The Next Circle of Hell, Vol. 2

Plans most of the time with my agent. Usually like BIG scene by scene plans too, like 8k. But she is very editorial (and an actual wizard) so can spot plot or pacing problems even from that. Saves a lot of time and she's always excited to see what I come up with. Then we'd usually have a phone call going through it together and a bit of back and forth. Usually for several hours. Then I go off and write it.

but I write so fast I tend to have two "unplanned" manuscripts done for every one she vets, so I suppose I'd be a half and half.

Several hour phone calls? Dayum, girl. Gimme your agent's number STAT! I can't even get mine to respond to emails.

Earthling - congrats on having finished! I know that feeling of 'what do I do with myself now?' that comes with finishing a new novel. For me, I find that focusing on some beta-ing in between my own projects is always helpful. Helps me come down from the high of having finished something, and gives me distance from my own writing, while at the same time keeping me in a writerly frame of mind, aware of craft and whatnot. Just a thought.

re: betas - for me, they're definitely a must. Mostly I rely on writer-betas, but the odd reader-beta is also rather wonderful, because they often have an entirely different perspective. I mostly just ask for non-writer betas for latter drafts, though.

re: running ideas/draft by agents - I think it totally depends on the individual agent. Mine is not super editorial, and while he's happy to talk about an idea before it's put to paper (or bytes), after that, he mostly wants to see the polished product. Works for me, because I'm kinda self-conscious about my early drafts. But I guess everyone's different.

ChocolateChipCookie said:

Several hour phone calls? Dayum, girl. Gimme your agent's number STAT! I can't even get mine to respond to emails.

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Lol! Yes she has a headset and everything so she can keep her hands free on long editorial calls!

Earthling said:

Martina - I'm hoping to send it to my agent in 3-4 weeks. It's not a deadline as such, because we can't sub it until we've heard back about novel #1. I just work best when I have deadlines, and I also didn't want beta reading to drag on for six months like last time. Should I let you know in a few weeks if I still need feedback? Last time I had to rewrite a few chapters and it was good to have fresh readers to tell me if the problem was sorted.

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Yes, that'll work fine. Check in with me in a few wks. You've got my email.

Re running ideas/drafts by the agent, I run pitches by my agent for the most part, but I did run a full synopsis by her before too. When I run pitches by her she encourages me to write what I feel like writing about, but will weigh in on what she thinks is more marketable/appealing to editors.

My agent knows nothing about my current WIP, lol. She doesn't even really know I'm working on something. Partly that's because our communication has been lacking. Mostly it's because it's pretty far outside my comfort zone, and though I'm getting closer and closer to a decent MS, I'm still not sure it's going anywhere.

Hmmm. Earthling, part of me wants to say ignore the agent's (and by extension, the unpredictable world of publishing's) wants and needs, focus on your art and your artistic truth and all that. Another part of me doesn't see the harm in pitching the general idea and seeing he she likes it. But I would never NOT write something just because one agent isn't excited about it from the get-go.

I would advise you to finish a solid first draft before sending it to your agent, for your own peace of mind. Now some agents work differently, but I know how busy they are and how difficult it is for them to act as stand-in editors. Some like it, some don't. You can always ask I agree with tri that it totally depends on her ritual and work habits. I think brainstorming is a great idea, but personally, I'd bring a solid draft to the table on a promised "deadline" so we have something solid to work with.

Re: pitching to my agents, it's a lose-lose situation for me.

If they don't like it: I wail, "BWAAAHHH WHAT IS THE POINT THEY HATE EEEEET" and give up on the project.
If they like it: I wail, "OH GOD THE PRESSURRRRRE I HAVE OVERSOLD THE STOREH THE PITCH SOUNDS A LOT BETTER THAN IT REALLY IS" and give up on the project.

So now I just write and show them when I have a polished draft.

Ack, just finished a draft of my new short story! Woo!

pinkbowvintage - Congrats on the story!

I don't think I'd ever send my agent a draft unless she asked, and I can't imagine why she would. It's a synopsis or chapter outline I want to send her.

I know a lot of authors balk at the idea of writing to order but it's my dream situation. I would bloody love an editor to say "Here's a plot. Write it." I write because I enjoy it, but I enjoy writing just about anything so I might as well put that time into something that has a good chance of making my money.

Heard back from an editorial internship today I didn't get. The irony is that the editor has my manuscript. Awkward? I don't know. I doubt she'll take it on (she told me she takes approx. 2 submissions out of 300 a year, ouch), but I hope she at least liked me.

Sorry to hear that, pinkbow. I'm sure, if anything, this would have helped your chances with the manuscript, especially if she feels bad for turning down a good candidate (like I think many people do).

I had a dream last night that my agent wanted to set up a call with me. I thought OMG we must have had an offer! Now I'm hoping I'm a dream prophet.

Sorry, pink. And that comment is just more salt on the wounds of writers on sub everyone. And certainly a huzzah! for those that have made it past the pearly gates.

pinkbow, sorry about the internship. But congrats on finishing the draft of the short story!

I finally got notes on The Prequel from my agent yesterday. A few weeks ago, she mentioned, when she was partway into the ms, that she liked it. I was a little thrown by her overall comment that motivations were lacking, and I'm still mulling it over. I don't know quite what to *do* with it. BUT, it was great to get something from her.

This probably means that we're going to move forward with this as the ms we shop around, leaving behind Channing for now.

Pinkbow, congrats on the short story and for the internship...

angeliz, congrats on the notes! May your revisions be swift and painless...

Earthling, here's hoping your dream comes true!

Still knee-deep in revisionland over here--I'm hoping to have a clean, shiny draft for awesome agent by the end of the month (my equivalent of go big or go home ).

Two chapters into the New NEW shiny, and still waiting to hear from my wayward agent to see if I can send in old shiny, which is finished.

CCC - What's new shiny about? Apologies if you answered already.

hester - Go go go! You can do it

angeliz - Did she ask for a revision first, or will you shop it as it is?

I had the first beta feedback for Novel #2 and it was very positive, with great criticism too. He's male and not generally a romance reader, which is one of my litmus tests. Looking good.

Thanks guys.

And Earthling, thank you so much for directing me to your agent's Twitter! It's crazy helpful in finding job postings.

Ah, angeliz, that's a good sign it sounds like! It is scary when the critiques are kind of vague, but it's great your agent is invested in making it an A+ ms.

Hester, good luck on that New Shiny draft!

ChocolateChip - Ahh best of luck to you! Keep going.

New shiny is another romantic suspense--ex-military guy who must protect a former high fashion supermodel who is getting stalked by a Weirdo.

Agent sent a cryptic email FINALLY today. Said he was having health issues and was sorry to take so long to get to me. Said we'd had two R's and have two more left we're "still waiting on."

Whilst I'm glad to have heard back at last, I wasn't thrilled with the email. It was devoid of answers to questions I'd asked repeatedly. Anyway, at least he answered and I hope his health issues are resolved soon.

Earthling said:

I had a dream last night that my agent wanted to set up a call with me. I thought OMG we must have had an offer! Now I'm hoping I'm a dream prophet.

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Ah ha ha! I had a dream like that !! I also had one when the Senior Editor of TOR books was on the train talking to me about my great science fiction novel (t'was back in the dim dark days of 2014 when I was shopping my SF/fantasy trilogy). It was quite incredibly real. I thought we were best buds and everything.


Anyway, the MS I returned for edits back in February is still in limbo. No news there.

Good news though, I'd been working on something that had previously been a PITA in terms of finding the right level of voice and "where to start". I might have solved this problem by moving the "start" of the story to an earlier inciting incident.

Thanks so much Earthling and pinkbow!

CCC, sorry about agent-y health troubles and R's--your new shiny sounds great, though!!

Treehouseman, those are the dreams we don't want to wake up from . Good on you for the progress on the PITA WIP!!

CCC:

tree: It's always a good feeling to unknot those story knots.

Actually, my agent didn't say anything about the next steps. The email was all about the ms itself, which is fine. There's plenty to mull over and work on, so before we take any steps, there'll be revisions. I'm still kind of working through it all and mulling it over. A lot of the comments in the ms file help illuminate the comments in the email.

The idea of moving forward is nice, and maybe we'll have more success shopping around this ms, but it's really depressing to me that the ms I love so much is on hold (at best). Hard to shake the feeling of failure.

Liz, your mss is just on hold. You may need to attract a publisher with a different book, and then offer this one. Hang in there.

I'm in limbo, just working on the new mss.

My MFA buddy is coming over tonight and we're going to work on our WIPs! I usually have trouble writing when someone else is in the room with me (I get self-conscious haha), but it should be good.

ChocolateChip, yay for new shiny! So sorry for the Rs and the agent health troubles. :/ Hopefully it all ends in dancing bananas.