A Field Guide for the Literary Web Site: Authors’ Pages, A-D
Author websites generally fall into two broad categories: A) The Slick and Professional Page; these are useful when the author just wants a functional thing that will make other people take them seriously and some contact information just in case anyone has a bag of money to send them. Generally, it’s journalists who go this route. Take Richard Morgan’s website for example. (Bonus points for the Anagram.)
Then there are the author websites that are meant to do something else entirely, to be a thing in and of themselves. Maybe they have a good blog or art or something attached. Maybe they have some kind of page-maze to click through. Here are some of my favorites:
Ander Monson’s website (OtherElectricities.com) Monson has some great essays posted. The whole website reads more like an e-book than a website and the design is great.
Aimee Bender (Flammableskirt.com) I like the writing exercises section and all the illustrations are good.
Ben Marcus’s site (Benmarcus.com) is really awesome, but I think it’s broken or something right now. Ben had a section called “Disguises” that was a bunch of pictures of people who looked like him (Big bald headed white guys with glasses, Caucasian Jimmy Chens.) Don’t know what’s wrong with the…
Chelsea Martin (Jerkethics.com) Duh. I felt like I had to include this on the list even though you’ve probably all seen it. Chelsea’s drawings are rad. ( and the drawings are very good::: )
David Shields (Davidshields.com) Shields’s site is really well designed and the front page is a picture of his bald head.
More to come…
‘This book is a catalog of the life project’
I am in a bad writing phase or something. I haven’t been writing very much recently. Instead of writing, I’m reading a lot of things: student papers, composition textbooks, books to review, and then some stuff to make me feel better. Everyone has that shelf or two of books that they read to feel better, I guess. I’m rereading Ben Marcus. Slowly. I just finished Notable American Women a few days ago. Now I’ll start The Age Of Wire And String. I pulled the book off my shelf to look at it and a few pieces of paper fell out.
I might have shown this to a couple of people, so sorry if this is old news.
On the papers is an index. I made an index of all the terms Marcus defines in the book and listed the page number of the definition. I made this index one summer a few years ago. I enjoyed making it. It made me feel busy and involved in something. I don’t know if it is worthwhile. I don’t even know if this makes sense.
But some of the terms you can actually look up as you read – DROWNING METHOD, for example, shows up in the text on page 10, but it isn’t defined until page 94.
That was a good summer.
Okay, here it is after the jump (and I understand if you make fun of me):
The seven credos
Ben Marcus guest edits the oct/nov fiction for GUERNICA, asking the seven writers to offer a one sentence credo:
1. I believe that writing is the highest resolution medium.
2. I struggle with the difference between what I pledge to myself and what I do finally; or, what I sometimes call my falseness; but when I say after all I’m not being false for wanting to be a certain way, that I just have high goals, I will have to agree that no one else around is false either and say for myself that I have the perpetual condition of falling short.
3. I endeavor, word by word, sentence by sentence, to write myself an adult-sized, customized uterus in which I and invited guests may duck, buck, and float.
4. (I write because) I am interested in dark and stormy nights, syntax and moments of delicate, major humiliation.
5. I ogle, grope, and weep; always in that order.
6. I don’t trust fiction with no sense of humor and I know I’m writing it when everything adds just so; I know I’m closer when I’m left holding extra parts—parts I know I need even though the thing runs fine without them.
7. I will be a lion for my own cause.
These are unattributed, and skimming to the list before reading Marcus’ intro, I assumed all 7 were his (made more convincingly by No. 3’s “customized uterus,” which shares Marcus’ dry and somewhat grotesque symbolic tendencies). I’m usually annoyed by manifesto-ish stuff, but this seems earnest enough. I really like how unabashed No. 7 is.
Here’s my credo: Everyone has a story, so put it down.
Okay, time to start printing out those long-ass stories. Geez, writers really have a lot of time on their hands. Good job Ben.
Uncategorized / 8 Comments
October 22nd, 2008 / 3:33 pm
October 22nd, 2008 / 3:33 pm
Starcherone Books Open Subs
For the next 10 days (until Oct 15), Starcherone Books has opened their gates for open submission of queries regarding book length works. With fantastic releases in the past year from Johannes Goransson, Joshua Cohen, Zachary Mason, and more, this is a great opportunity for those who are looking to send out their innovative fiction manuscripts.
In addition to the open subs, they’ve also announced their yearly book competition, which should answer the question in many mouths, that being: What’s up with Ben Marcus? as he’s been announced the final judge for the competition. Booyah.
Here’s specific words:
Effective immediately, Starcherone Books will be accepting manuscripts under the following guidelines:
1. Writers may query until October 15, 2008, at starcherone@gmail.com. Please tell us about your book project and about your writing accomplishments to date. DO NOT SEND YOUR MANUSCRIPT; UNLESS WE HAVE ASKED FOR IT, IT WILL BE RETURNED.
2. We will be resuming our manuscript contest this winter, with Ben Marcus as our 2009 Final Judge. See our CONTEST PAGE. Our contest will serve as the preferred method for writers who have not established a track record through prior awards and/or publications to have their manuscripts considered by Starcherone Books. This contest is designed to discover new writing talent, and has been the method by which we have discovered six writers (five winners and a published runner-up) since 2004.