The task of querying agents is not only onerous, but it's almost soul-destroying; where else does a person set themselves up for multiple rejections- or just being ignored? Every artist, whether writer, illustrator, songwriter, singer, etc. faces this. It's hard keeping that stiff upper lip.

Just this past week though, I had the nicest rejection- (yes, you read that - rejection). Not only did the head of this literary agency write back to tell me no thank you and good luck (getting that much of response is rare. Nowadays it's "If you don't hear back from us, that's a no." Yeah, like we couldn't guess that), but she offered her thoughts. First she told me what she liked: the concept and the series potential. Then she told me what she didn't like: it moves too fast into the main premise, not giving her enough time to identify with my character, and that affected the voice. While it always hurts when either agents or editors say they don't like the 'voice' of the character, at least it gives me something to look at, to consider where I might make changes. The problem of moving too fast into the concept was the result of another professional telling me to 'get right into it.' Clearly these two have vastly different opinions. I'm going to go with the second opinion, and ease into the storyline. The concept of having that opening BANG! and the story starts, I believe, is wearing out. Readers, and industry professionals, seem to want more information about the character before we see their struggle. They kind of want to be friends first. While I have the issue of the voice to think over, I don't see a radical change. The character is a 14-year-old boy and their voice is generally different from girls (I have 3 boys so I know their mindset. Generally they are not drama queens or angsty, and not being either one myself, I can't write that voice. People like that usually annoy me anyway.).

So instead of licking my wounds over yet another rejection, I'm going to look at it that this senior agent saw the potential and that with some work (which I've already started), there's a future for this series.

In that spirit, I sent a personal thank you to the agent. It makes me wonder how often authors respond to her (or others) with a thank you for the sharing of their time and expertise. If an agent (or an editor) takes the time to do that for you, SEND a THANK YOU!

Now I'm off to read my character the riot act and get him in line-

Photo courtesy of Pexels/Pixaby

Keep writing and believing!

Char

Oh, That Novel's Not Finished...

Before we start the great NaNoRevMo in February, (NaNoWriMo org does their revision program in the summer- I don't want to wait that long so if February doesn't work for you, do theirs in the summer), please read the sign.

Rejection is important. Painful, yes, but important. Just because you finished your novel doesn't mean it's good. Actually, because you wrote with determined speed, it's probably crap. If you submit it to an editor or agent now, not only would you get rejected, you'd be the butt of office jokes because it's that bad.

Don't despair. Rejection is the natural order of the universe.

  

If anyone knows about rejection and failure, it's Thomas Edison. He racked up more failures and had his ideas rejected by more people than Stephen King or Dr. Suess- and even me. Sirenz had over 60 rejections. Today, four books have my name on them. I know the pain of rejection. Sure, I hate it, sometimes think it's unjustified, but see above again.

This is the lesson I learned, that every writer learns. Or artist, inventor, musician, student, businessman, etc. Even when you finish your NaNoWriMo revision, you have only begun the process. You will revise multiple times; until you're satisfied, the critique group/beta reader is satisfied, an agent is satisfied, the editor is satisfied.

It's going to hurt, I won't lie to you. There were times I threw stuff, cried, yelled, and vowed to snub everyone who rejected me once I became a famous author. 

But I kept writing and revising and imagining and learning. I didn't stop. You can't if you're serious about writing. I've met too many people who say that they were too busy right now to finish the revisions, or the editor/agent doesn't know what they're talking about, or it's good enough, I'll just self-publish. (The good self-published books are thoroughly edited or they don't sell so that's not an option to skip more revisions.) Currently, I'm revising four novels. None of them have stayed the same since I wrote that first draft. Characters were removed, changed gender, given bigger roles. Places were changed, dialogue shortened or lengthened, events were put in or they were deleted, word counts increased or drastically reduced. 

This is all waiting for you. Embrace it. Learn from it. Use it. Accept it. 

Keep writing, keep the faith. Next week- a list of books to help you edit your manuscript so save your holiday gift $$; you'll want some of these.

Have a Merry Christmas, a wonderful New Year, a Happy Holiday for the path you follow--

Char