Contest Alert

Looking for a critique? Looking for an agent? Looking for a critique from an agent? Then do I have the contest for you.

Author Shelley Watters is hosting a Made of Awesome first page contest on her blog, judged by the completely bad-ass Judith Engracia of Liza Dawson Associates. I don't usually use that term, but Judith has a Siberian Husky named Grendel, does martial arts, and graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University with a B.A. in English and History. Oh yeah, and she did it on a full presidential scholarship. I mean, it's not every day you read a literary agent's bio and ask yourself, "If my MC Justine and this literary agent got in a fight, who would win?" Let's see, both Justine and Judith have martial arts training, but Justine does happen to wield Excalibur. Judith probably doesn't have a magic sword. Then again, Justine doesn't have a Siberian Husky named Grendel, who quite possibly has magical powers, and who may or may not transform into a fierce fighting companion the way Battlecat did in He-Man. So let's call it a draw.

Anyways, the point is: Awesome contest, ends today, May 31, so enter now. First-place winner will win a 10-page critique and the way these contests usually work, Judith may ask to look at the runner-ups' work as well. So, you know, enter! Now!

Query Update: Neurotic Writer Is Neurotic

I'm not particularly thrilled with the name, but my blog is called 'Surviving Writing a Book' for a reason. There are days, many days, when I feel I haven't so much embarked on a quest to get published as I've embarked on a slow descent into madness.

Just so you know where I stand with things: I have a YA Urban Fantasy called Knights of Avalon, about the Knights of the Round Table being reincarnated as New Jersey teens. I love my story. Yeah, yeah, I know all writers love their stories, but I fully, 100%, believe in this story, in a way that I didn't know was possible until I wrote it.

Problem is, I've been querying for over a year now and have piled up enough rejections to create a very pleasant bonfire with which to roast marshmallows over. I know my query isn't the problem. I've gotten too many partial and full requests for that to be the issue. No, it's something with the manuscript itself.

Some of the agents who have rejected me, very kind and awesome agents, have told me that they just didn't fall in love with the manuscript. I get that a lot and really, that's not a bad response to get, but at some point, when you hear that over and over, you wish there was a more fixable problem. Something like, "There's a giant plot hole...right over there." Yeah, I could fix that. But how do I make someone love something? Maybe have an agent read the manuscript over a candlelight dinner? With a violin concerto softly playing in the background?



I have my suspicions...maybe my main character is too unsympathetic, maybe my words somehow lack emotional impact, maybe I just don't write well enough... but I'll keep working at it, always trying to make my story better, because while I believe 100% in Knights of Avalon, I also believe 100% that there's still room for improvement.

I'm kind of running out of agents to pester though, and at this point, I have the feeling I'm not going to find one. Not right now, at least. It's frustrating, and I would prefer to have one, because my beagle can negotiate a contract better than I can. But I'll go it alone if I have to, and I think I'm going to start querying publishers (reputable ones) who accept unagented submissions. And you better believe I saw Sourcebooks' call for YA manuscripts and sent mine in weeks ago. Wish me luck, because so far my luck's been pretty lousy, and I'll let you all know how it goes!

It's Time to Update the Blogroll

Actually, it was probably time to update the blogroll months ago. So, who should I include? I'm taking suggestions from my lovely readers, and yes, feel free to suggest your own blog in the comments.

In addition, if any of you ever have anything you'd like me to promote on the blog or on Twitter, drop me a note in the comments and I'll do my best!

Quick update on the agent search: After an initial flurry of partial requests (and one full) for Knights of Avalon, I've had nothing but a string of rejections, I think I'm up to eleven or twelve in a row now. Ouch! I've revamped my query, gone back and made sure the manuscript is extra, extra polished (it's so polished you can now use it as a mirror, it's true!), and I'll keep at it. I think I've got a good story, now I just need some luck.

I said I need some LUCK...




...there, that's better.

Why Finding An Agent Should Be More Like A Disney Movie

I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Disney, give me a Miyazaki fairy tale any day, but as I continue to search for an agent, I've found myself thinking: This would be a lot more fun if finding an agent was like a Disney movie. Think of the possibilities:

1. The Happy Ending. Every Disney movie has a happy ending. Beauty saves the Beast, Simba defeats Scar, Prince Charming rescues Snow White and she goes off to college to study medicine (I'm pretty sure that last part happened), so if finding an agent was more like a Disney movie, then we'd all find the perfect agent at the end.

2. Singing, talking animals. Who couldn't use their very own singing, talking furry friend to help them in their search for an agent? No, not THOSE furry friends that sit themselves in front of the computer screen when you're in the middle of a scene or chew on your submissions.


I'm talking about the type of furry friend you'll only find in a Disney movie: Mice who will sweep your floors and do your dishes while you work on your query, birds who'll tell you your manuscript is wonderful when you get rejected. But make sure your little furry friends don't get any bright ideas and carry your manuscript over to an agent's house and leave it on their pillow, because that stuff doesn't fly with agents.


3. The songs! Searching for an agent has its high and lows, so if you're going to have the happy ending and the talking animals, you might as well get your own soundtrack. Potential song ideas include, "A Whole New (Literary) World," "I'll Make A Writer Out of You," and "One Day My Agent Will Come."

Now if you excuse me, I'm going to try to teach my beagle how to sing and dance while I send out more queries.

Status Report

Hello lovely people! (and you really are lovely, I can't tell you all how many times I've been bummed out over the last few months and someone's kind comment on the blog or on Twitter has cheered me up) I've been querying for three months now and here are my stats:

• 20 agents queried
• 4 partials requested
• 1 full requested
• All rejected :(
  

Now I know this is a subjective business, but with five rejections, that tells me something isn't working quite right with the book. I've been complimented on how strong my writing is, the agents like the premise and once I tweaked some pacing issues, they've been very positive on that too.

What no one has said one good thing about is the main character herself and one agent told me that she couldn't connect with Justine (my MC). I love my MC, I think she's 32 flavors and then some, but that awesome person living in my head isn't translating to the page, so I've got to find a way to fix that.

Based on feedback, I also suspect that the latter half of my book is stronger than the beginning part. I think this is the case because the further along an agent has read, the more complimentary they've been, and one of my beta readers (OK, my Mom..who btw, HATES Knights of Avalon) told me that the first fifteen pages after the prologue were much weaker than the rest of the book. Weaker beginning + inability to connect with MC = Rejection.

The thing is, this isn't an easy problem to fix. It's not like bad punctuation or a plot hole, it's something that's almost intangible. One of those things that you either have or you don't.

But I have a plan. The plan does not involve ferrets. No, it involves the following: Over the next day or so, I'm going to post the first few chapters of the manuscript up on the blog. If you'd like, please give me your thoughts, good and bad, on the writing and specifically, on the main character. Do you connect with her? If not, why?

Next, it's been suggested to me that I switch the novel over to first person, that this might allow readers to identify more with the MC. I think I'll test this out on a few chapters and once I've done that (it'll probably take me a few days, at least), post those chapters up on the blog too to get everyone's feedback. Again, thanks for all your help. You guys have helped keep me sane, or if nothing else, from going any crazier than I already am. :)

Why I Need an Agent

I get asked on occasion if I'd like to work with an agent. This is sort of like being asked if I'd like to work with a pretty, sparkly unicorn. Sure, I'd love to work with a pretty, sparkly unicorn, especially one that was good at contract negotiations, but I don't know if I can find a pretty, sparkly unicorn.

I've also had it pointed out to me that writers don't need agents to get published. This is true. That said, I need an agent. And here's a little hypothetical scenario to show you why:

Publishing House: O hai there! We love your story about a beagle who's secretly a ninja, fighting to save the world, and we'd like to offer you a two-book deal.

Me: Oh wow oh wow oh wow! Where do I sign?

Publishing House: Here, you can use this bottle of red ink. Just sign on the dotted line.

Me: Wait a minute. That's not ink, that's blood! And Paragraph 18(b), right under the part about electronic rights, says I'm selling my soul! And there's nothing in here about payment.

Publishing House: We're glad that you asked about payment. In return for us giving you a two-book deal, we are prepared to give you this here Slurpee, cold and refreshing, along with this piece of string and a brand new paper clip.

Me: Paper clip. Oooh, shiny. (bats at the paper clip, taking a sip of the Slurpee) Deal!

The Waiting Game

Apparently my query wasn't half-bad, because I got a request for a full for Surviving Matewan. Pretty cool, huh? Hopefully I don't jinx anything by mentioning it, but this is the second time I've had a full requested, so I thought I'd share my experience.

Just like the first time, I spent the first ten minutes doing a dance around my house, shouting, "Nuh-uh, no way!" and re-reading the e-mail to make sure I had read it right (maybe the agent meant something else by "please send it to me").

Like last time, I didn't send the manuscript right away, and this is always a smart move because when you're that excited, it's very easy to make a mistake. Take a couple of hours or even a couple of days to calm down, then carefully read the agent's instructions and look over the manuscript.

If you have any questions about how the agent wants the manuscript sent, don't hesitate to politely ask for clarification. I had to do that with the first agent and I'm glad I did, as otherwise I wouldn't have sent her the materials the way she wanted and she was very understanding.

I have a bit more confidence this time around, not because I think the agent will offer representation, I know the chances of that are small (though I'm ever hopeful!), but with the first request, I couldn't help but wonder if it was a fluke, maybe the agent made a mistake or took pity on me. I know agents don't really do that, but somehow that thought crept into my head. With a second request, it's no longer a once in a lifetime event.

Now that the manuscript is sent, it's time for the interminable waiting. The last time, I tried to keep myself busy, but I ended up checking my e-mail far more than was healthy. This time, I'm determined to keep my mind off the manuscript. Give the beagle extra walks, give my mother's dogs extra walks, clean the house, enter blog contests, engage in endless speculation about Battlestar Galactica (I don't know if I'll ever know the truth, but I do know the confusion), etc., etc. Whatever it takes to busy myself.