Submissions - Page 5

Integrating the POV and Narrative

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Dear Editor…

Please explain this comment from an agent on my midgrade historical fiction ms told in first person: “your POV and narrative are not integrated enough.”

Thank you,

Carrie

Dear Carrie…

Sure, I’ll take a stab at translating. Two guesses, which aren’t mutually exclusive:  1) The agent thinks the narrative voice sounds too old for a story told by a tween. Perhaps the words are too fancy for a kid, or the sentence structure too complex, or the insights too sophisticated. Give each of those a look. 2) The agent thinks some of the things mentioned in the narrative were things that your POV character could not know. Make sure your first person narrator only mentions things she can know first-hand.

Happy writing!

The Editor

Can You Really Land an Agent at a Conference?

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Dear Editor…

At most writers’ conferences, there’s at least one editor and one agent who review first pages and queries and share critiques, so I’m curious: What is the percentage of published writers who were “discovered” at a conference? Thanks for even an estimate.

Sincerely,

Kate

Dear Kate…

I’m not a prestidigitator by nature, so I can’t pull any numbers out of my hat for you, but I can tell you this: At the La Jolla Writers Conference this past weekend, I clapped along with several hundred attendees when an agent and author who’d met at last year’s conference announced that they’d sold the writer’s debut novel to a top publisher, to pub Spring ‘11. It happens.

Happy writing!

The Editor

Time Frame for Submission to Interested Agent/Editor?

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Dear Editor…

I am thrilled to have had several agents and an editor request full manuscripts at a recent conference. Not wanting to blow this wonderful opportunity, I have readers going over it for the umpteenth time & continue to edit, but wonder what is an appropriate length of time to submit to those interested parties?

Sincerely,

Connie

Dear Connie…

Thumbs up for your call on the final once-over. Don’t rush that revision—you’ve got several months before any of those requestors even bats an eye. They’d all tell you, very sincerely, to take as much time as you need to get the manuscript right. That said, if I were you I’d aim to finish the revision and submit no later than six months after the requests. It’s not that they’ll hold a time lag against you (they know that post-conference revising takes time and that sometimes Life gets in the way), but rather that the marketplace could shift in that time, as could the very jobs of those agents and editors. I certainly wouldn’t wait longer than a year, which editors commonly use as their limit when they extend open submission invitations at conferences.

Happy writing!

The Editor

Pitching a Dual POV Novel

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Dear Editor…

I’m working on my logline/elevator pitch. I have been told that it should be one sentence, and no more than 17 words. What about dual POV stories? While they do end up together, they also have their own story arcs.  Do I pick 1 for my pitch or is 2 lines—one for each—okay?

Sincerely,

Rachel

Dear Rachel…

17 seems an arbitrary number, but if it keeps you focused, I’m all for it. And focus is what matters here. If you’ve got two storylines for two point of view characters, there should be some point of intersection for them—that’s where you focus your pitch. What’s the common denominator that allows these two people and stories to exist within the same novel? Do they speak to two sides of the question “What is love?” Do they explore the same theme and come to different conclusions about it? That theme is the anchor for your pitch, as in: “In a school where money means Everything, two freshmen find out what happens when Everything is suddenly gone.” What do you know! If you’ll let me ignore the word “a”, then I hit the magic 17.

Happy writing!

The Editor

Finding Adventure in Historical Fiction

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Dear Editor…

I have just completed an MG adventure for boys set in the middle ages. I’ve heard that historical fiction is a hard sell these days. How should I pitch my manuscript?

Sincerely,

Nancy

Dear Nancy…

Okay, so historical fiction isn’t as hot as vampire love stories right now, but you’ve got a secret weapon—a middle grade adventure for boys! Editors crave that. Pitch the action with the biggest fork you can find. Knights and armor, warlords and feudal tragedy, crusades and barbarian invasions, and royalty that snuffs each other out faster than Black Death? Yowza! Gotta love the middle ages. “MG adventure for boys” are the keywords for your pitch. Hit that angle hard.

Happy writing!

The Editor

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