What do you do...

anonymous_guest · May 8, 2009

...when it dawns on you that you've gone and queried prematurely? ARGH.

Months of submitting and dozens of rejections later and I finally realise that my MS is just not ready. I feel like such an idiot

I don't know how I couldn't see it. At the time I honestly thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread... but now when I look at it it reads so amateurish. Like one step above internet fanfiction. And that's not just me being insecure, for once. But I guess it's my fault for not getting enough people to crit for me... boohoo T___T

What's worse is that the partial is sitting with an agent right now and I feel SO BAD ABOUT IT. I can't believe I'm going to waste this person's time with something that isn't even properly written yet. Argh!!

How about you guys? Has this ever happened to you before? What are you supposed to do about it? And how long should you wait before submitting again?

P.S. Sorry if this isn't in the right place!

sunna · May 8, 2009

S'ok. It happens.

I'd queried 3 agents before I realized, after one of them was kind enough to point out some problems with the MS, that it wasn't ready. Cut your losses, find some betas, revise your MS, and get it back out there. There's no real timeframe for when to get back on the horse: you can see the problems, so you'll have a much better idea of when it's ready this time. Just keep revising until it is.

Parametric · May 8, 2009

Having a partial with an agent in this situation is awkward. If you let her read something you know isn't ready, you're wasting her time. If you tell her it isn't ready and pull it, you're going to sound very amateurish. If you were going to be done revising in the next month (say), you could ask to pull it and send a revised version later, but you can't really ask for an indefinite hold until such time as you improve the manuscript (if you ever do - you might write it off). That's a tough one, and I'm not sure how to advise you.

Ouch.

edit to add - your work may or may not be bad, but it probably isn't as bad as it looks right now. It sounds like you're having an attack of the inadequacies, which is an acute, not chronic, illness.

firedrake · May 8, 2009

I can't really add much to what Sunna and Para have said.
The good thing is that you've got the guts to recognise that your MS needs more work. Some people are perpetually blind to flaws.

Go back through your MS, find a Beta or two and start again. Writing the first draft is only 20% of the work. The rest is all about revising and fine-tuning.

dawinsor · May 8, 2009

I'm willing to bet that almost everyone here has queried prematurely. It's very hard to know if your work is good enough until you test it out.

You may be able to salvage this book or you may have to move on to a new one. We all have novels that will never see the light of day. If the next one is good enough, you can come back to this one, revise, and see if the agent and publisher are interested, now that they now you can do it.

Rebecca_Rogers · May 8, 2009

I feel bad because I had another agent request a partial the other day and I happened to catch a couple of grammar errors AFTER I sent it to her. I'm hoping she looks over them. :Headbang:

Here's what I'd do if I were in your situation - start revising now. Get some plan together where you edit a chapter a day or something. When you get done with this batch of agents, don't query anymore until you're completely finished with your revisions. Then you won't feel bad about querying the next batch because your MS will be GREAT!!

Karen Duvall · May 8, 2009

This has happened to me, too. I rewrote my beginning a couple of times while I was querying. Even after I got my agent, she had me rewrite the beginning to make it stronger. So get yourself back up on that horse and ride!

MsJudy · May 8, 2009

If you got requests for partials, you're at least on the right track.

And there is no such thing as "ready," because at least in theory you will continue to grow and develop throughout your career. So even a good book now won't be as good as what you'll be capable of in a few years.

So forgive yourself for being overeager, get started on the improvements, and don't sweat the partial that's out there. The worst that can happen is it will get rejected and you'll need to move on to other agents once you are ready.

David McAfee · May 11, 2009

This actually happens quite often. Seriously LOTS of people do this, especially with their first novel. I sure did. It's not the end of the world, nor is it the end of your writing career. And unless you've sent queries and partials of this manuscript to every agent on the face of the earth (highly unlikely), then it's a safe bet it won't be the end of this particular book, either.

Listen to Rebecca. Start revising now. Get it ready. Get lots of feedback from your betas. Post samples here in SYW. Don't send it anywhere else until it's ready to go.

Jud's advice about forgiving yourself for being overeager is also apt. If everyone who did this ended up on publishing's blacklist for it, there'd be a lot fewer books out there.

Tburger · May 11, 2009

Ditto to what Dave said. In my case - and this is just me - I wound up re-writing the whole novel (new characters, change from third person to first, etc.) and gave it a new title. A key difference this time was that I went chapter by chapter with my edits, and wouldn't push on until the chapter I had just finished was as polished as I could get it. So by the time I finished my re-write, the final edit was quick. Really quick. And voila. I've sent out one query so far, and got an immediate request for a partial.

In the end, I don't reccomend this route for anyone else - especially not knowing anything about your MS. But the long story short: it's not the end of the world, and you're not the first to make this mistake. Just keep going.

anonymous_guest · May 11, 2009

Thanks so much for all the encouragement everyone

it really made my day. I still can't get over how nice people are on here! But I definitely feel a lot better about this now. So thanks

now I guess it's time to get back to those revisions...

Rebecca_Rogers- Ahh, that sucks!! But if it's just a couple of mistakes I'm sure she won't mind

agents can't surely be that fussy, right? Still, good luck; I hope all goes well for you.

Katrina S. Forest · May 11, 2009

I feel for you. I did that with my first manuscript. Not only was the story not ready, the query was not ready. I have a couple people who've been really great critics in the past reading my newest piece. In this case, the query is much more solid, and it's taking all the willpower I have not to send it yet. The last thing I want is a partial request for a novel I know isn't up to par.

Write4Life · May 26, 2009

Same thing

Same thing happened to me! When I thought I had completed my book I immediately sent it out to an agent and got a form rejection. That rejection hurt but than I realized that my manuscript was not ready, not even close. So I went back, added about 15 000 words and voila! I am currently waiting on a full manuscript request from a top literary agent and it has never been better. Everyone has their times when they want to be impatient and jump a few steps but it usually turns out badly. Go back and add a couple thousand words and I am sure you will not only have a new respect for your manuscript but a new respect for the industry.

Good luck!

What do you do...

anonymous_guest

sunna

Parametric

firedrake

practical experience, FTW

dawinsor

Dorothy A. Winsor

Rebecca_Rogers

Karen Duvall

Chalice the Hatchet Knight

MsJudy

David McAfee

God of Squirrels

Tburger

Wahoowa

anonymous_guest

Katrina S. Forest

Write4Life

Living in the moment