An agent has contacted me about my novel. Good news and bad news.

Writers! Hope you're all well.

I have just joined this forum, after receiving an agent's letter yesterday, because I would love to hear a few people's thoughts on my predicament.

Briefly: after three years of sitting at my keyboard and battling with my procrastination habit, I finished the final draft of a novel just after Easter. I sent a synopsis, and the first three chapters, to a London-based agent, and about six weeks later received a standard not-what-we're-looking-for-at-the-moment response.

Their loss, I thought, and sent a covering letter and synopsis to another agent. About two weeks later the agent, or one of their whipping boys, called me, inviting me to send the entire manuscript, which I did.

Now. This is where it gets interesting.

Yesterday morning I received a letter from the agent, returning my manuscript, with a letter, hand-written, saying they like my idea, my story and my style of writing! But, and I knew there was going to be one, they said my novel was too short (it is about 54,000 words). Furthermore, if my novel is extended (the agent has written 65,000 to 100,000 words in brackets), then they would be happy for me to resubmit my manuscript for them to look at it again. No firm offer to represent me, just that they would 'look at it again'.

So, what should I do? Spend a few weeks, or months, rewriting the novel to make it longer (maybe by adding a new sub-plot or something); or submit my manuscript as it currently stands to another agent (or publisher) for their consideration? I am worried that my lengthening my book would weaken it with scenes that don't contribute to the plot; and I am also worried that the relatively short word count is going to put off every agent it gets submitted to.

My novel is satirical black comedy; it probably fits into the genre of contemporary adult fiction. It is also the first novel I have written, so apologies if my amateurishness comes through in this post.

Thanks in advance for any feedback that can be offered.

Dan.

Thanks to everyone who has replied to my initial post on this thread. As a newbie to this forum, it is very much appreciated that people have taken their time to offer me their wisdom. So thanks.

The first draft of my book contained well over 70,000 words, and I cut a significant proportion of that out when I did my second and third drafts. Most of the 'cuts' were scenes that I felt didn't contribute to the plot, and one or two scenes which dragged, the protagonist just repeating the same interior monologue that he'd had in other scenes.

I am going for the rewrite, and seeing where it ends up. I am adding a new sub-plot and, as suggested by a poster above, weaving it through the existing story. I think I am going to struggle to write up to, say, 100K, but I should be able to get to 70K within a few weeks with a bit of tweaking. I have, of course, got the original 54K version saved as it stands, so if I feel the story falls apart during the rewrite and I can always go back to go.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Dan.