Agent Tweets #8: 2-in-12,000 Shot

Editing is the bane and the blessing of a writer's existence - a bane because it is so frustrating and time-consuming; a blessing because if managed properly, it puts a writer's work out front as the shining gem of storytelling that it is.

More importantly, editing is the key to getting noticed.

If I repeated every tweet I've seen on this topic, this blog would be about nothing BUT editing. Even so - there were six recent tweets about editing that really stood out (Ha! I'm an agent for agent tweets...there's some irony in that...).

TWEET #1:  

I get 800-1000 submissions a month and maybe take on a couple new authors/yr 

Eye-Opener: I'd lie if I said my eyes didn't widen just a wee bit when I read this one. The 800-1000 submissions per month I totally understand; but out of a potential 12,000 submissions per year - only two are taken on?

Yoiks. This means if I want to stand out, I need to make sure my manuscript is in the best possible condition before sending it in.

TWEETS #2 and #3:

Finish your ms and edit and polish it before querying. 

You can't expect an agent to help you finish writing it 

Sloppy, typo-ridden final manuscripts just reek of unprofessional entitlement to me. 

Your editor is not your MAID 

Hard But True: Both of these tweets back each other up with the same reality: you can't expect an agent to be so wowed by your story that they'll overlook typos or loose writing, and just "let the editors fix that later." As we discussed earlier in our Agent Tweets series: the query letter - and then the manuscript - is more or less part of a job interview. Editing is the way you dress it up right for the interview.


Yes, yes, I hear you wail. I hear this all the time!!! But how much editing is enough? There is such a thing as spinning your wheels for too long.


I completely agree. Sometimes you need to know when to stop tampering and just send it on.


So how DO we know when enough editing is enough? Here are a couple agent responses:

TWEETS #4 and #5:

You shld finish the ms, edit it, polish it, get some1 else to read it, re-edit, sit on it a wk, re-read it & THEN query

One of the best and most underused tools for polishing your query is TIME. Let it sit for a week. Then review & revise

Time is Your Friend:  Though the second tweet specifies "query" and not "manuscript," the principle is the same for both tweets ~ to really get a polished manuscript, you need time - not just to work on it, but to walk away from it for a while. Get some emotional distance from it. Then go back and edit. This is what is generally called a "cold read" and it is hugely valuable to writers, enabling them to become more objective about their own work.


Notice that both tweets hint that editing your manuscript comes in repetitive stages:

Write - Edit - Polish - BetaReader - Wait - Edit - Polish - BetaReader - Wait - Edit...

Most published authors that I read and admire generally advise going through these "layers" a minimum of three times before sending out that first query letter. Remember: agents want the manuscript finished and at its glossy best when you query, so that when they make that full request there are minimal hitches in the proceedings.


Okay.....so how horrific are these editing stages we're talking about?

TWEET #6:

Sometimes #editing has to be drastic, entire scenes and sections lopped off. What's left will be stronger for it./ Every #word on the page must have reason to exist; it should add to the story or your piece./If you, yourself, feel a loss over a word or line cut from your story or piece, then it needed cutting. 

Bruised Egos:  None of us like to be told that some interlude of which we are very proud isn't worthy of the whole story. But therein lies some advice that is also some of the oldest, and difficult to accept, which the above tweet touches on neatly: If you or I are deeply attached to any character or scene, or prosy description, because we feel we "did so well" at that point --- chances are it shouldn't be there, because we're just showing off.

Bottom Line: "Editing" is not merely a matter of correcting grammatical and typographical issues. It involves removing those bits that burden the tale unnecessarily, and hold back your manuscript from being its best - from being a two-in-twelve-thousand chance of catching an agent's eye, and finding your way to the publisher's desk.

Creative Pacing

A new month, a new blog design - and a new update schedule. Welcome to the new AL.

When I started my blog waaaaaaaaaaay back in September, I decided that I would not marry myself to one specific updating schedule, though the "shiny" of a new endeavor naturally meant that I was posting a lot. As in, every day.

I wasn't worried about the frequency at the time. New things always have their lustre that must wear off before you step back and readjust. Knowing that this blog would be a learning process, and an ongoing "writer's resume" (of sorts), I decided to keep up the 5-6 posts per week routine until I felt that both the topics and the pacing had worn thin, and I needed to scale back.

The big surprise: It took me five months to get to that point.

But that threshold - or perhaps I should say crossroads - has at last come. Personal craziness aside (the Goff Clan has been racking up frequent flier miles at the doctor's offices and hospitals lately), I've come to a point where the daily writing energy that I've funneled into blogging needs channeling to other projects, not the least of which is the now nearly-completed trilogy that I hope to query beginning in late May or early June.

The Upshot: I am going to hold true to my original vision of what I set out to do, by:

(a) Going to a Tuesday/Thursday update schedule (weekend silly posts and Six Sunday Sentence excerpts will continue as usual) 

(b) Hold myself accountable to the original discipline which started this adventure in the first place. (Especially item #3 in that link)

This new schedule will allow me to do three things:

1.  Focus on the writing that is at the heart of why I do what I do. 

2. Give updates of higher quality to my blog followers (including the popular Agent Tweets series) 

3. Stay sane.

OK ---- so maybe that third item is a bit of a stretch. But here's hoping. :-)

I also intend to continue with Lillie McFerrin's weekly Five Sentence Fiction challenge (really excited about this week's prompt, by the way - go check it out!). So expect the odd random flash fic to appear here from time to time.

So with all that being said...next Agent Tweets coming to you next Tuesday! With a little weekend silliness along the way.

Keep Reading --- Keep Writing --- Keep On Creating!

Let me know what you think in the comment section!

http://anonymouslegacy.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-endeavors.html

AT: Hard Yet Encouraging Truths, Pt 1

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Agent Tweets, a weekly post that highlights and responds to

 publication-centric comments from agents and editors, gleaned on Twitter.

NOTE: I will not put up the names of said agents and editors, so don't ask who they are. 

The tweets posted here are indicative of what I am seeing across the spectrum.
These tweets happen to be the most compellingly worded variations. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few weeks ago I announced my intention to roll out this weekly review of revealing tweets from editors and agents, and received a tremendous amount of feedback. Based on your responses to the topics presented, I decided to begin our AT journey with the topic: "Hard Yet Encouraging Truths" for writers. I'm glad, because I think all of us not-yet-published writers could really use some encouragement right now - even if it stings a bit in the application.

So let's cut to the chase, shall we? Here is the first installment of at least two "Hard Yet Encouraging Truths" episodes for the would-be published author.

Hard Yet Encouraging Truth #1: Sometimes you still hook ‘em – even if you still get a rejection.

Sometimes when I am reading a ms, I know it will be a no but I still feel compelled to keep reading & see how it ends.

There really are times I stare at a query, totally on the fence, torn between rejecting and requesting. Make your query the BEST you can.// I just don't have the time to request everything that sounds "pretty good." I want projects that get me SUPER excted!

I find these two tweets to make interesting bookends. The second one addresses the query; the first one addresses the manuscript itself. This means that would-be writer #2 got as far as the query process and almost got a request for a full manuscript. Would-be-writer #1 did get the request for a full, and then the effort sagged.

Why this is hard: There's probably nothing more frustrating than knowing you "almost" had an agent hooked (which is probably one of the reasons behind form rejection letters).

Why this is encouraging: Both tweets indicate the book ideas were good, even excellent - just not compelling. But the very indecision of the second agent, and the fact that the first agent felt curious enough to read through to the end of an "okay" manuscript - such responses hint at manuscripts that, with a little hard work and meticulous revising, could go from "pretty good" to the "super excited" quality work they're looking for.

Bottom line: How to improve the manuscript itself is fodder for a thousand other posts, on this blog and elsewhere on the web. But the query? The secret to overcoming that obstacle lies in the second tweet - the urge to make your query the best it can possibly be. For more hints on how to manage that, you can visit Query Shark, Query Tracker, or this thread in which twenty potential queries were critiqued openly by an agent. (NOTE: This link will take you to the first entry; use the side menu to access the others.)

Hard Yet Encouraging Truth #2: There is life after failure.

Sometimes it takes a while to discover the story you're trying to tell. Sometimes it takes an entire failed book. Sometimes two. That's OK.

Persistence isn’t an issue when you’ve just started - it's needed after the 20th & 200th rejection

If you're struggling with rejection, repeat after me: I have what it takes, and will not be discouraged. People are rejected for many reasons//And as an an agent, ONE THIRD of my clients were rejected at one point.... by ME. They revised and wowed me with their work.


I'm rejecting a lot of really great manuscripts this week. Just because it isn't The One for me doesn't mean it won't find that perfect home

Why this is hard: Two failed books? 200th rejection? What? ....ouch. Just....OUCH.

Why this is encouraging: No one likes to be told up front that you might have to submit multiple bad books before unearthing your winner. Even more unsavory is the idea of getting 200 rejections without a single offer. Yet none of these agents (four different ones, by the way) say to give up after multiple flops, or 200 rejections. The fourth tweet, specifically, indicates that rejections are sometimes a matter of preference or situation - that they really are great manuscripts, but just haven't yet found the right home.

Bottom Line: The third tweet, I think, is the key. Therein lies buried four important steps for pushing past failure (real or perceived) and on to success:

     (1) Don't lose your vision, and don't get discouraged. This is easier said than done, but those who persevere are the ones who eventually see their work in print.

     (2) Remember that many factors may have played into your rejection. A rejection does not necessarily mean your work is inherently bad. It may be that it is an "out of season" text (more on that for a later Agent Tweets report). Perhaps that agent just signed someone else with a similar idea. There are other reasons, I'm sure. (NOTE: For more insights into the agent mindset, I would recommend following @agentgame on Twitter - they are an agent's assistant, but they often tweet valuable insights on the book agent industry.)

     (3) Rejection is an opportunity to grow, not to sulk. If I posted all the tweets about ill-mannered writers who responded to rejection emails with profanity-laced fury, you'd be reading from now to Easter. Dabblers throw temper tantrums. Writers recalibrate and act accordingly. And then they get published.

     (4) Sometimes you may still be accepted by the same agent - if you bide your time and do what is wise. Please note that agents generally will state specifically if they'd like you to revise your work and then resubmit. Make sure that you check submission guidelines for any agent you query.

Questions? Comments? Insights?

Feedback is appreciated!

Writer Feedback (Need some!!)

                             

No - this post is not about cooking. (Although I may do a couple of those along the way. You never know.)

Remember those "what if" games you played when you were kids? You know, the ones where your friend asked: "If you were any animal, what would you be?" And you said: "A wombat - of course!" (Or a blue-footed booby. Or meerkat. Or whatever animal had caught your fancy.)

Well...if I were an appliance, I would most likely be a toaster. I tend to go with my gut response to a lot of things, which can sometimes be an amazingly bad thing, or astonishingly good thing, depending on the situation.At other times, I'm a crockpot. I stew on things a while, mull over all the finer variances, and then give a final verdict (or final product) after an extended length of time.

Lately I've been doing the crockpot routine, so to speak. The idea in question? I've been "mulling over" an idea for a regularly posted "series" on my blog. The inspiration came from the time I've spent on Twitter, poring over the rather insightful, and often very specific, tweets from the agents and editors I follow. As I came across different nuggets, I'd think: "Ooo! Need to remember that one" - and tucked it away in a Word file to peruse later. The document got longer...and longer....and longer.

Moreover, a pattern soon began to emerge. Yes, most of the tweets had to do with (a) queries,  (b) dos/don'ts of writing and (c) overall publishing industry. That's no surprise; if you're a wanna-be author, you're gleaning little nuggets for yourself. But a far more intricate pattern emerged within the pattern, that I did not see until my Word document had grown to four or five pages. I broke my "nuggets" into smaller and smaller categories, with more specific titles. I found myself wondering how I was going to properly assimilate all this wonderful information - not just the pithy sayings themselves, but the inferred logic of what they really mean, when you get down to it. Then I wondered if perhaps others might want to read and ponder the same things. 

So - I'd like to do a series of "agent tweets" posts beginning in January, about once a week or so. My problem? These are all such great statements and insights from those who scrutinize our queries, and then our manuscripts, that the statements have a very wide, yet nearly circular pattern to how they're connected.

In short: I'm not sure where to start. Which topic? At which end of the elephant? (Or wombat?)

This is where I need your help. Below I have listed the various categories into which I've divided the tweets. I would like to know what YOU would consider (a) worth your time clicking back over to read and (b) which topic you'd like to see first.

Please take a look at the list below, and tell me which ones really stand out to you. And if you think any of these are pointless, even intuitively obvious - please tell me! I don't want to spend my time on some topic you've heard discussed ad nauseum.

At the same time, I think some of these topics will never (or ought to never) grow old....

Categories of agent/editor tweets I've compiled:

Time It Right
Hard (Yet Encouraging) Truths
Blunt Honesty
In Season/Out of Season
Beta Readers
Mind Your Attitude!
Ready? No, really....are you??
General Requests and Advice
Writing Do's and Don'ts
Queries: TMI or NMI (Too Much Information or Need More Information)
Query Uh-Ohs: Logistics
Query Uh-Ohs: Content
Query Uh-Ohs: Format
Using Social Networks
BAD Ideas
Kindles
Be Honest
This Screams "Bad Writing"
Know Your Limits

NOTE: I have no intention of pointing out which agent or editor made which comment, for several reasons. Besides, what I've gleaned is only a cross-section of tweets, but they are all regularly recurring themes that I'm seeing on Twitter over....and over....and over.

I figure we who intend to submit our work ought to sit up and pay attention.

What do you think? Anything grab your attention? 

All of it? None of it?

Thank you for your feedback! 

Everything will help me make this blog a more 

user-friendly place.

A Word on Beta Readers

Hard questions are sometimes the best punches anyone can throw at you. Being punched isn't fun, but once you learn to spar, you can dodge and deflect those jabs in real life that could hurt you or throw you off track. The trick is to recognize those punches as the blessings-in-disguise that they are.

It Takes Two Kinds

I was reminded of this last night, when I met a friend to talk about our respective manuscripts. She has a strong English/Lit background and could really ask specific questions about my plot, and assimilate my answers in a way that allowed her to pinpoint a couple of my plot holes without ever reading my manuscript. It was a wonderful contrast against my previous writer's meetings, because all of my Beta readers* so far have responded to my manuscript largely on an intuitive level. They love the set-up, the dynamic between characters, specific personalities, subplots, humor, mysteries....in short, they've thrilled to those points of the overall story that thrill me. They've caught my enthusiasm for what I love about my tale, which is what any aspiring author wants to hear....and needs to hear, at least in the beginning stages. Our egos are so frail when we first start out that we need the confirmation that our ideas are, in fact, valid and worth pursuing.

Last night, however, my friend took a more editorial approach. She wanted to know: What have I done to make readers buy into the story? Have I made it believable? Is my tale consistent with my proposed genre and audience? Who are my protagonists? Why do I have four main protagonists, and not just one? What action draws the reader in? How am I keeping their attention? Have I left any oddments in the narrative that might jar the overall consistency of my plot? 

Stand and Deliver

The best part of this rapid-fire questioning was that, since my friend had not yet read my manuscript, I had to defend my plot. It made me articulate why I had done certain things, or not done others. I could not have had a better practice round at defending my work, even if I had received a cold call from a potential agent. Based on my explanations alone, she was able to both encourage me in what I was doing right (structurally speaking), but also point out a couple shortcomings in my plot. They are fairly easy fixes, but both are the sort of errors that I would have wholly overlooked, and which in turn would have made a dent in my proposal, come query-time.

That is, I suppose, what the professionals mean when they talk about the "ideal Beta reader." You want several Beta readers, of course; and you want them from varying ages and viewpoints so you can get a well-rounded collective response. But in your ideal Beta reader, you want someone who who catches the vision, and pinpoint specifics of how to make that vision as real to the readers as it is to you.

Anyone else run into this? How many Beta readers have looked over your prized project? What is your ideal Beta reader?

______________

(*) Beta readers = editorial jargon for "test readers"

Clear as Fog

October is quickly passing by; and so it's time to get serious about my self-imposed timeline. If I'm going to start floating query letters on Castle 8 this coming spring, then that means several things must happen first: (1) I need to nail down the ending of my manuscript; (2) I need several "cold reads" from objective eyes; (3) I need to plough ahead into the second book (This might help me to get a grip on where Book One should end); and (4) I need to go ahead and start wrestling with the basics of a query letter.

Query letter. Ugh.

One reason I'm dreading this step of the process is because of the inevitable question that must be answered: What is my intended audience? Who do I expect to pick up my book and read it? Enjoy it? Possibly beg for that soon-to-come sequel?

My explanation has always been that I write to a state of heart, not an age bracket. But that philosophy doesn't fit into the grid. Not when you're just one more email on the list, or one more envelope in the submission pile. But knowing my audience within the established parameters will determine a lot - even which agent/agency I submit to, which publisher might pick up my work. So it needs some considering.

But the question, in turn, brings up questions about the details of my plot. Is there torture? Rape? Cussing? Unmentionable trysts? Excessive violence? Well, since this is a postdystopian world I've created, it certainly is not going to be a happy one - at least, not at first.  Many darker issues of humankind will be dealt with, though not head-on. I think it is perfectly acceptable to deal with hard issues without giving explicitly gory or lewd scenes. At the same time, if this is a postdystopian novel, then certain ugly facts have to be dealt with.

So it's obviously not going to be a picture book that will sell at the elementary school book fairs. OK. That narrows the field a bit. But not by much.

I say not by much because, as a teacher who has spent the better part of two decades teaching in various public school settings, I have seen teachers give middle schoolers some hefty material that I wouldn't have given them. I've seen quite a few books marketed as "young adult" that have made me (and several of my fellow writers) blush scarlet just from reading the back cover. So obviously I don't have the established concept of what constitutes "young adult" fiction, vs "adult" fiction. (I mean, I get what "adult fiction" typically means, but I'm just not going there. By adult fiction I mean fiction that grownups would enjoy without needing to buy stock in brain bleach.)

If anyone has insights into this, please let me know. I know that right now "young adult" fiction (geared primarily to the 14-19 year old bracket) is the cash cow of the publishing world; but I don't want to tell a little white lie just to sell my book. Nor do I want to call it "adult" and have potential agents come to it expecting a heart-pounding bodice-ripper. I want to be truthful, I just don't know into which hole I ought to put the peg.

I always did hate coloring inside the lines....

Terrible Fun

Don't get used to these daily posts - during "normal life" (which is quite the wind tunnel around here), updates will generally be two or three times a week. But this link was just too good to pass up.

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner has a guest blogger this week, Chuck Sambuchino, who is hosting a rather fun competition. Prize is the 2012 Guide to Literary Agents and a free - get this, FREE - query review.

The competitive part? Submitting the worst storyline EVER for a potential book or movie. I mean, it has to be bad. Laughably bad. In 60 words or less. Each person can submit up to two entries, and all you need to provide in terms of identity is a name and reliable email address.

I'm not going to pass up the opportunity for a potential free query review, especially as this is a priority that will be staring me in the face within a matter of weeks. So I jumped in the pool with everyone else.

My two entries are as follows:

Marley sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream of having his rock

collection on permanent display at the Smithsonian Museum.

And my personal favorite:

Nibs the vegetarian butcher works to put things right after

a misunderstanding with the local mortuary leaves him with

a huge debt, a reticulated python and a lifetime supply of spam.

Interested? Good. You have until just before midnight of October 3rd to join the fun. For more info, and to post your own madcap ideas o-so-easily, just click here.