Wednesday 24 September 2008

Not what I wanted

The agent that I sent my book to promises to get back to you within two weeks unless your submission coincides with a book fair or similar. Well I guess mine didn't because it came back today.
The response wasn't the one that I had been hoping for but she did say some good things about it. She said "You can obviously write well" (direct quote) and liked my main character. However she wasn't enamoured with the secondary character. She didn't say anything bad about him but she said that she didn't know if the public would be that interested in him. Sadly without him there is no story so he has to stay.
All the agents that I have sent it to have all said good things about my writing but none of them want to take the story on. The melodramatic part of me thinks of saying "maybe I should take the hint" and then wait for all you lovely people to say nice things to me to massage my bruised ego. And while I don't want to stop anyone from doing that if they want to I'm not ready to give up on it yet and I will be sending it again.

12 comments:

Annie Wicking said...

GBW, do what I did, put your book to one side and write a short story.

Then take a good look at your book. Write a list of all the chapters out and a sentence of what happens in that chapter and who appears in it.
I.E.
Chpt 1
Girl waits for taxi (Suzy)

Chpt 2
Suzy meets Dave at cafe for lunch

By mapping out your book you can hightlight all the chapters in which your second character appears in and are able to see whether the story could be reworked without him.

I thought I couldn't write my book without one of my main characters when I was told the same sort of thing about my book. I made a list and then realised that my story could be told by a different character which has made my book much stronger.

I hope this is of some help to you and good like with your rewrite.

And if you are wondering why you should write a short story before rewriting your book. Well, it helps to refocus your mind and you come back to your book with fresh eyes and mind and you can see things a lot clear.

Best wishes,

Annie

The W.O.W. factor! said...

I am sorry she declined your book. It's got to be extremely frustrating!
Since I'm just 'listening' in on you writers..can you explain how you choose an agent?
How do they judge your writings to know whether the public will or won't like what you've written? Everyone's tastes are different....
There is such a vast array of writers and types of writings and stories to tell...how can one agent or ten judge, when there are millions upon millions of readers??
Just curious...
Barb

Anonymous said...

That's the spirit. You'll get there in the end.

Colette McCormick said...

Thanks for the encouragement.
Thanks for the advice Pat. What you say makes sense but the trouble is that I love my secondary character so I might have a problem dropping him. I'm going to try what you said though because maybe I can make him more interesting.
Oh if only I knew what makes an agent tick. I guess that I have to hope that I send it to the right person at the right time. I chose this particular agent because she was recommended to me by someone who had written 16 books - all published.
I know I will captain.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Don't lose heart, it's a strange business that we're chosing to enter.

I know this is easy to say and I would be just as disheartened as you.

Colette McCormick said...

I'll try not to Debs. The thing is that almost everybody that ever wrote a book (unless they self publish) has been in my position.
Thanks

Amanda said...

Your last comment says it all, Gonna be. Keep on going! :-)

Colette McCormick said...

It's the only thing to do annie.
x

Karen said...

This is exactly the response I've had in the past. Nothing wrong with my writing (that's something at least) but I'm falling down plot-wise.

I'm still working on it, but Annie Wcking's advice about writing some short stories instead is good. I've recently sold a couple and it's given my confidence a real boost. Must get back to the novel sometime soon though :o)

Colette McCormick said...

I'm going to try and look at it objectively in a couple of weeks time. At least there's nothing wrong with our writing though so that's good.

Kath McGurl said...

Keep at it, Gonna Be. I have a quote somewhere on my blog - there's a word for a writer who never gives up: Published.

Colette McCormick said...

Amen to that womag