Agent's preference

Two things to think about: first, agents tend not to take on projects unless they're enthusiastic about them. If they personally don't like your MC, they'll have a harder time selling the book to editors.

Second, many of them might just have a good sense of what the general public will relate to. It's their business, after all. When they say, "I can't relate to this character," the implication is that they don't see readers relating either.

But it's also very subjective, and you could yet find an agent who will like your main character, or at least be enthusiastic enough to work with you on changes. Good luck with it!

There are times when a writer get a rejection from an agent that says "It was well written - a good premise but I just didn't love it."
The agent has to fall in love with a story. Remember those books you read and gave to all your friends and said "you've just GOT to read this!" That's the same feeling the agent needs and it cannot be faked.
When my agent called to offer representation she was gushing how much she loved my novel. At that precise moment I understood the logic of those other rejections.
So far she has read my book three times and passed it on to assistants and other agents to read as we prepare it to be shopped. You HAVE to love a book to do that.
I know it is frustrating but there are many agents out there who have the potential for loving your book. You just have to find them.
JMHO

Another thought - If more than one agent mentions a problem with a main character you might want to revisit your portrayal - beta readers may help-

YOU SAID (sorry I don't know how to do the quotation thing...)

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't agents supposed to be interested in what the general public can relate to? Otherwise it seems the agent wants to impose his/her will on the public in a way. Why don't agents like these just write their own book?"

Look at the huge variety of books that you find in bookstores - agents sell what they read and love. All agents do this.
The general public is not one mass that likes the same thing.
This is why researching agents can be so time consuming - you have to read what they represent and see if your book fits -
JMHO

ORION said:

YOU SAID (sorry I don't know how to do the quotation thing...)

Click to expand...

You can use the quote button at the bottom right of each post or you can cut and past and insert [/quote] at the end and

at the beginning.

Click to expand...

I think Orion has something when he says to get beta readers to take a look. There may be something about the character that would be a turn off for some agents and readers. Better to get it checked now than to have another top-notch agent reject it for the same reason, as you might not be able to submit the novel to them after corrections, if it needs correcting.

Orion is a she.

agents are readers advocate and if they are good they should know aobut the public taste better than you do - if you cant trust an agent why the heck do you want to get one

(rich Manhantanites)

Why don't agents like these just write their own book?

Click to expand...

seems like you are bitter and vindictive about your rejections

I don't think the booksheleves are inundated with trendy rich characters these days. In fact hasn't the anti-hero been the most popular choice since the days of Catcher in the Rye? Also I really think agents have a pure love of literature, and as such must have read a whole bunch of books. And therefore wouldn't turn something away because it wasn't . . .them (and who says just cause you work in Manhattan you're rich? People commute).

It is also possible that the reason an agent doesn't like your MC is that it isn't a fully realised character. Or just not well written. In your head, you may know all his ins and outs, and are able to see all his complexities, but it may not have come across in your writing. (it may have, I don't know, just speculation here - it is also possible you just haven't met your match yet, as simple as that) You may want to look inwards, before setting blame outwards.

But don't be prejudiced. Even if they are well off, they could still be nice, decent, intelligent and even fun people. Being so close minded only puts you on the same level of these so called "rich manhattanites" who you claim don't like your work for purely classist reasons.

(just for the record, I am not a rich manhattanite - how many times can I write those words in one post - man I got to work on my writing . . .)

Toothpaste has a really good point.
BTW on_the_verge you might want to read the book "A simple plan" for making a normal character who makes some REALLY poor & bizarre choices believable.
I had feedback from some of my beta readers on my second novel that, while they liked the book, my MC was a whiner and they didn't warm up to her right away. I made only a few changes throughout the book in dialogue, thoughts etc. to round her out and it made a big difference.
Right now my agent is working on a second round of tweaking on my third novel. She asked me to make one of my minor characters less flat by making him a bit more sympathetic rather than mostly selfish/"bad."
My point is that when someone says something about our characters it is useful information - if a rich person can't identify with a poor person then find something about that character that they can relate to...peer pressure? Falling in love? Being humiliated? These things happen to all of us rich OR poor.
None of my ramblings may have any use for you at all - that is OK - I have not read your book and I do not know the specifics. It may be, as I have said before, that you just have to find that agent who LOVES your book.
Just keep all these other possibilities in mind.
JMHO

on_the_verge said:

By "rich Manhattanites" I meant to show the reason perhaps that those two agents couldn't personally relate to my character. My main character is a relatively normal American male who makes a few interesting wrong turns. He doesn't have rich parents to bail him out of everything and set him up financially. Yeah, totally weird, right?
What about interesting? Is that not acceptable? Do all characters have to be trite and trendy now? I thought intrigue is what keeps people reading.

Click to expand...

How do you know these agents have 'rich parents'???

Many agents are also 'normal Americans (or whatever)' who simply start off as an assistant and then work their way up.

Ahhh...I feel like I've been talking into the air. So Agents are responding this way to your query letter? i.e. the synopsis and first few pages? I misunderstood - I took your post to mean you got a request for a partial (minor bites) and this was a response to that.
So did they read any of your sample pages?
Well...
I guess you need to take a good look at that synopsis / query letter.
Also - and I think I am repeating myself - this is the time beta readers for your genre really come in handy. Get yourself some brutally honest ones and listen - both for that query letter and for the manuscript.
JMHO

I don't think I've ever read a book that couldn't be improved. Just because you like him, doesn't mean that you've written about him in the best possible way that clearly shows he's likeable. Also, the big New York agents mostly target big New York publishers, who are looking for mass appeal. If your character appeals to a small group of readers, you might want to look for a smaller publisher.

a good agent can identify with any type of characters, rich, poor, nice, not nice but when someoene says she cant identify with your character theres usually something miss fundamentally about that character that makes the story engaging, something lacking that makes us want to empathize - even if the character is a rich manhattanite snob hes still a human being so there must be soemthing engaging about him or else we wont be able to identify - but it doesnt mean all stories must have such characters, sometimes stories do involve highly unlikable characters and i personally dislike those books but thats just my own preference

I'm very confused at this point. These rejections, it appears, resulted from queries. Gak! In all my life I've never received advice, comments, or rejections ABOUT CHARACTERIZATION from agents, as a result of a QUERY. I don't get this at all--never heard of such a thing. Unless their were sample chapters that went along, I could understand this.

Tri

I'm confused, are you implying because Aghast didn't spell things correctly that his/her advice isn't worth your time?

Yeah, this does sound a bit like they were jumping the gun. After all, it is not unusual to be rejected in a query or synopis for a weak plot or premise. I've had a few rejections along the lines of "Nothing new here" and those were on queries and synopsis.

I'll bet that you could tweak the query/synopsis to indicate a more sympathetic character, or at least fill in a few missing characterization points that might change any kind of negative outlook.

Tri