly this is absolutely awful" - Tom Paulin
fergal
'The intelligence is not the only thing that astonishes in this sparkling and dark debut of obsesssion, lust and killing your neighbour's dog to get the perfect material for a well-tailored cape.' A.S. Byatt
'It's not very good is it?' Dan Brown
'This writer gives me the horn. What's her number?' Sean Bean
1legspider
'Make a reservation at your local asylum before you read this novel'
'Drove me to drugs'
'At last a cure for insomnia that worrr.... ssnnooore'
martin_t
"his is the voice of a new generation"
"amis your time is over, here's your replacement"
"a 21st century dickens with extra spice"
jude
"Jude Eydmann has taken imagery beyond previous efforts of writers to acheive surrealism. Indeed, so surreal is this sweeping display of total lunacy I couldn't actually work out what the hell the book was about."
radiodenver
*Better than wagon grease*
jude
*greasier than wagon wheels!* (teasing!)
Rachel
"Better than wagon wheels" - now that would be good praise.
radiodenver
I thought the title of this thread was "The back of your navel"
Sorry....lemme rethink this.
Rachel
I can see the back of my navel - it's a unique experience
*decides not to take RD to task on his description of his own navel*
I once read a crappy novel about a woman who had to write the stuff on the backs of books. She'd take a phrase like: "Stunningly badly written. Incredible anything like this ever gets published." and condense it to: "Stunningly written. Incredible." There's hope for all of us.
martin_t
i once went out with a girl who wrote the stuff at the back of books, i think she had to write a lot of blurb on the back of romantic novels...she didn't like her job very much...
fergal
i wouldn't mind having a book out to have something written on the back of...
radiodenver
So, what's the worlds most overused adjective for describing a book?
Rachel
Very true, Ferg. Such a typical writers displacement activity. I should be writing but, I know, I'll pick out the picture to have on the dust cover of my booker winning tome instead.
jude
"So, what's the worlds most overused adjective for describing a book?"
Stunning?
provocative?
Ground-breaking?
radiodenver
Gripping! ?
Rachel
"readable" helps, "enjoyable" is a bonus.
radiodenver
Neil described a story that way once...
"it was literate and readable"
Maybe he can do book covers....
Hen
"He can write. But he is too young."
Agent 4
neil_the_auditor
"Literate and readable" ... probably the sort of thing I'd say about a story which doesn't do a lot for me but the writer's at least used the spellchecker.
Come on, Gary, we both know there's LOTS of writing out there which is illiterate and unreadable, it's just unkind to highlight examples.
Jon, even Saga holidays and the people who sell stairlifts don't tell ME I'm too young! Enjoy it while you can, man.
radiodenver
It was part of a conversation we were having on a story review a few months back.
It was the best line I've ever read in a review.... You're too nice a guy Neil (even if you are a white supremacist! HA!)
mississippi
>> So, what's the worlds most overused adjective for describing a book?
<<
Reduced?
Can this be an adjective?
Ely Whitley
I made a joke back cover for mine it reads:
"I couldn't put it down"
James Townsend, glue sniffer