Purgatory's Pit of Doom
- Thread starter Branwyn
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Same here. What's weird is when you've been querying an item and you get back some excellent notes for the work. Then you realize how much more work your script needs and you think "Oh no! Everyone's going to request it before I can make the rewrite and I'll look stupid!" I wonder if that's even allowed...
Kellion, Mario and Ink, you just summed up the query process - excited, & ashamed when you send them, like a quitter if you don't!
Cricket-I say send those queries! The market won't be getting better any time soon unfortunately
LOL Leigh, I'm beginning to think all of us Pitizens have that problem. We aren't quitters, but we haven't gotten anywhere in such a long time it feels like we are just spinning our wheels.
Cricket-I say send those queries! The market won't be getting better any time soon unfortunately
LOL Leigh, I'm beginning to think all of us Pitizens have that problem. We aren't quitters, but we haven't gotten anywhere in such a long time it feels like we are just spinning our wheels.
{Snappy} how long have you been querying? Are you getting R'd on the query alone or the query and pages?
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Querying since September. 13 drafts of the query later and I feel good about it. 5 drafts of the MS later (after contest feedback, beta readers, and writing group critique) and I'm still questioning opening pages.
Don't think it is the query. I'm thinking the opening pages need to be a bit stronger. Yup... now to revise...
If anyone is open to reading first 5 pages PLUS the 5 pages I plan to revise and compare the two, I'll give you a cookie. It'll be virtual, but still.
I just redid my opening pages, so I feel your pain. Honestly, Snappy, the opening pages are like a trap -- a trap for writers, and an agent trap if you do it right. I find it so frustrating that agents seem to judge opening pages based on different criteria than editors and readers. They read so many that they are looking for reasons to stop reading.
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(((Snappy)) I'd offer to read but I'm swamped with the Real Job right now. (It's driving me nuts. Ugh.)
One book that really brought this difference out to me was The Wolves of Willoughby chase, which is an older book that I read for the first time. The first page is a description of an estate, which it turns out is beset by vicious wolves. I sat down, read, and really settled in, invited, thinking, "Ah! This is going to be good!"
If it were being shopped now, it would open with the MC being chased by wolves instead. One is action, the other is foreboding of something eerie and wonderful to come. Either can work in a published novel, but I like being invited into a story rather than dropped into it.
If it were being shopped now, it would open with the MC being chased by wolves instead. One is action, the other is foreboding of something eerie and wonderful to come. Either can work in a published novel, but I like being invited into a story rather than dropped into it.
Yeah.....
Things were quiet here today.....
As for me, I got nothing done because of that gallbladder thing which sucked because I'm like this close to hitting 10k words which is always amazing for me!
I miss books that opened like this. Some still exist but they're definitely rare.
(((Leigh)))
(((Cricket)))
I loved the Wolves of Willoughby Chase when I read it, many years ago. Loved the way it opened. I would much rather be seduced than clubbed over the head. Why should I care that someone is being chased by wolves? Maybe they deserve it. Make me care first.
My agent told me, entirely seriously, that now editors (and I'm sure it's true for agents also) read everything online, they are taking their cues for pacing from video games. If it doesn't start as quickly and move as rapidly as an online game, it seems too slow for them.
My agent told me, entirely seriously, that now editors (and I'm sure it's true for agents also) read everything online, they are taking their cues for pacing from video games. If it doesn't start as quickly and move as rapidly as an online game, it seems too slow for them.
HA (of course I have to have the oddball opinion here) I personally like books that are faster paced. And that's the way I tend to write, too. I had one that an agent said was way too rushed. Another said they loved the pace. If editors are looking for books that have a pace that moves quickly like games do, I wonder if those agents who favor slower paced books will tamp down their preference in order to acquire a book that might sell...
You know what question really interests me? Just how much of a factor 'I love this' vs. 'I think this will sell' is when an agent takes on a client. If they love a book but don't think it stands a good chance of selling, would they take the risk anyway? If they 'only' like a book but are pretty sure it will sell will they take it on knowing they aren't all goo goo eyed with love? I know this would be different for each individual, but still an interesting question to ponder
You know what question really interests me? Just how much of a factor 'I love this' vs. 'I think this will sell' is when an agent takes on a client. If they love a book but don't think it stands a good chance of selling, would they take the risk anyway? If they 'only' like a book but are pretty sure it will sell will they take it on knowing they aren't all goo goo eyed with love? I know this would be different for each individual, but still an interesting question to ponder
I think "I love this" is a big issue, but "It think this will sell" has priority, and that's why requests are lower these days (for, er, some of us at least). Like if it doesn't look very, very saleable in the query, they don't request it. Agents (the ones that really, really are committed to their authors) have enough unsold and midlist clients floating around these days, and they don't want to add more of them.
I think it depends on the agent, too. I think there are some agents who focus more on whether something will sell, whereas others are more motivated by what they love.
As for today. I realized that I'm in the wrong section of the Purgy list. I'm still under the heading of "Purgies on sub," but I didn't have the heart to message and say, "That's wrong." Because then I realized there is no section for "Purgies in the Pit of Despair."
As for today. I realized that I'm in the wrong section of the Purgy list. I'm still under the heading of "Purgies on sub," but I didn't have the heart to message and say, "That's wrong." Because then I realized there is no section for "Purgies in the Pit of Despair."
I've seen agents online say that the harder something will be to sell, the more they have to love it to take it on. Which makes perfect sense since they need to eat. I've had the same thing said to me in a couple rejections - if the market for contemp was better, I'd have signed this.
Meh.
ETA: Red, pretty sure I was bumped from agented to non-agented status on that list without me needing to ask for the change. Yay me?
Meh.
ETA: Red, pretty sure I was bumped from agented to non-agented status on that list without me needing to ask for the change. Yay me?
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