Author
I had a blast reading @authorjess’ LAST OF HER NAME! Pitched as “Anastasia in space” I found a lot more to enjoy here than that one narrative. The characters were realistic and relatable; and the conflicts were intelligently layered continuously to build on each other. Highly recommend! 🚀✨
“THE BEHOLDER is a joy—marvelous characters, twisting plot lines, and pure heart. This book is honest and true in a way I wish I could write. Despite its swoon-worthy boys and ample talk of gowns, THE BEHOLDER carries no trace of the frivolousness that, truthfully, usually leaves this reader skipping pages. Bright intelligently captures the insecurities and high emotions of being a teen and gifts her readers with a loyal, steadfast heroine with questions, qualms, and fears that challenge her throughout her journey.
I loved this book, and can sincerely say it’s bigger, more brilliant, and powerful than its summary would have you believe. Fans of Heidi Heilig and V.E. Schwab will find many things to love, here.”
Add on Goodreads!
For those of you reading who have crushed your NaNoWriMo goals—congratulations! While I’ve never completed a proper November NaNo challenge, my first manuscript was assembled in a 30 day/50k marathon. I still remember the moment I finished: I was sitting at my dining room table in the head chair on a late August afternoon. I saw that word count cross 50,000 and immediately started crying. I couldn’t remember another moment where I’d felt so proud about something I’d accomplished.
If you’re reading this after 30 days of later nights, earlier mornings, and forgone social engagements—I cannot applaud you enough. YOU DID IT. And I hope you got your moment.
But, for the love of all that is good on this planet, don’t you dare query your fresh NaNo project tomorrow.
There are SO many reasons for not to query your NaNo immediately (the obvious one being that December being a traditionally busy month, both for those who celebrate Christmas and those who need to get a lot of work done before the end of the year)—but I’ve narrowed it down to what are, in my opinion, three of the most logical reasons not to shoot yourself in the foot by querying on December 1st:
1. It’s too short.
50,000 words is not a lot.
It is a lot to write in 30 days—that’s valid. But it does not mean your manuscript is a book.
As a writer and future author, it’s critical to know the typical lengths of books for the audience you are writing for. This post by Chuck Sambuchino lays it out really well. Exceptions do happen, but they’re rare—and after busting your butt for 30 days, you don’t want to approach querying from so narrow an angle as “maybe I’ll get lucky?”.
When agents see word counts that are egregiously low (or high) for their age group, it’s an automatic red flag. Search #querytip on Twitter and you’ll see tweets from a lot of frustrated agents getting books that radically deviate from standard word counts.
Learn all you can about your genre and target age group (and yes, they are different things). Go to the library and check out every book on publishing, even ones that don’t relate directly to what you’re working on (the more you can learn about the industry, the better). Get to know the ballpark word counts, and make sure yours fits. Don’t blow your chance with a dream agent by turning them off with word count.
(You’ll notice that in Chuck’s post, he says 50k is healthy for a MG book,—but you still shouldn’t query for reasons 2 and 3 below)
2. It’s a mess.
A lot of writers I see participating in NaNo know this already, but it’s worth discussing.
If J.K. Rowling wrote 50k in 30 days, she wouldn’t send it to her editor the next day. If [insert your favorite author here] wrote 50k in 30 days, they wouldn’t send it to their editor the next day. No way.
I promise you, I promise I’m not saying that because the writing is bad—but it’s probably not your best.
When you write so quickly and never look back, you miss things. You will call a character’s brother “Chad” in one chapter and “Charlie” in another. You’ll write a character walked out of a room, only to magically be back in the room a paragraph later. And how long was Aunt Martha’s hair in Chapter 2? Which side was the hot guy’s dimple on again? You may not remember—and that’s okay! Inconsistencies add up when you are not allowing yourself time to revise. I had more than a fair share of characters reappearing in rooms when I went to revise my NaNo project.
Be patient with yourself and with your work, and give it the time it deserves. This may mean 3 more drafts; maybe 10. You only get one shot to query—make sure your work is edited, revised, and polished to perfection before you ever hit “send”.
3. You need more than a manuscript to query.
But I wrote the darn thing! Yes, you wrote the darn thing. I will say once more that that accomplishment is big, special, and worth celebrating. You are worth celebrating.
However, you’ll need more than a manuscript to query.
Before you hit “send”, you should have an arsenal of materials at the ready, and then those materials should be formatted to the guidelines that apply to each agency. These guidelines are not the same for all agencies, so take your time to review the agency’s website and make sure what you’re sending them is what they want (and nothing else. If they want more, they will ask).
Things you should have at the ready:
I also recommend having chunks of your MS saved—Chapters 1-3, the first 50 pages, etc.—as docs, so that you can more quickly assemble your emails to agents. Don’t forget to properly title your files with your book’s name as well as your own, lest your work be in a swamp of docs called “NaNoWriMo2017_FINALFINALIdidit.docx”.
—
That’s all for now! Whether you hit your NaNo goal or not, I’m proud of you. Every day that you get in a chair and write out the story of your heart is a victory, and victories should be celebrated (just don’t celebrate with querying too fast)
-Shannon
@spricewrites
Now, for a post I’ve been wanting to write for a long, long time—how I got my agent! I remember how interesting and inspiring it was to read other writers’ How I Got My Agent posts while I was querying, so I hope someone out there finds inspiration in mine.
A few useful terms:
ER= email rejection
PR= partial request
FR=full request
NR= no response
R&R= revise and resend
I wrote and queried two books before writing the one that got me my agent.
My First Two Books
Manuscript #1 -YA Fantasy
Total Queries Sent = 45
ER = 26
PR = 2
FR = 3
NR = 14
Time Spent Querying = 10 months
Manuscript #2 – YA Fantasy
Total Queries sent = 52
ER = 29
PR = 0
FR = 3
NR = 20
Time Spent Querying= 5 months
*Note: 5 months isn’t a long time to query before throwing in the towel. For me, I realized quickly that this wasn’t the MS that was going to take me anywhere, and my heart was already invested in the book I wanted to write next.
The Winner
Total queries = 27
ER with no requests made= 4
NR= 10
Partials= 0
Full Requests= 3 before notice of offer of rep; 6 after notice of offer of rep
FR to R&R= 1
FR to Offers of Rep = 3
Time Spent Querying: 5 months
The Takeaway
All things considered, the time it took between writing my manuscript to getting an offer was fairly quick. My first draft of the MS that got me signed was made on August 25, 2015. Six drafts later, I sent my first query on June 14, 2016. After just five months of querying, I received an offer of rep from Elana Roth Parker (woohoo!).
Ten months between writing a first draft and querying is pretty fast. I don’t necessarily recommend such a timeline if you MS is your first book ever. If it’s your first book, you’ll probably need more time to edit, revise, get feedback from your CPs, etc.
I only felt confident about querying when I did because a.) I was working part-time and using every waking second of my off hours to write/edit and b.) because I’d been through the querying process twice before—in other words, I’d been around the block and I knew when my book was as strong as I could make it. Don’t rush your MS, and don’t rush to query and/or enter Twitter contests without a complete, polished, perfected MS (and synopsis) at the ready.
I targeted agents I felt were a good fit for the book and for my career as a writer. Querying a lot like job hunting—you want to find an employer who you’ll enjoy working with as much as they enjoy working with you. Same goes for an agent. It’s better to have no agent than an agent whose goals and vision for the book don’t align with yours.
Lastly, I hope that everyone reading this knows that it’s standard procedure to notify all of agents you’ve queried (and are still waiting to hear from) once you’ve received an offer of rep. I sure did, and even though many of the responses were passes I got quite a few “thank you”s for sending those emails at all. Cement this into your brain now—BE SURE TO NOTIFY ALL THE AGENTS YOU’VE QUERIED ONCE YOU RECEIVE AN OFFER OF REP. This is keeps agents from spending time on an MS that’s already been scooped up. It’s also a cue to them to be all “hey, someone is interested in this book, maybe I should too.” And, it’s just polite.
So, there you have it. How do my querying numbers and times compare to yours? Got any burning questions about what my rejections said, or do you need tips on forging ahead in the query trenches? Let me know!
—
S.P.
You’ve been at your desk since 9AM. The coffee’s gone cold, and the sparkle of inspiration that got you a thousand words on your WIP has become more of a sputter. You’re tired. You’re frustrated. That itch creeps up: “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
My best trick to beat that feeling? Get moving.
Go for a walk. Do some yoga. Go do your exercise of choice and let your creative side exhale. Devoting yourself to a non-writing related task for at least thirty minutes will help rid you of the negative “I-suck-at-this” feeling that comes with writer’s block.
For me, nothing is as potent as a good run. It gets me mentally and physically away from my desk, and with that distance comes clarity of how to move forward in my writing.
Exercise also helps you critique your own work. If you character goes through any sort of physical test in the course of your novel, it’s your responsibility as a writer to accurately convey how that feels. Is your protagonist running for his life? Lace up your sneakers and sprint for 30 seconds. What muscles are working? How do your lungs feel? Where on your body are you sweating? Little details are what give writing life.
Go one step further: it feasible for your character to sprint for minutes at a time? Katniss wouldn’t have lasted long if she worked a desk job and her fridge was full of pizza and beer. Be realistic about what your character can do physically.
The workout-then-write approach works for any genre. Writing about mermaids? Go for a swim. What does it sound like underwater? How does your hair move as you kick forward? If your story is set in a desert, take a few minutes and stand in the midday sun. Look around you. Does it hurt to keep squinting? Would your character have the luxury of sunscreen, or would they burn? Is there any wind to provide relief?
You want your writing to be an immersive experience for your readers, and that begins with immersive experiences.
Be an active writer. It’s good for your mind, good for your heart, and great for your novel.
-S.P.
