Your writing is unremarkable. You may have worked hard to craft a good story, followed all the rules – trimming unnecessary prepositional phrases, chopping adverbs, replacing passive verbs with active verbs – but the result is indistinguishable from any of a hundred other novels the agent has reviewed in the past month. Solution: Find your writer’s voice and pray it’s a good one. A writer’s voice is that unique stamp that sets his or her words apart from others. There’s no simple (or universal) definition for “writer’s voice,” but typically it will be revealed in such things as an author’s word choice, writing rhythm, and that intangible thing called “tone” or “color.” Best way to find your voice? Write. A lot. If you have a unique voice hidden in there somewhere, it will eventually appear. And if not? You might be one of the lucky ones who gets an agent anyway and maybe even ends up selling a ton of books. But just in case, be prepared for rejection. Sorry. But that’s just how it goes.
Your story is unoriginal. What’s that? There is no original story? In a broad sense, you’re right. But there are infinite variations to the basic plots that give structure to stories. How you handle the familiar is what will set you apart from the rest of the wannabes. Here’s a tip: Create characters with depth and dimension. Flawed, richly-textured characters provide you with all kinds of plot opportunities.
Your story has no conflict. Guess what? If you don’t have conflict, you don’t have a story. If there are no obstacles to overcome, no one cares what happens to your protagonist, least of all your protagonist himself. Throw challenges at your characters from page one to the very last page. If your protagonist isn’t moving toward something, agents (and, therefore, readers in general) will grow impatient with the story and give up on it.
You can’t spell “query.” Will this really prompt a Pass letter? Well, it depends on the agent. And whether or not she’s had her coffee. And how many bad queries she’s seen before yours appears in the queue. And whether or not your opening line is brilliant enough to make her forget your spelling error. Point is – if you want to increase your chances of being considered, don’t make this stupid mistake. And by “this stupid mistake” I mean, do a spell check on everything you submit to an agent. And by “spell check” I mean review what you’ve written multiple times by reading it aloud – don’t count on Microsoft Word to know you meant “guilt” when you accidentally typed “quilt.”
You think you’re the next Stephen King. Persistence and confidence are good things, but when they cross the line into arrogance, you are at risk of becoming the punch line for a #queryfail joke. Seriously, if you’re really the best thing since Hemingway, your writing will do the shouting for you.
Your novel isn’t finished. Yeah. I know. This seems like a no-brainer. But some of you are trying to apply the non-fiction rules (which allow writers to submit a proposal for an as-yet-unfinished work) to fiction. Don’t do that. Just finish your novel. By the way, your novel isn’t finished when you first type “The end.” It’s then that you must put on the editor’s hat, revising, re-shaping, and improving the story until it’s really the best work you can do. If you send a first draft you’re just asking for a Pass letter.
You haven’t done your research. If you’re pitching a novel about a sex-crazed wizard who takes over the world one kinky tryst at a time to an agent who only reps Amish Christian fiction, you’re an idiot. Okay, that was harsh. But please, friends, take the time to review what the agents represent – and also, what they’re currently looking for (the latter is typically a smaller subset of the former). In most cases, everything you need to know about an agent’s interests and current needs can be found at their website. Don’t be the guy who shows up at the formal dinner party wearing a toga because you didn’t look at the invitation carefully enough.
You’ve sent out too many poor queries. Don’t send a single query until you understand what a good one looks like. (There are a ton of websites out there with examples of good queries. Guess where you’ll find some of the best info on how to write a query? Yup. At literary agents’ websites.) I know you’re anxious, but there is no benefit to “getting there first” if what you’re submitting is less than great. You can actually blow your chance at a second (or third) chance by flooding agents with bad queries. I know that seems unfair, but keep in mind there are hundreds of other authors vying for the same limited “eye time” agents can give to queries. Learn from others’ query mistakes as much as possible before you have to learn from your own.
You can’t handle rejection. If this is you, well, you probably should look for a new dream. Because if you pursue a dream of being published, you’re going to experience rejection. If not by an agent, then by a publisher. If not by a publisher, then by a reader. Someone, somewhere down the line will think your writing sucks. It’s okay. Really. Every writer experiences this. Every. One. Submit. Feel the sting of rejection. Wipe your tears. Glean what you can from the experience. Then get back to the task at hand.
You’re simply not meant to have one. Yeah, this is a bit of a downer. But it’s just reality. You may never get an agent. You may never publish a book. Does that mean you should stop trying? Maybe someday. But probably not today. However, if your only goal is “to be published,” you might be going about this all wrong. Oh, it’s perfectly fine to hang that goal in front of you (just as it’s fine to self-publish if that’s your dream) – but don’t miss the writing journey along the way, okay? It’s a good journey.
Good advice – as former editor and lifetime writer, I could only nod head, and groan at the memories.
I don’t think you mentioned that most of what an editor or agent sees, in the slushpile of unsolicited work, is unmitigated crap, by people without any apparent talent, (who as you said, are all convinced they are the next big thing).
All that ego without anything to back it gets boring inside about 10 words.
I’d say over 95% of the work i’ve read was like that (crap). There was a small percentage that showed promise, then less than one percent, maybe a hundredth of 1%, showed real talent.
Unfortunately, most of those had sent their work to the wrong publisher, so there wasn’t anything i could do for them. Maybe ONE book a year was publishable, and i worked for publishers who LIKED taking new writers out of the slushpile and publishing them.
Most writers seem to love to make life hard for themselves.
Yes, much of what passes for writing is indeed crap. But since most of the readers of this little blog are really smart and working hard at the craft, I thought the above reasons would suffice. Now, if I were speaking the masses? Well, most of them wouldn’t listen, would they.
Except if you read between the lines, there’s actually hope embedded in most of the above reasons. If traditional publishing is the goal and a writer works hard on the things that are keeping her from being agent-ready, there’s a chance things can change.
And of course, for some it’s just about timing. A good book that agents pass on today might be a hot property five years from now. Hopeful writers must master the paradox of persistence and patience.
6 Comments
Sheila (@stinginthetail)
Good advice – as former editor and lifetime writer, I could only nod head, and groan at the memories.
I don’t think you mentioned that most of what an editor or agent sees, in the slushpile of unsolicited work, is unmitigated crap, by people without any apparent talent, (who as you said, are all convinced they are the next big thing).
All that ego without anything to back it gets boring inside about 10 words.
I’d say over 95% of the work i’ve read was like that (crap). There was a small percentage that showed promise, then less than one percent, maybe a hundredth of 1%, showed real talent.
Unfortunately, most of those had sent their work to the wrong publisher, so there wasn’t anything i could do for them. Maybe ONE book a year was publishable, and i worked for publishers who LIKED taking new writers out of the slushpile and publishing them.
Most writers seem to love to make life hard for themselves.
Steve P., ND
Yes, much of what passes for writing is indeed crap. But since most of the readers of this little blog are really smart and working hard at the craft, I thought the above reasons would suffice. Now, if I were speaking the masses? Well, most of them wouldn’t listen, would they.
Nicole
Ouch.
Steve P., ND
Yes. I know, Nicole.
Except if you read between the lines, there’s actually hope embedded in most of the above reasons. If traditional publishing is the goal and a writer works hard on the things that are keeping her from being agent-ready, there’s a chance things can change.
And of course, for some it’s just about timing. A good book that agents pass on today might be a hot property five years from now. Hopeful writers must master the paradox of persistence and patience.
Jens
Stephen, thanks for the unapologetic, naked truth from your perspective. Hopefully it will help me as I begin to seek an agent of my own.
-Jens
Rachel Starr Thomson
Great post!