Hi all, I'm interested in some opinions here.
Two-and-a-half years ago I started writing my first YA novel, and finished the first draft in eight months. Since then, I've learned a tremendous amount about writing a novel. While I was revising/rewriting/distancing-myself-from the first novel, I started and finished a second one (much shorter) that I'm very happy with. Now, the second one is ready to be sent out, but the first one will be ready within a few weeks.
Personally, I think the first one has a better hook. After all this time, and having worked on it until I'm almost sick of the thing, my throat still tightens up (in a good way
) when I read the summary (which, incidentally, grabbed the interest of the first agent I sent it to last year (I'd sent it out to just one before I realized how much work it still needed; she declined after requesting and reading the first 30 pages, which doesn't surprise me, considering what I now know).
So, my questions - Would you wait until the first novel is ready and send that one out first, or go ahead and see how the second one fares? And regardless which one goes out first, pretending that the first couple rounds of agents show no interest, would it be alright to go back to the top of the agent list with the next novel, while still sending the other one out (in other words, can I query two seperate novels at the same time, in the same genre, provided that one has already been rejected by an agent before the next one is sent to that same agent?)?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and opinions!
Liz
Two-and-a-half years ago I started writing my first YA novel, and finished the first draft in eight months. Since then, I've learned a tremendous amount about writing a novel. While I was revising/rewriting/distancing-myself-from the first novel, I started and finished a second one (much shorter) that I'm very happy with. Now, the second one is ready to be sent out, but the first one will be ready within a few weeks.
Personally, I think the first one has a better hook. After all this time, and having worked on it until I'm almost sick of the thing, my throat still tightens up (in a good way
) when I read the summary (which, incidentally, grabbed the interest of the first agent I sent it to last year (I'd sent it out to just one before I realized how much work it still needed; she declined after requesting and reading the first 30 pages, which doesn't surprise me, considering what I now know).So, my questions - Would you wait until the first novel is ready and send that one out first, or go ahead and see how the second one fares? And regardless which one goes out first, pretending that the first couple rounds of agents show no interest, would it be alright to go back to the top of the agent list with the next novel, while still sending the other one out (in other words, can I query two seperate novels at the same time, in the same genre, provided that one has already been rejected by an agent before the next one is sent to that same agent?)?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and opinions!
Liz
