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I asked for your questions about all things publishing last week and you delivered, LitReactors! This week I'm answering two of the most frequently asked questions I received as an agent and continue to receive as a consultant. As always, I give you my best counsel, straight up. 

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Original Shakespeare portrait via Wikipedia Commons, public domain

All author photos via Wikipedia Commons, public domain

Hero worship is a dangerous proposition, especially in literature. Writers are a notoriously temperamental bunch, and few are suited to a Brad Pitt level of public scrutiny. By putting your favorite author on a pedestal, you are setting yourself up for disappointment should you ever choose to peer behind the curtain.

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Allow me to preface my own megillah: this series is one that focuses on the best effort to tell a story. If a film adaptation is awful, I'm going to tell you. If the book is awful, I'm going to tell you. Perhaps both--reach into recent history and I'm sure you can recall both terrible novels and their ungodly film versions. Think: vampire. If the source material and the film are wildly different, I'm definitely going to tell you. But the story itself is my concern. Sound good? Let’s do this. Beyond here be spoilers.