I recently had an absolutely wild experience during an online writers conference--and thank God it was online! I attended a seminar by an agent who I'd queried a year and a half ago. Agent requested my full and then rejected on the basis of not liking revisions I'd made since querying with the first three chapters. During the seminar, five minutes was given up to an anecdote about the query and rejection last summer. The agent made a very good point about how critique group feedback needs to be taken with a few ounces of salt and used my manuscript as an example of brilliance being turned into garbage. Agent had already given me this feedback last summer when rejecting, but hearing it again in the seminar lanced a wound that was, truth be told, still a little tender.
Thankfully, I gathered myself to tell the agent that I had been in the audience and still appreciated the feedback and links to craft articles agent had given me when rejecting. A flurry of positive emails were exchanged, and now that's one wound from the query trails that is likely to heal better. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how the incident had stuck with the agent. It's a good lens on how hard it can be to have hopes raised by a query and still have to reject. Like, agents are people too, right?
Pretty crazy experience though. And I have the video from the conference that I can show to my students in my fiction writing class this fall when we get to the first weeks of workshopping. "Don't be like this sap," I can tell them. I can't decide if I should wait until the second workshop period to tell them the cautionary tale was about me or if I should spill the beans immediately. Students love seeing profs in a raw light, and we all need help being human online and making online education as engaging as life.
Thankfully, I gathered myself to tell the agent that I had been in the audience and still appreciated the feedback and links to craft articles agent had given me when rejecting. A flurry of positive emails were exchanged, and now that's one wound from the query trails that is likely to heal better. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at how the incident had stuck with the agent. It's a good lens on how hard it can be to have hopes raised by a query and still have to reject. Like, agents are people too, right?
Pretty crazy experience though. And I have the video from the conference that I can show to my students in my fiction writing class this fall when we get to the first weeks of workshopping. "Don't be like this sap," I can tell them. I can't decide if I should wait until the second workshop period to tell them the cautionary tale was about me or if I should spill the beans immediately. Students love seeing profs in a raw light, and we all need help being human online and making online education as engaging as life.