Spreading Some Agent Love

Some of you may be published or represented by a literary agent. If that's the case, and if you'd like to share some info about your agent or what drove you to them, please feel free to share the love and give them the credit they deserve.

Or, if you're an agent seeking new authors, feel free to comment and let us know your wish list.

We'd love to hear the story.

One of these days...

Writing is a lonely business.

You write your query letters and send them off to your agents-of-choice. Then you wait. It's horrible. The excitement and frustration is difficult to explain to your non-writing friends.

You check you email every day, multiple times, hoping to see something encouraging from one of those agents. Occasionally, something shows up, but it's usually not very encouraging.

But the sun does break through the dark clouds every so often. Every once in a while, there's a request for samples, and that's when your heart races with new hope. So you send off the samples and go back to waiting. Yes. It's a lonely business.

So what do you do to fill the time? Do you go back to your WIP and continue writing it or editng it? Do you return to your recently completed novel and tweak it a bit more, even though you have fulls and partials out to agents who've requested them. Do you start thinking about a new story?

I know I'm going to get lots of different answers on this one. So type away and tell us what you do to fill the waiting time.

Can you say "Pissed off?"

My breath rushed in when I realized what she was planning. “Oh, my goodness!” I said.

What? Oh, my goodness? How bland. How boring. You would have to work pretty hard to write that with any less emotion or tension. Have you ever had one of your characters say something like that? Or something equally innocuous? Sometimes it works. Other times it’s really painful, and it feels totally wrong to have to resort to something so weak. You know, and your reader knows, what the character should be saying. And sometimes it ain’t, “Oh, my goodness!” Sometimes it’s more like:  

My breath rushed in when I realized what the crazy bitch was planning. “Holy Jesus on a treadmill!" I yelled. "Have you lost what's left of your fucking mind?”

Obviously, it’s a little tricky saying what we really want to say in a middle grade manuscript. And, we’ve all been middle grade students in the past. If I remember correctly, we had a different vocabulary we used among ourselves when there were no grown ups around. Didn’t we? So how do you stay true to your character? How do you clearly convey what the character is feeling when you have some genre-imposed restrictions on your vocabulary? What's permissible? What's forbidden? And should those restrictions be lifted occasionally? You tell me.

My Characters

Today I wanted to offer some personal info about my writing style. Perhaps you have similar stories to share, and I hope you will leave a comment if that's the case. I wanted to speak about my characters and how I get to know them as the story unfolds, and how I make sure they continue to inspire me with their words and actions.

When I get far enough into the story to know what my characters are like, I print out a picture of each one and tape it to my wall. In Cannibal Island, Brad Pitt seemed like the ideal person to become Richie Armstrong. Jackie Chan was perfect for the role of Kuko, and Sean Penn filled the villain's spot as Hans Von Hisle. Naturally, Angus Callahan could be played by none other than Sean Connery, and Sandra Bullock was the only choice for Wren Remington. I usually cast the entire character list with the actors I feel would best reflect my image of the story characters. Having them looking at me while I'm working tends to keep me honest to their actions and dialogue.

So what do you do? Surely you have a few little secrets you can share with us. We won't laugh. Well, not loud enough for you to hear us.

What would you do?

You've finished your book. You've edited until you're blue in the face, or maybe indigo. Beta readers have added their suggestions, and you're ready to query it to agents. So you do.

Excitement fills your heart when you get a request for a full. You send it off right away. Time crawls by while you're waiting to hear how much they love your work. Then the email finally arrives. Your heart jumps a little when you see it in your inbox, and you get rid of all the other emails, saving that one for last.

Unfortunately, it not exactly what you were hoping for. There are some nice words complimenting your writing and your plotting, etc., but there was something that prevented the agent from falling head over heels in love with it.

So what do you do? Do you chalk it up to personal preference and move on? Or do you write back to the agent and offer to revise those things that were mentioned and ask if you can submit it again?

You tell me. I'd love to hear your input.

A Strange Query Tale

Our story begins the first week in May of this year. At that point in time, I had created a query letter for my most recent manuscript. I mailed that query to an agent who will remain anonymous. Within two days, I received a form rejection. Nothing too unusual about that, and I appreciate it when agents are quick to reply, even if it's a negative response.

The plot thickens now. (Eerie music builds in the background.) I rewrote the query a few times. I think it was in its fourth of fifth iteration when I sent it out again the first week in June. Now, I was either having a senior moment, or I temporarily and totally lost what's left of my mind, because I sent this new query to the same agent that had rejected my original query. And a strange thing happened a week later. The only thing I can deduce is that the new query was so unlike the original that it didn't sound even vaguely familiar to the agent. She requested a partial.

So, I guess the point of this narrative is that, if you get rejected with your original query, you might want to consider rewriting it and sending it out again, even to the same recipients. It was a complete accident on my part, but it had a surprising result. I hope that's a good sign.

That's it. Feel free to leave your comments.

Great post at Query Tracker today!

Since we've been talking so much about query letters, there's a great post on Query Tracker today. If you want to read what twenty agents have to say about how to put together the perfect query, read HERE!

And if you're not a subscriber to Query Tracker, I would highly recommend it. There's always new and fresh info on writing, publishing, new agents, etc. It's a good thing.