Agent Agreement

Only change what you agree with. Read it aloud and see if there are things in the story that make sense to you needing changes. If that doesn't help, find a friend or another writer and ask them for their opinion.

The editors that have turned you down were only using their opinions as to the story being good or bad. Your opinion will differ too. Keep trying and don't let those people get you down. It will happen for you but you can't give up. Get a beta reader or just a friend and have them work with you if you need an extra pair of eyes and work out those bugs and send the story back to those nay sayers to see if they say the same thing. Or find new people, its up to you.

reenkam said:

How should I go about trying to improve my writing?

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I wouldn't use agent comments as a teaching tool. Too much room for subjectivity. You never know if those rejections are forms; you never know if the rejections are simply about the current market rather than an a specific gesture toward your talent; etc. etc.

If ten people tell you the same thing, you should probably pay attention to that.

But conflicting opinions? That's just ... an audience.

CheshireCat said:

But conflicting opinions? That's just ... an audience.

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Nicely said. It's wrong to pay too much attention to agents and editors unless they form some sort of consensus. (And even when they form a consensus, they might be wrong.)

Over on my blog some time ago, I posted some feedback from various agents and editors on a novel of mine. It makes pretty funny reading. Hilarious, in fact.

If I would have revised to accomodate all of them, my head would have exploded.

David I said:

Nicely said. It's wrong to pay too much attention to agents and editors unless they form some sort of consensus. (And even when they form a consensus, they might be wrong.)

Over on my blog some time ago, I posted some feedback from various agents and editors on a novel of mine. It makes pretty funny reading. Hilarious, in fact.

If I would have revised to accomodate all of them, my head would have exploded.

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Those are hilarious.

Reenkam, I agree with the general advice that conflicting opinions are just that, opinions. I'd say that getting wildly different criticisms is an indication that you're dealing with nothing other than personal taste rather than flaws in your manuscripts.

On the other hand, there might be something to be learned from conflicting rejection reasons--but not that you should revise based on the opinions. I have an unpublished short story that has been rejected for having a metaphor that is too heavy-handed as well as for having a story that's too vague, etc. Every time I've received a rejection on this story, the reason has been something wildly different from the last. I do think this is telling me something. In this case, there's something subtle and difficult to pin down that I wanted to say with the story that I don't think I've quite managed to nail. One magazine wanted to publish it but the editors were putting publication on hold indefinitely for personal reasons, so someone deemed the story publishable. Some people get the story. But far too few. I haven't done my job in leading the reader through the experience if only a small percentage of readers react by saying, "Aha, yes. I understand what this character is going through." Instead, I think they're sying something like, "Something isn't quite right here and I can't put my finger on it but maybe it has something to do with..." and they give me a reason. The reason may be completely off the wall. The fact that the story didn't read quite right to them isn't.

So what I'm saying is that if rejection reasons all agree, listen to the reasons and revise accordingly. If the reasons all contradict each other, ignore all the reasons and take a really good look at what you think you need to improve.

I agree with goatprincess that they're trying to tell you something, and it's something subtle. Basically you're getting close (since you're getting comments), but just missing. The problem is figuring out how you're missing.

One thing I'd start doing is send the comments to my beta readers and see what they say. They might give you some ideas.

Another thing to try is to print out a list of the complaints and read your story. That might give you some focus when you're reading that might show you the flaws.

One problem is that many of us are taught to make sure we throw something good in with the bad. For example, I might say in a critique of a query letter that the grammar is horrible, I don't understand the story, but I really liked the voice. Well, actually, the voice pretty much sucked too, but I needed something to give the writer some encouragement. So, compliments are definitely something I don't trust.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

reenkam said:

I'll try asking my betas specific questions about the stories. Strangely, my betas seem to be just like the agents though. (Some will say a certain character is their favorite and most realistic, while another will say that character needs a lot of work, etc).

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What you need to do is talk with your betas. When I was writing EQUINE LIABILITY, I'd sometimes spend an hour or more making sure I understood exactly what a beta was saying and why. You need to be asking how the character is realistic, why is the character believable, where the character falls down, questions, lots of questions.

Explain to them that you know there are problems, and you need their help to understand exactly what those problems are. Show every beta all the comments that you've received. Let them know what other people are thinking.

Which book of yours are we talking about here? Is it the one you recently posted the synopsis for?

One of the questions I'd be asking betas is that although you say the book is interesting, IS IT COMPELLING? That was a comment I had on your synopsis, but that's incredibly hard to give a good description of to help someone fix it.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe