Revise & Resubmit Vagueness

detroitgirl said:

ah thank you Aggy B!! -- you said what i was thinking and left out i agree there will / should always be some things a good agent wants changed / tightened unless you're.....well, perfect, but nobody's that

i just don't like the massive "let's re-write this together" vibe i got from a few of those R & R's. It's like "we love you, you're perfect, now change!"

Click to expand...

Ah God! Yes, I had a horrible experience with this with my last agent, who told me how great the MS was, signed me up, then proceeded to completely destroy it by wanting the character different, new characters in, a different ENDING (it was a mystery thriller so the ending had been telegraphed though the book). Because she was like a Top NY agent in tandem with a Big 5 editor I did what she asked, so it's definitely difficult for writers to assert their own vision when you're outnumbered, so to speak..

The edit was peppered with some good advice, but several fingers in the broth will ruin an MS. (I was of course given the Letter of Pre-emptive Dumping - even though SHE broke it!!)

I'm querying a new MS soon, but I am very leery of editorial and R&R requests now... It can be a best case scenario to walk away.

The red flag for me is if you think you two don't connect. Maybe we can't judge too early, but if the agent doesn't seem super excited about the work and you feel put off by their attitude I wouldn't R & R. Trust your gut. Because you want your agent to be someone who enjoys working with you (and who you enjoy to work with.)

*This*. You can go through fire if you and the agent agree on ways to improve the mms. But if you and the agent don't 'click', it's probably an uphill battle for both of you.