An agent I met at the Writer's Digest Conference asked for the first 20 pages of my novel, but my second chapter ends halfway down on page 24. It doesn't seem to make sense to cut off the chapter just a few pages before it ends. I remember someone at the conference mentioning that it's ok to send additional pages if a scene runs onto a second page, but I'm not sure if 3.5 extra pages is pushing it. Thanks!
Where to cut off chapters for partials
- Thread starter daisyb
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4 pages might be a little much to add extra, most of the time you just cut if off at the next available paragraph.
I'd find a good place to end it and not go over a page longer than requested. I'd even opt to go a little shorter if I could end it at page 19 with a punch. The goal is to get them to ask for more.
20 pages (for me, at least), is a rough guide. I'd much rather you send me 24 if it means that I won't have an artificial break in the middle of a chapter. Keep in mind that if I say 20 and you send 24, I might only end up reading 10. If I get to 20 and I'm still interested, then what do the extra four pages mean? Chance are, I'll be requesting the whole thing shortly, unless those four pages are really terrible.
Thanks, that helps a lot! The 20th page would be an awkward place to break off because it's in the middle of an important scene, so I'm just going to go ahead and send the 24 to finish out the chapter.
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Super glad to see this, because this has been my approach to shorter partials. I teach college, and so I know what "x" number of pages feels like, even when my students have fiddled with margins, font size, etc. Yet I want my partials to have some "flow" to them, so I like them to cut at a natural break (I've just started querying, but I have my 3-page, 5-page, 10-page and 20-page breaks marked in my mss).
I always view a shorter partial, or especially pages with a query as a amuse bouche. An agent isn't getting the meal, or even the whole first course...just enough to see if the chef is any good. And they've probably decided within a few bites if they want to order supper--if there's an extra bite at the end (or a little bite less), it's probably not going to sway the decisions either way.
Send twenty pages. If an agent has read all of the twenty pages chances are they are going to ask for more.
Remember most agents don't read past two or three pages if the story is not interesting them.
Remember most agents don't read past two or three pages if the story is not interesting them.
Usually true, but not always. "Chances are" doesn't get you very far. It's always a bad idea to cut off anything. You send the twenty-four for the same reason most many guidelines point out that you shouldn't stop in the middle of a paragraph or a sentence.