A dear friend of mine is in the midst of writing his first diet/fitness book, has the support of a TOP guy at a large, powerful agency and has asked for my help. You see, he has the concept, can certainly write the science and without a doubt -- due to his client work over the past twelve years -- has seen what he's writing about work time and again. But he lacks that oh-so-important narrative, "we're having a conversation" voice in his writing. Fortunately, he believes I have it and, after reworking his Introduction, I suspect I may as well.
Here's the rub: I believe it's best to submit the five pages I've reworked to his agent just to double-check that the style I'm offering is the style this agent believes the book needs. My writing partner, though, believes we should charge full-steam ahead, dig into the body of the book and send the agent a full proposal.
When he says that, I fear burying myself for months in restructuring his sentences and making sense of his tangents only to learn that what I've offered isn't the direction his agent wanted in the first place. If my style isn't what the book needs, wouldn't that be precious time wasted? In addition, I have a screenplay heading into preproduction and they're panting for the next one I'm working on. I can do both, but I want to first make sure that my writing and what I'm offering is something his agent will respond favorably to.
Am I making sense? Does anyone have any suggestions? Similar experiences to share? Anything? Anything? ... Anything? I hope this is in the right Forum. I looked through the list, but didn't see any other appropriate forum for this question. Feel free to move it if necessary.
Here's the rub: I believe it's best to submit the five pages I've reworked to his agent just to double-check that the style I'm offering is the style this agent believes the book needs. My writing partner, though, believes we should charge full-steam ahead, dig into the body of the book and send the agent a full proposal.
When he says that, I fear burying myself for months in restructuring his sentences and making sense of his tangents only to learn that what I've offered isn't the direction his agent wanted in the first place. If my style isn't what the book needs, wouldn't that be precious time wasted? In addition, I have a screenplay heading into preproduction and they're panting for the next one I'm working on. I can do both, but I want to first make sure that my writing and what I'm offering is something his agent will respond favorably to.
Am I making sense? Does anyone have any suggestions? Similar experiences to share? Anything? Anything? ... Anything? I hope this is in the right Forum. I looked through the list, but didn't see any other appropriate forum for this question. Feel free to move it if necessary.