Waiting for Agents . . .
Waiting for agents to confirm that they hate my book (or not) has been somewhat stressful. As I wait for those who have my partial/full to finish partying in Frankfurt (there’s a giant book fair thing over there right now) and read rejections from other folks, I grow more doubtful of my manuscript and query.
Not fun.
It’s popular advice for writers with novels out on submission to begin working on another project—their next book, short stories, poetry, or whatever. Aside from getting your mind off the wait, it also prevents you from altering the manuscript that’s currently out on submission. You know, just in case the agents you’re waiting on actually love your MS and would be appalled by changes (because that totally happens).
Against this advice and my earlier wishes not to revise, I’m going to begin outlining and implementing major revisions for my novel.
Revising the Manuscript . . .
The plan is to condense, combine, and excise entire scenes; save the awesome, and replace everything else with more awesome. The current ending will be altered to become part of the rising action. Then, I’ll add a new ending which I came up with while listening to music in my car (a scene of unprecedented awesomeness—you can verify this claim after you put some money in my wallet).
And, well, I could always revert back to an older draft if an agent actually likes it.
Milking Cows . . .
To deal with the waiting, I’ve been playing the original SNES Harvest Moon. I’m pretty sure it was the first video game in which you grow crops, tend livestock, and marry local a townswoman (my farmer avatar is wooing the mayor’s daughter by bringing her mushrooms). The game still holds up pretty well (it helps if you simultaneously watch Netflix).
Alright, time to get to work. My chickens will have to wait.
A.D. Martin 
Waiting, waiting, waiting. Such is the writing game. Good luck!
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Thanks. The writing game is dumb. I’m going to Kobayashi Maru it.
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Have you given your MS to any beta readers? Be careful you don’t revise it into something of lesser quality.
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I’ve had some beta readers whose input I kept in mind during previous revisions. The tenth draft benefited from stuff I learned from the writers’ conference I went to, but the changes were pretty minor (mostly trying to fix pacing; no substantive plot changes).
Draft eleven will see more substantial changes, and I really think it’s for the best.
And, thanks for the concern.
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Good luck. Remember the little people when you hit it big.
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Thanks. “It’ll be years before I forget you.”
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Yer gonna make me cry.
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Good luck with it all, but I do agree with the experts, I think when my picture book is done and out there I will start on a new project. I hear they like to see that you have many books to offer. May as well keep myself productive and stay away from candy crush for that is my down time game. Yours sounds like a lot more fun although I live on a dairy farm already.
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Pft. Experts.
Well, the primary plot will be the same, so my query will still technically be true. It’ll just be describing a smaller portion of my book than it currently is (my plan is basically to concentrate my 76k word MS into 60k which will increase the speed of the pacing, and then add another 15-20k words for a better ending).
Oh, and: (1) thanks; (2) dairy farm, haha.
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“The game still holds up pretty well (it helps if you simultaneously watch Netflix).”
I’m really uncomfortable with this sort of thing. It reminds me of playing multi-player games with others and hearing that someone made a mistake because they were watching television or a movie or were meaningfully involved with something else at the same time. This sort of thing is conceptually distinct from listening to music when writing, as the former is about dividing attention and the latter is about focusing it.
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Well, the original Harvest Moon gets repetitive. It really doesn’t hold up. Haha. I probably wouldn’t play it again if I couldn’t increase my level of entertainment with something else.
Also, as distinct from multi-player games, my performance in Harvest Moon does not affect other people’s enjoyment. Things are different once you’re responsible to other people. 🙂
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Good luck with the waiting game — I hope it yields something good!
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Thank you. I hope so, too. After this next draft, I think it’ll be safe to say I’d never worked on anything so hard in my life (including the California bar exam which is, you know, pretty hard).
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I agree that working on a new project would assuage your concerns. I have an agent and don’t hear from them for long stretches but that’s fine as I spend the time working on other things. My aim is never to be caught out by the question of what I am currently working on.
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Next time, just tell them you’re busy learning to moonwalk.
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The waiting game sucks! I feel for you, hope you get some positive feedback soon 🙂 I actually had an agent get back to me six months after a submission asking for the full MS, by which time I’d actually split the book in two and condensed the first three chapters (which I had submitted to them) into a few pages. So I had to ring and confess my changes (though to be fair they had taken six months to get back to me) and ask them if they wanted the revised version or the original. They took the new version and, ultimately, it didn’t work out anyway. So go for it! Good luck x
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Thanks. I’m not changing the story enough that my current query won’t match the planned changes, so if an agent asks for my full far down the line, they won’t even have to know I’ve changed it. 🙂
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I think Harvest Moon is a great way to occupy any anxious time. That is still a great game! Good luck with your manuscript. I do hope it gets picked up.
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Yeah, though I’m getting into the first winter now and it’s pretty boring just milking cows and selling eggs. Almost time to propose.
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Just out of interest, why go the agent/legacy pubbed route? What appeals about it to you?
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Hello. I wrote a post a while back about traditional publishing versus self-publishing in which I note the strengths of both paths. My conclusion back then was essentially that I’d try for traditional publishing first because it would be easier to market my novel with a fancy imprint (and, hopefully, with some funding from the publisher) and because I believe that in trying to perfect my query and MS to garner interest in the traditional route, my novel will ultimately come out stronger and I can improve upon my own writing process.
If I wasn’t chasing a traditional publisher, I might have just given draft 8 to an editor and then self-published straightaway. All of the awesome structural changes I’m making now (and over the last drafts) would never have been made, and my novel would have been released to the world in a lesser form. I think I’ve learned a lot, and have improved my MS a lot by trying to get the attention of agents. So, whether I do get picked up by an agent and publisher, or whether I ultimately opt for self-publishing, my novel will be all the better for having been reforged over and over. 🙂
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I love the attitude and admire the work ethic, I haven’t got the willpower to go through 4 redrafts let alone 11! Best of luck and thanks for answering.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Hopefully your potential agents get back to you soon. And if they’re rejections, at least there might be constructive feedback!
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Yeah, I’m hoping for at least some constructive feedback if not R&Rs or offers of representation. Hm, well, I guess you would’ve guessed as much. Still, sometimes it’s better to say what everyone’s already assuming, if only to annoy people and waste their time as they read it.
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Sounds stressful. I’m just entering this phase of the process. I’ve told myself I can’t change it after this last set of edits. Luckily, I’ve already begun my next book so that should keep me busy. Good luck!
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Thanks. I think after this edit (and another pass-through for polishing), I can finally start on the next book.
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Good luck to you. I tried that game – the submitting to agents and publishers game – for about 6 years and totally wasted my time. I would have been far more productive focussing on new projects and taking the self publishing route a little earlier, but that’s just me. It’s possible for someone who puts a lot of work into it. I hope you get good news. The longer the wait the more carefully they are considering your work.
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You could do like my cousin and self publish. Myself, I would like to get paid to write, not pay to write.
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***Mental image of torn up manuscript****
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Here’s to hoping the agents love your work! Harvest Moon stressed me out lol. It was too realistic, all those chores and not enough time to finish them. 🙂
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Haha. Yeah, but it also teaches you to just let things go. Just make sure your wife is happy and your animals are fed. All the money-making can wait.
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Waiting is sometimes a bit difficult! Good luck! 🙂
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Great write!
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When I finished my first novel my agent at the time wanted so many tweaks made to my MS that eventually my MS didn’t feel like mine any longer. So after going back to my original MS I decided to self publish which initially was expensive and hot foot my novel to every bookstore large and small. The expense and hard work eventually paid off in spades though. Four fantasy/erotica novel’s later I eventually got to pick from the cream of the crop publishing houses as they came to me. So sincere good luck wishes while you wait! If the wait becomes too long give self pub a try. It may surprise you just how quickly not only the money starts rolling in and also how well your novel will do!
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I’ll definitely do my research and what-not and set things up for potential self-publishing. 🙂
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I self-published on CreateSpace.com, probably prematurely, since I know I have editing errors in my two newest books, Brides. I am working on Book 3 to complete the Trilogy, in the hopes someone will see my story, and like it enough to polish, and edit it under a big publishing label. I do think the story is good in spite of my pathetic punctuation. Since you have such impressive credentials, might I ask, “Am I wasting my time?” Before the housing market crashed I was a drafts-person and truss designer, so I was putting buildings together instead of words. Now, I am an orple-keeper, using my orples as props to build a following, and due to time (or better, lack of it), I am combining my orples blog (children’s books) with my adult books—probably another mistake. I wanted to mention CreateSpace to you in the event you are not already familiar with it. 😉
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Hi. I think if you want a traditional publisher to pick up your book you should avoid self-publishing it anywhere. Agents and publishers are very reluctant to pick up anything that has been previously published (this includes posting the work online). Good luck with your projects. 🙂
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Thank you for the feedback. I’m new at this whole scenario, which is probably obvious.
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