Dear Geist,

Why does my agent nag me about stuff like table manners and a swear word here and there when we do an event? That’s who I am, and it’s who my stories are, and it’s the persona she took on as a client. Is there a polite way to tell an agent to back off?

—Outspoken Spirit, Toronto ON

Dear Outspoken,

We’re guessing that your agent has found your lively spirit a bit too frank for some situations and has asked you to tone it down: a bookstore host, a talk-show presenter, a like-minded author, perhaps? Your agent wants everyone who reads your work and/or shows up at an event to be an Outspoken Spirit fan forever, and she is guiding you in that pursuit.

We suggest you take it up with your agent politely but directly, and work out an agreement that does not compromise either of you—which should be straightforward, since you are working toward the same goal!

In the meantime, here is a little piece of advice that the novelist Elizabeth McCracken gave to the writer/educator Ben Yagoda in an interview: “A writer’s voice lives in his or her bad habits . . . the trick is to make them charming bad habits.”

—The Editors