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OMFG FEEDBACK
Apr. 7th, 2012 12:40 pmThis morning—day off because of the stupid holiday—I checked my email first thing, and was surprised (as I always am) to see another email in my inbox titled "QUERY: Qualia." I resign myself to form rejections every time I see that, and I don't expect much else because it's easier that way.
But it wasn't a form rejection! And when I read the first lines and they sounded, you know, personalized, my first reaction was "OMFG, NO, I CAN'T." More like panic than happiness, if we're being honest.
Anyway, here's what she said:
There's something your voice I like and I applaud the scope of your story, but I have to confess I got completely lost in your pages. It felt like I had stumbled into the middle of an ongoing series or novel, not started something at the beginning. You need to give readers a more intelligible introduction to your world, not drop them in with characters and rules they have no context for. I'm not suggesting you info dump but you do have to give us someframework to understand your world with. If you were to revise this or if you have another project, I would be willing to take a look.
Best,
LITERARY AGENT"
If you'll remember last year when I had a request, and then rejection of the ms, that lovely agent told me,
You're a wonderful writer, but in the end, this particular project didn't do it for me, in the sense that I didn't fall in love with it the way I need to with fiction. I think in the end that's entirely a personal preference thing -- I felt your world-building was a bit too abstract, and I wasn't as engaged in your characters' lives as I wanted to be, but that kind of distance and narrative style might very much appeal to someone else.
I AM HEARING THIS LOUD AND CLEAR.
Two things are at play here: One, I might have taken the "start where the action is" advice a little too literally. There are lots of stories out there that don't start in medias res. The Hunger Games (which I've been reading and madly enjoying,) starts with the main character waking up, in fact. And then going about her day. We of course learn early on that it's a Very Important Day, but still, there's about a half a chapter of her wandering around her world.
The world I am writing in is very clear in my head, but I'm obviously making the mistake of thinking that naturally, everyone's going to see what I see.
Two: It's quite possible that I write with too light a touch, since I'm always telling myself "You're too effusive; tone it down, reign it in." Maybe for the genre I'm writing in, I need it to be earthier or something. I am kind of like this in real life, too: sort of an airhead, I mean.
SO! The first thing I need to do is formulate a professional, polite, gracious reply saying something like, "IAM SO STOKED MY HANDS ARE SHAKING appreciate this feedback very much, and would be glad to LEGIT DO WHATEVER YOU SUGGEST make any revisions necessary and then resubmit to your every whim. Paint your house? Bake you cupcakes? Hop on a pogo stick and yodel? I will do this. Is there a time limit on resubmitting?"
Or something like that? I want to let her know how much it means to me that she's willing to give it a chance with some work, and that I'm more than willing to revise like crazy (because I really like revising, for one thing, and for another, if two agents are saying, in essence, the same thing, then this is obviously true!)
And then, to the revising! I don't even know where to start. Let's see; I sent her the first ten pages and a one-page synopsis. I was actually afraid I was dumping too much information into those first ten pages, so I'm stuck as to how I'm going to fill it out, and I know I need some help with this.
Should I go back to the sf/f workshop? Or somewhere else? I'm so flustered I don't even know where to start, even though before today I had it all worked out, what I would do if I needed to make revisions and try again. Someone please do the hard stuff for me!
AND! I also know that, plenty of times, writers make revisions and it's still not enough. That happens a lot. I'm also prepared for that, and anything she (or anyone) tells me will only help me become a better writer. So I'm not putting any faberge eggs into this basket, but I sure am excited!
And I'm also just happy because, this is twice now that a literary agent has said "I enjoy your writing" in one form or another. That means, you know, no matter what, I can do this. IT COULD WORK.
I'm not a bad writer. I'm a good writer. (But I'm not good enough to explain in words how effing happy that makes me! Here, have another gif:
)
Here's another wack thing. Last year, when I had that other agent's interest? That was right after HitRECord published my Tiny Story. This year, this came right after the Red Riding Hood stories.
Clearly, clearly HR is my good luck charm. OH YEAH.
But anyway. I'm happy and freaked out and excited and I just don't know where to start, okay. Where do I even start?
But it wasn't a form rejection! And when I read the first lines and they sounded, you know, personalized, my first reaction was "OMFG, NO, I CAN'T." More like panic than happiness, if we're being honest.
Anyway, here's what she said:
There's something your voice I like and I applaud the scope of your story, but I have to confess I got completely lost in your pages. It felt like I had stumbled into the middle of an ongoing series or novel, not started something at the beginning. You need to give readers a more intelligible introduction to your world, not drop them in with characters and rules they have no context for. I'm not suggesting you info dump but you do have to give us someframework to understand your world with. If you were to revise this or if you have another project, I would be willing to take a look.
Best,
LITERARY AGENT"
If you'll remember last year when I had a request, and then rejection of the ms, that lovely agent told me,
You're a wonderful writer, but in the end, this particular project didn't do it for me, in the sense that I didn't fall in love with it the way I need to with fiction. I think in the end that's entirely a personal preference thing -- I felt your world-building was a bit too abstract, and I wasn't as engaged in your characters' lives as I wanted to be, but that kind of distance and narrative style might very much appeal to someone else.
I AM HEARING THIS LOUD AND CLEAR.
Two things are at play here: One, I might have taken the "start where the action is" advice a little too literally. There are lots of stories out there that don't start in medias res. The Hunger Games (which I've been reading and madly enjoying,) starts with the main character waking up, in fact. And then going about her day. We of course learn early on that it's a Very Important Day, but still, there's about a half a chapter of her wandering around her world.
The world I am writing in is very clear in my head, but I'm obviously making the mistake of thinking that naturally, everyone's going to see what I see.
Two: It's quite possible that I write with too light a touch, since I'm always telling myself "You're too effusive; tone it down, reign it in." Maybe for the genre I'm writing in, I need it to be earthier or something. I am kind of like this in real life, too: sort of an airhead, I mean.
SO! The first thing I need to do is formulate a professional, polite, gracious reply saying something like, "I
Or something like that? I want to let her know how much it means to me that she's willing to give it a chance with some work, and that I'm more than willing to revise like crazy (because I really like revising, for one thing, and for another, if two agents are saying, in essence, the same thing, then this is obviously true!)
And then, to the revising! I don't even know where to start. Let's see; I sent her the first ten pages and a one-page synopsis. I was actually afraid I was dumping too much information into those first ten pages, so I'm stuck as to how I'm going to fill it out, and I know I need some help with this.
Should I go back to the sf/f workshop? Or somewhere else? I'm so flustered I don't even know where to start, even though before today I had it all worked out, what I would do if I needed to make revisions and try again. Someone please do the hard stuff for me!
AND! I also know that, plenty of times, writers make revisions and it's still not enough. That happens a lot. I'm also prepared for that, and anything she (or anyone) tells me will only help me become a better writer. So I'm not putting any faberge eggs into this basket, but I sure am excited!
And I'm also just happy because, this is twice now that a literary agent has said "I enjoy your writing" in one form or another. That means, you know, no matter what, I can do this. IT COULD WORK.
I'm not a bad writer. I'm a good writer. (But I'm not good enough to explain in words how effing happy that makes me! Here, have another gif:
)Here's another wack thing. Last year, when I had that other agent's interest? That was right after HitRECord published my Tiny Story. This year, this came right after the Red Riding Hood stories.
Clearly, clearly HR is my good luck charm. OH YEAH.
But anyway. I'm happy and freaked out and excited and I just don't know where to start, okay. Where do I even start?
