Subject: me, too
Author:
Posted on: 2011-06-12 15:45:00 UTC
I'm actually finished with my novel, stuck in the evils of writing a query and a synopsis. My book is realistic fiction, and I'm going to guess that most PPCers would be writing fantasy or sci-fi, but it's worth asking for advice.
And I wouldn't mind talking to Gamma about it, either.
I apologize if this comes across as attention-seeking or anything; I'm still getting used to how the Board runs after my long absence. If this is against protocol, mods, please delete it.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun if we could have another thread where we share some agent or character tidbits and pictures. My agents have just come out of a long retirement (read; exile, being on the lam) and it's been a while since I had any comprehensive pictures of them aside from the TekTek avatars Neshomeh kindly created, so I thought I'd kick things off by sharing.
http://2138.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3ddtn3 Suicide, looking his usual semi-disreputable self. Here he's shown with his white leather quiver containing one of his favorite weapons--a so-called "darning needle," actually a Greek javelin sawn down for ease of throwing. He typically carries up to twelve.
http://2138.deviantart.com/art/The-Better-Half-212497055 His partner, Diocletian, in a basic PPC jumpsuit. Unlike her partner, she tends to appear inoffensive and/or dull on first impression, with no visible weaponry.
http://2138.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps#/d3inkej A curiosity--the certificate of death (and resurrection) that Dr. Fitzgerald filled out when Suicide's corpse was first delivered to the PPC. Warning: some graphic details.
How about you guys? Anybody have any fun character pix to share?
Sweet drawings mate! I like the death certificate too, the idea made me laugh.
I have a single character design reference poster that I've posted here:
Pam, with a full character design reference sheet showing the character and how I designed her, and an 
inked version as well on the wiki, but it's currently a work in progress. I've been working on more images of other characters, but I haven't had much time recently.
Okay, so I don't usually draw.
However, here's BC, from the DCPS CD. No cowboy hat included, no stubble either. Maybe he shaved for once.
Maybe more later.
Flanders! She has the cubicle beside BC. The two of them will hopefully be appearing in stories soon. Hopefully.
I only have preliminary doodles of Tenacity, my body-mod addict.
And an older doodle of my retired agent.
http://blayzy.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d25penj
And anything else is too old to share or not finished! So yeah.
Ah, art. All of my PPC-related doodles can be found at http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/. The three newest drawings (as in I just posted them today) are as follows:
http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/#/d3ippqy - Xericka with a pixie cut as opposed to her normal ponytail.
http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/#/d3ipq0g - Danny taking a smoke break while in disguise as a Pyro from the Team Fortress 2 universe.
http://poorcynic.deviantart.com/#/d3ipqw4 - Xericka, Gremlin, Danny, Laura, and Intern Rachel all in their My Little Pony disguises. Why? Why not!
I can't draw a person to save my life. All I have are the avatar-creator images like the ones posted on the wiki.
So that's what a darning needle is. I was so confused over it. I actually though Suicide was supposed to be more of a pretty guy than that, since he's considered "bishonen". And can you PLEASE explain why he has gray hair? I've never understood that, either. Dio was about how I imagined her. The death certificate was... interesting.
He started out much more good-looking, but since his appearance was Default Bishonen out of necessity rather than anything established by canon, he had a semi-unstable morphogenic field; it's since resettled itself somewhat in accordance with his personality. It also doesn't help that a guy like him doesn't stay pretty long--at the rate he finds trouble, he gets bashed up an awful lot, hence a scar, broken nose, cauliflower ear, etc.
(Also, I kinda fail at drawing, so he may not live up to his mission hype.)
Gray hair . . . well, he's old. Not ancient, but a lot older than your average PPCer; he claimed to be thirty-seven once, back in 2006, and even that was likely pushing it a bit. Right now he's likely in his forties somewhere.
Hopefully, I should be able to get some drawing mnade by a friend of mine soon.
http://av-marten.deviantart.com/art/The-Problem-With-Fur-207389246 Agents Caleb and Jack, in their standard Redwall disguises when visiting the OFUR.
http://av-marten.deviantart.com/art/Tis-wot-they-pays-me-for-187037687 Agent Kestrel (in human disguise) exorcising Crowley from Good Omens.
http://av-marten.deviantart.com/art/The-many-faces-of-Kestrel-183176334 Different expressions on Kestrel.
http://av-marten.deviantart.com/art/Happy-Belated-Easter-207389446 And here's a fun Easter pic I drew with Agents Jack and Adder!
http://av-marten.deviantart.com/art/Our-Rugrats-Are-Better-203672658 Technically not agents, they're the Nursery kids written by me and Laburnum, all in human form.
http://av-marten.deviantart.com/art/Happy-f-ing-Halloween-184519551 I posted this last Halloween, but here it is again. It's a pic containing all my agents, in Good Omens cosplay for Halloween.
Not that my opinion is terribly weighty just yet, but I always approve of art threads, personally. Unfortunately for me, deviantArt is terribly non-cooperative (read: my network blocks it for inexplicable reasons), so I am sadly deprived. ;_;
But hey. Good idea. Is what I'm getting at here. As awkwardly as possible.
But proxies and their questionable connection speeds fill me with hatred. Anyway, the problem won't persist forever. I'll have my own network within... eh, a few months. So, err, close enough. >_>;
I have all my PPC art that's worth sharing in a dA gallery:
http://neshomeh.deviantart.com/gallery/11844615
Also, for anyone who's counting, I WILL get those March Madness pictures done someday. Really!
~Neshomeh
...but that doesn't mean I don't find ways to get them drawn anyhow.
So... StellaCadente113 of DeviantArt was kind enough to do a combined portrait of Florestan and Eusabius. It was a commission, but still.
http://herr-wozzeck.deviantart.com/favourites/#/d3h49nx
You might recognize the faces from their headshots on their PPC Wiki pages.
I did some quick doodles of characters, which, coincidentally, actually took me rather long. Oh well. So much for quick.
I would link my deviantART, but it's all spazzy on my old old old laptop and kills my internet, so ImageShack it is!
I hope I'm linking this right...
Top row on the left is Yin, a possible agent my brother made up for himself, and Aly, my agent once I get off my lazy bum and apply.
Bottom left is Lance, a scrapped agent design that I may redo and apply with, and on the right is me for no apparent reason. And yes, I do own that striped sweater.
Let's try again.
Bleh. There's still some stuff I can nitpick at, but I'm too tired to fix it. 
...but I've been reading the Dragonback series lately (about two-thirds of the way through my first reading of the last book), and the Golvin naming system is still fresh in my mind. Now I have this irresistible urge to call you Twonthei.
So, hi Twonthei!
Hoooo, gods. Um...donèt have a lot of PPC related artses. I should rectify this one day.
http://galassiel.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=96#/d2sdwei Here are Agents Hisoke and Shinra, back in the day. The most recent PPC related pic I've done since...2006? XD But yeah, my two original Agents. The only one who's still in use is Agent Shinra, who has become a Spy. Shinra's design has only changed slightly since her original creation. She now has a ponytail. XD Still enjoys wearing a white coat over a black bodysuit.
http://galassiel.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=ppc#/dj2wwo Agent Shinra circa 2006. Not much has changed. Her coat has many pockets and is made of 'Notice-Me-Not' fabric from the Harry Potter continuum. She's pretty sure it's Sue fabric of some kind, but it works when the S.E.P. field stops working due to magical interference or something.
http://galassiel.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=ppc#/dj2w4l Agent Shinra's late husband circa 2006. He's a ninja accountant who throws exploding roses. And he put up with Shinra. I am seriously in love with his design. Love how he came out~!
I need to draw more. I do have more, of Shinra, at least, but they're pics from a Fanfic That Never Was full of many Noodle Incidents. XD
:P It's fine! Art threads are fun. Though I don't actually have any to share, right now. I just like using that line/reference. >_>
(Hey, as an aside. If you are the PPCer who wrote Thief of Midnight, as I seem to be remembering, my sister loved your book.)
:D There's always time for line/references.
As regarding that aside, I can neither confirm nor deny that I'm the person in question (plausible deniability, yay!). However, I'm glad to hear your sister liked the book! Does she have a PPC board name? Some messages came through about it, and I'm almost certain everyone got responses, but if someone didn't get a reply I'd like to know so it can be done.
Indeed!
Unfortunately, she's not a PPCer-- she's more the artist/fan-art person, not so much of a 'ficcer. I actually got it on Amazon, but when it arrived I was working on another novel, so she read it first.
I looked it up on Amazon, would it be the one by Catherine Butzen? 'Cause if it is, the whole "Family" thing is eerily reminiscent of Charles Manson and his Family.
Or am I the only one who knows about it that isn't around fourty?
But it seems like a really good book. Imma see if my library has it tomorrow.
I know that you are neither confirming or denying, but ignoring that...you have any advice on getting published? Even if you didn't write it, you seem knowledgeable about this stuff. >> No, I'm totally not halfway through writing a novel. Nooooope.
I'm actually finished with my novel, stuck in the evils of writing a query and a synopsis. My book is realistic fiction, and I'm going to guess that most PPCers would be writing fantasy or sci-fi, but it's worth asking for advice.
And I wouldn't mind talking to Gamma about it, either.
Yep, I'm big on gritty realistic fiction myself, too, and I would like to see what's coming out of this place that isn't directly related to the PPC. It's a nice break from the norm.
I like reading realistic fiction, especially mystery ones, but for some reason, I can't write them for the life of me.
And you've finished? I give you a lot of credit, I keep re-doing mine because I'm so dissatisfied with the beginning.
You know, there's whole BOOKS written on how to write query letters? That just makes the whole process of getting published seem more intimidating.
...
Heh. Imagine writing a query letter to get a book on writing query letters published.
One of my friends (also a contact) writes young adult realism, and she's currently working on a proper adult novel.
Besides, to be honest, some aspects of the process are the same. You will probably have a harder time trying to sell a non-genre fiction novel, especially in the current market (thanks to the paranormal explosion in romance and mystery, courtesy of *gah* Twilight) but it's not impossible. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, okay? My address is right up there. :)
I don't see any email address. I see what might be an IP address, but - wait, why would the Board be publishing our IP addresses?!
Actually, it looks like a lot of literary agents are going out of their minds with all the vampire and werewolf novels that are coming their way, and a lot of them are begging for something different. I'm guessing the next big thing will be non-vampire/werewolf urban fantasy, but non-genre *might* be coming back. Of course, that means I have to hurry up and start the process, and I've been dragging my feet a bit more than I should. It's really scary to go out and DO it.
Oh, sorry. My e-mail is byzantinejester@yahoo.com, if you'd like to talk about it.
Thanks! I'll send you a message in a couple of days. I'm going to be travelling tomorrow, so I don't expect to be on the computer.
And if you combine a charismatic, psychopathic leader with a bunch of tradition-bound, semi-gullible followers, and Manson inevitable rises to mind. The characters in question actually are family (as much as ideas can be) so they have a bit of claim to the label, but no, you're not the only one thinking it.
And I still can't confirm or deny anything. But I do know a bit, and if you'd like to talk about it, feel free to e-mail me. :)
