Here's my situation and I would love some feedback from folks who've gotten R&R requests from agents.
I have an MS I'm querying and an agent read a partial and then requested a full. She decided to pass on the full but asked if I had any other completed MS's. I sent her one I queried a few years earlier to no results and after reading the full MS she just sent me a Revise & Resubmit on it. But the thing is, her feedback was very brief and generic. She said she likes the characters and the plot, but thought I did too much telling in some places (she gave one example that consisted of a single paragraph of narration to introduce a character). She said she knows that every book balances showing and telling, but if I could tighten up some of the telling she'd like me to resubmit.
Now, I'm sure it's true that I could tighten up the writing - couldn't everyone. But it seems like a vague and generic suggestion and I'm not sure how to take it. Is that normal for an R&R? I kind of expected a little more detailed guidance on what to fix and change if an agent is going to agree to take a story on. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
(If it makes any difference, the story is a YA Sci-fi, and none of my beta readers or other feedback have complained about too much telling)
I have an MS I'm querying and an agent read a partial and then requested a full. She decided to pass on the full but asked if I had any other completed MS's. I sent her one I queried a few years earlier to no results and after reading the full MS she just sent me a Revise & Resubmit on it. But the thing is, her feedback was very brief and generic. She said she likes the characters and the plot, but thought I did too much telling in some places (she gave one example that consisted of a single paragraph of narration to introduce a character). She said she knows that every book balances showing and telling, but if I could tighten up some of the telling she'd like me to resubmit.
Now, I'm sure it's true that I could tighten up the writing - couldn't everyone. But it seems like a vague and generic suggestion and I'm not sure how to take it. Is that normal for an R&R? I kind of expected a little more detailed guidance on what to fix and change if an agent is going to agree to take a story on. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
(If it makes any difference, the story is a YA Sci-fi, and none of my beta readers or other feedback have complained about too much telling)