My Journey: Entry 4 (“fine as it is”)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything on Prose. I just entered a challenge and now I’m writing another journal entry. This one is quick because I’m short on time and must get back to finalizing/printing my steamy contemporary romance for one more round with beta readers. After that, I’m ready to query literary agents.

If writers want to publish their work traditionally, they must master two skills:

1) Writing a fantastic synopsis.

2) Writing a super fantastic query letter.

For me, writing a novel was easy by comparison (and that task required more revisions than I have energy to count).

Since my last journal entry, I’ve received professional feedback on my query letter. The draft I submitted was noted to be “fine as it is” with a few notes about what would make it even better. But...“fine as it is” means I did well, which is fantastic news for someone who taught herself how to write a query.

A week after my query letter received approval and I tweaked a few words, I was at an event where I pitched my novel (memorized query letter) to an agent. The agent said I did fine and gave me her card with a request to send my full manuscript.

Here’s what I learned:

1) Just because an agent says she’d like me to send my full manuscript doesn’t mean I’m going to do that. This agent was nice (possibly so nice as to give her card to everyone who pitched her that day without true interest in any particular pitch), but she is not among my top choices in agents, overall. The reason I pitched her was because she was the only agent at this event that represented romance and didn’t have a disclaimer that she does not want to read explicit sex (which my story contains). At that event, she was the best agent to pitch for experience and feedback. Throughout the day (hearing her speak on a panel and talking with her during the pitch), I learned that romance is something she has represented, but it is not her primary area of representation. Yes, she’s interested in it. (Who isn’t? lol) But when I asked her questions, I found that her responses lacked detailed knowledge of my genre. Not a good sign. She gave me some useful information and I learned from her, so it was a valuable experience. But I want an agent who lives and breathes romance and is driven to find a writer like me. Will I send this particular agent my full manuscript? Maybe...to see what she has to say about it, if anything. But not right away.

2) The query letter is extremely important. Given I didn’t know what I was doing when I started writing my novel, I hadn’t done three critical things that would’ve helped me throughout the process.

A) Write the concept of the story in 10 words or fewer.

B) Write the story in a single sentence of 25 words (or no more than 35). This is a log line.

C) Write a synopsis in 500 words or fewer.

Tight writing helped me find holes in my storyline. When I’d attempted the synopsis two years ago, I couldn’t do it. I found a hole in my plot. Following several more revisions that fixed all the holes I could find, I attempted the synopsis again. It worked.

Then, I tried the query letter (most of which is the book blurb). Another fail, but closer. Why did it fail? Because I was having trouble capturing heroine and hero storylines in fewer than 200 words (150 was the target). What helped me get there? Points A and B above. It was much easier to go from short to long (10-word story to 25-word story to 500-word story to 81,000 words). Much harder for me to go the other way (81,000-word manuscript to short book blurb), especially when plot holes were present.

I have two novels begging me to get going on them, but I will not begin until my current project is in the query stage. (I’m almost there.) What will I do first for my next two books, which I may write simultaneously? I will write each story in 10 words and then in 25-35 words. When those two sentences are solid, I’ll write the synposis in 500 words or fewer to be sure my plot doesn’t have holes. After I do those three things, I’ll be ready to let my creativity fly during the first draft. I can’t wait to begin!

This journal entry wasn’t as quick as I’d thought it would be. ;)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this journal entry. If so, please comment. I’d love to hear from you! If you have any interest, please consider finding me on Twitter or visiting my website. Until next time, be healthy and happy. Happy writing! -Ivy