When is it "agent ready"?

If you think it's a problem, IMO, fix it now. If an agent requests your full, why blow it by having them get to the slow part and saying, "Oh, well, I thought this writer was good, but since they can't carry the excitement/suspense/mystery through to the end, I don't have time to waste on them."

You mention one reader, not enough.. get a few betas or try here, also it is now time to put the book away for a couple of weeks and do something else. Get your mind off it so you can look at it with a fresh view and see if the problem areas still exsist. Then start to query.

Hi Chalula,


First of all, congrats on finishing! I understand the editing chapter by chapter, because I do it the same way. It's slow going, but it's just the way I work, so I figure you're the same.

I would suggest sprucing up your last chapter, sitting it to the side for a week or so, and then giving the entire thing another once over. Even with editing chapter by chapter, chances are (especially if this is your first novel), that your writing evolved A LOT from beginning to end.

As for the info dump, if your betas are noticing it and saying they wanted to stop reading, it needs to be changed. Unfortunately that means a lot of brainstorming on your part. I also had a chapter that was infodumptastic, and it was backstory on my antagonist that HAD to go in, but I couldn't figure out how.

In the end, I put it in a "storytelling" within the story situation, which in and of itself is a dangerous and faulty technique (in my opinion), but after much tweaking and slicing of unneeded things that could be figured out later I think I worked it out.

I hope that helps somewhat, and I hope you find a way to work out the info dump chapter. A large section of such a thing is bound to make the agent cringe, or worse yet, doze off.

I don't think there really is a 100% agent ready. You just have to feel it (and unfortunately be right).

I suggest posting some stuff on SYW to get a little feedback, and going from there.

Finished? Awesome. Congratulations.

Now put it away for three months. Seriously. Well, maybe you won't need such a long break, but at least a month. You need to distance yourself from it and gain a more objective perspective (which is hard anyway) before you go back to it and go through it again. You will notice things you didn't notice before, most certainly, and perhaps in the meantime you'll figure out how to deal with the infodump .

Good luck =)

Chalula88 said:

There's a particular spot of the novel that feels slow to me, I feel like it lacks action and has too much information, but I can't come up with a logical way to fix it without putting filler in between the information. It's MG so I can't have the word count going through the roof. My reader noticed the information dump, but said while it wasn't the most interesting, it didn't bother her.

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Trust your instinct. You know it's slow, you know it's not your best writing, so you really need to fix it first.

I guess my question is, if I submit to an agent and he/she reads the ms and feels like this section of the book (about 25 pages) IS slow, will that automatically turn him/her off to the novel or will they accept it, but then suggest changes? Or is it the editors job to have me go back and change scenes that could potentially be a problem?

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Forget, for the moment, that this is going to an agent. Think of it more that it's going to a reader. A reader who, just like the customer in the bookstore, could keep reading or put the book aside depending on her interest level. Every page that's slow is one more page where you risk the reader setting the book aside.

There's possibly going to be areas where the agent feels the manuscript could be strengthened, right? Make those as few as possible.

If you feel like it's wrong, it's probably wrong. Change it. But give yourself a few days or a week or two to think about it; the answer might come to you one morning in the shower. You never know!

I know others say to put your manuscript away for a few weeks or even months, but I can't do this. The point of putting it away is to "forget" what you've written enough that you can come back with new eyes. Unfortunately I never forget, so this serves no purpose for me. I wrote a book like 5 years ago and if you read me half of any line from it, odds are I can complete that line the exact way I originally wrote it. Anyway, my point is that you have to learn what works for you.

Now, why isn't my memory that good with everything ELSE?

As mentioned previously, you finished writing a book! Congratulations! The vast majority of the "I wanna be a writer" crowd doesn't know how to glue its backside to a chair and do the work.

The 25 slow pages. I'm a big-time cynic here. If they're early in the book, you're doomed. If they're something nobody will see until after the synopsis and sample chapters compels them to request the entire manuscript, they're still problematic, but maybe not a deal breaker. Maybe.

Either way, if you think they're slow, what will a reader think? Forget the agent for now. It ain't right to do that to a reader. Tighten those pages up. If you're stumped, this is probably the kind of thing a critique buddy could nail for you. Make you slap yourself upside the head and go "Why didn't I think of that?"

And again, congratulations. Now fix that manuscript and go get yourself a contract worth signing.

JoNightshade said:

I know others say to put your manuscript away for a few weeks or even months, but I can't do this. The point of putting it away is to "forget" what you've written enough that you can come back with new eyes. Unfortunately I never forget, so this serves no purpose for me. I wrote a book like 5 years ago and if you read me half of any line from it, odds are I can complete that line the exact way I originally wrote it. Anyway, my point is that you have to learn what works for you.

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The same thing happens to me. The whole "set it aside" is completely useless. I remember what I wrote and I'm not just going to forget it. And I've noticed that the longer I put it off, the less I feel like going back to fix it, anyway. I've started on new things by then and they're my priority.


I think that a piece is agent ready whenever you think it's agent ready. If something's wrong, then change it. If not, leave it. I think betas can be good, but at the same time, is there any book out there that people love all of? Making it perfect for your betas isn't going to make everyone like it, including agents. And sometimes they're give completely opposite opinions, in which case it's not at all helpful, really.

I think the first and last decision should be made by you and you only.

JoNightshade said:

Now, why isn't my memory that good with everything ELSE?

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I feel your pain. Half the time I forget to put my shoes on, but I wrote a novel seven years ago that I could likely retell in my sleep.

I put my work away for a little while (can't ever make it a month) because I need some downtime to "de-giddify" myself after finishing.

Everyone here is right. If you already know something isn't right with the story, edit the areas until you feel it is the best it can be. Think to yourself, would a publisher accept it as is? If your answer is no, then you need to edit some more.

You have to treat agents like they are publishers at this level because they are looking for the same things as publishers. They want a piece they don't have to do anything to, less is more here. Meaning, the less work they have to do, the more work they will do to find a publisher. One or two lines won't bother them but that many pages would. Polish it up until you can't do it anymore, then you'll be ready. There is no limit to how much you can edit your work, trust yourself, find another person to read it for you (or more if you can) and then edit some more. Make this your best work ever. Your next piece should have the same attitude, your best work ever, making each story better than your last.

JoNightshade said:

I know others say to put your manuscript away for a few weeks or even months, but I can't do this. The point of putting it away is to "forget" what you've written enough that you can come back with new eyes. Unfortunately I never forget, so this serves no purpose for me. I wrote a book like 5 years ago and if you read me half of any line from it, odds are I can complete that line the exact way I originally wrote it. Anyway, my point is that you have to learn what works for you.

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For me it's not about forgetting the story or the words. In fact, I spend an awful lot of time thinking about the scenes in the book during that downtime. It's about distancing myself from my "brilliant prose" enough to look at the scenes with a critical eye to see if they're really necessary. The words are no longer new and special, and I don't feel like I'm tossing out something I just wrote. Heck, that [piece of prose] was something I wrote ages ago (for any value of "ages"). I've written stuff that's much better by now.