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[AngmarsKing701]

Bit of a nail biter this month. Had two trips for work, so getting to 30K before the end of the month was cutting it close. Really hammered it home this week and did some power editing. The 9th Entry is done and should be on Amazon some time tomorrow.

9 down, 3 to go. Where's H.Pro? Sitting in a dark cave drumming up some diabolical challenge for 2018, no doubt. I know I know, it's my fault. No one said "write a 30k novella per month for the full year, you moron!"

This one goes back to the roots a bit. A little Aidan/monk adventure, getting back to some of the humor from earlier in the series, before things escalated.

The setup is there for 10-12... just gotta execute.

And then take a freakin' break!

 

[Soulfire]

There are no breaks in writing, there is only zuul.

Congratulations on keeping up, you continue to be an inspiration.

I've been a complete slack ass, I keep flip flopping between two projects and end up getting nothing done. I think I've finally decided which one to focus on though. I at least got some written this week, not much only 1k but it's better than nothing. Hopefully I can get a streak going soon and get a book cranked out.

 

[zulux21]

There are no breaks in writing, there is only zuul.

Congratulations on keeping up, you continue to be an inspiration.

I've been a complete slack ass, I keep flip flopping between two projects and end up getting nothing done. I think I've finally decided which one to focus on though. I at least got some written this week, not much only 1k but it's better than nothing. Hopefully I can get a streak going soon and get a book cranked out.

They are good inspiration and....
streaks are fun

even if an ear ache bedriddens you for a few days and you can't get motivated to write because of the pain for a few days after that lol (if you can't tell I ended up giving myself the whole week off to recover which I am still not fully recovered).
(and yes I should get at least 600 words tonight still )

the plus side for me... my goal was 300 words per day, or 9k words in sept.
with a long shot goal of 25k or so to finish book 3.

at this point i am at (including the 8/31 listing because that was really more early 9/1)
just under 30k words.... so yay I met my long shot goal... sorta....

I uh... kind of just got to the start of the final arc of the book
and it's gotten more involved as I have planned it out over the course of the month and will likely take at least 25k words on its own now while that original estimate was to finish the rest of the book including that arc lol.

This is going to cause an issue with my plan to finish up book 3 this month, use next month to take detailed notes of all my characters and world to make sure I am keeping them consistent and then start book 4 for nano.

eh... I can put off figuring out if my stuff is consistent. Book 4 at this time doesn't have a lot of world history or character history involved right now... I mostly just have to look up where the hell my party is going to >.<: can't remember the name of the town or trial they are going to do in book 4 lol.

I'll try to elaborate. Literary Fiction is as wikipedia kinda describes above. The article itself notes that many disagree/have found the lines blurred between what is considered Genre Fiction and Literary. So when I asked what people think their writing is, I guess I more meant how agents/critiques might label your work, less what you choose to set out to write. Basically when looking back on your work how does it come across to you?

That elaboration out of the way, it does sound like your book is catching a lot of stuff. It would sound to me, based off your description, your book is fantasy, with elements of sci-fi/horror, etc. What you've described kinda reminds me of that SukaSuka anime from last season, at least elements wise. I think most people would label SukaSuka as Fantasy/Sci-fi with elements of Drama, etc. so maybe that's what yours is? A combo between Sci-fi/Fantasy. I wouldn't personally consider the historical/government stuff a genre tag itself, or the horror/drama you're talking about, if I've been understanding your influences correctly. I think they're likely more elements than true genre tags.

It's all labels anyway, and I don't think a big deal outside of marketing/selling your work. I think most fiction doesn't tend to conform to one specific genre anyway.

thanks for the insightful post.
fantasy/sci-fi likely works well enough. It's for sure fantasy first, but with a splash of futuristic tech, a history of the world that is straight sci-fi, and I recently was explaining multiverse theory in the story in regards to one of the characters abilities lol.

 

[Master Milk]

zulux mentioning his story being anime inspired gave me the idea to try to give my story an LN style name since it's also very anime

i thought of a title that i think completely captures the spirit of an LN and i'm completely in love with it

i'm questioning if i should seriously use it as a subtitle if . . . when i eventually finish this story

 

[Valdfellgar]

Started my queries last week, and now I have my first rejection! Which came surprisingly quickly since it came from the agent I literally e-mailed yesterday. Well, one day, a million to go!

 

[zulux21]

zulux mentioning his story being anime inspired gave me the idea to try to give my story an LN style name since it's also very anime

i thought of a title that i think completely captures the spirit of an LN and i'm completely in love with it

i'm questioning if i should seriously use it as a subtitle if . . . when i eventually finish this story

Man, if I was going with a LN name my first book would have to be called something like.

"Got Teleported to Another World After Solving a Puzzle and Now I have to Save my Girlfriend Who Came With Because She got Kidnapped By A Local"

 

[dragonlife]

Man, I actually sat down and wrote for the first time in a very long time.

I feel like a broken record, but, damn, finally getting diagnosed with major depression and getting antidepressants has really turned me around. So much so that I don't mind at all sharing that with people. I feel like a new and improved person.

I got such a rush when writing, even though it's a melancholy short story. It's a very rough draft, but it's there--it exists, and I wrote it. It still feels unreal, because it's a concept I began about a year ago, and it would always be in my mind; but I just never felt like writing (or anything else).

My end goal is self-publishing digitally on Amazon and selling it for, like, $.49 or $.99, haha. Just to dip my toes into the whole thing. I wouldn't even care if it sells, but it being there for sale would be an accomplishment; a small and reasonable goal. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll have to look at the Amazon page again.

I feel like I should impose a deadline to really light a fire under myself, and see what I can get done within that timeframe. Just to see.

 

[lunch]

They are interconnected, which makes submissions difficult sometimes, but I do have some publications in journals, including solid mid-tier stuff like Nimrod and Pleiades. I try to always have at least one publication forthcoming, but that doesn't always work out. I just had something drop last month, and I really do need to get hot on getting something new lined up.

I'm an early-career poet, I definitely need more journal pubs.

That's really exciting. Congratulations on the publications! Have you entered your manuscript for any awards in which the publication of your book is the prize (Yale's Younger Poets Prize and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award being the most high profile examples)? I have a professor who was able to get her first and only book of poetry released under such an award, and has talked about how her difficulty (and lack of success) in achieving further publication. There are a decent number of major poets whose careers were launched with manuscript poetry awards, and that seems to be one of the few entryways into publication.

 

[zulux21]

lets see sept is done.

writting challenge to self... write every day for 300 words, end total goal 9k words.

I touched on this already but I did the last night so now I did 23/30 days and doubled my challenge the next week to 600 to make up and have done fine.

the question is... do I stick with my original plan for august of moving it to 350... I wasn't going to care about nano to much, but that is what 1667 per day?

so perhaps I should aim higher for like 900 per day in oct to jump closer to 1667 for the month after.

oh well I will have some time to think.

meanwhile I am thinking of being stupid and working on a D&D campaign. Though my players are partially going to be beta testers for the dungeon I am working on in my story soon MWA HA HA HA HA HA so not completely a waste for my story.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Opened Toyland for draft five and am already disappointed. I got a note that just says "Scwarpian" and I don't remember who I was supposed to name that awesome fucking name :[

Also my beta readers are all fucking worthless. Other than my bro, every bad decision/unfixed problem will be on me. Couldn't get anyone to finish it, and those that did didn't give much feedback other than "it was good!" or "it has too many characters"

Edit: NEvermind, figured out the name thing. Scwarpian will live yet!

 

[Soulfire]

Chris Fox's 5000 words per Hour is on sale today for $1.20 on kindle if anyone is interested. I haven't read this particular one in the series but I have read others and he normally presents the information clearly and concisely.

 

[Timu]

One month left until Nano...can't wait!

 

[kamineko]

That's really exciting. Congratulations on the publications! Have you entered your manuscript for any awards in which the publication of your book is the prize (Yale's Younger Poets Prize and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award being the most high profile examples)? I have a professor who was able to get her first and only book of poetry released under such an award, and has talked about how her difficulty (and lack of success) in achieving further publication. There are a decent number of major poets whose careers were launched with manuscript poetry awards, and that seems to be one of the few entryways into publication.

You are right, most presses are moving from unsolicited manuscript readings and redirecting that effort into contests. The downside is that there is pretty much always a reading fee, but it really does seem like the best way to break in unless you have access to a press in some other way. I pursue this as much as seems feasible financially (the reading fees add up).

Even though I am too old for the Yale Younger Poets Prize (I am beginning this adventure later than most), that is the kind of thing I've been angling for. I've been a semifinalist on multiple occasions, but just can't get over the line. Not yet, anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts and encouraging words.

 

[Landford]

Gaf, I wonder. Im writing a sci fi story, but there is a "fantasy" world in it that is actually being simulated in a powerful computer. The main characters are watching this simulation using a highly advance VR. is wrong to put some random snippets of text with "initializing simulation, initiating protocol xyz, catastrophic error" etc? Or is it in bad form? These random snippets are usually in the beginning and end of chapters.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Gaf, I wonder. Im writing a sci fi story, but there is a "fantasy" world in it that is actually being simulated in a powerful computer. The main characters are watching this simulation using a highly advance VR. is wrong to put some random snippets of text with "initializing simulation, initiating protocol xyz, catastrophic error" etc? Or is it in bad form? These random snippets are usually in the beginning and end of chapters.

It depends on what you're going for. If the VR thing is a reveal, then maybe don't cause it'll give it away. If its known at the beginning, then yeah but the initializing similation is a bit over used in Sci-fi. You could try and do actual program stuff like "loading geomap458" or something.

 

[Landford]

It depends on what you're going for. If the VR thing is a reveal, then maybe don't cause it'll give it away. If its known at the beginning, then yeah but the initializing similation is a bit over used in Sci-fi. You could try and do actual program stuff like "loading geomap458" or something.

It is not really a reveal, they know the world is being simulated. I am planing to use some real java commands and scripts, but I dont really know if it would "pollute" the text, haha

 

[Sibylus]

Hit 2,000 words yesterday for the first time in eons, today I only managed 200 while juggling laundry and the like. How do my fellow writers with CTS manage? Stretches and braces only seem to help so much, and surgery inadvisable.

 

[sirap]

It is not really a reveal, they know the world is being simulated. I am planing to use some real java commands and scripts, but I dont really know if it would "pollute" the text, haha

Go for it. Isekai is booming on Amazon right now and readers love those little details.

 

[zulux21]

Go for it. Isekai is booming on Amazon right now and readers love those little details.

Ah is it?
I know it already boomed to far in japan to the point where most writing contests ban all isekai stories lol

If they really are though, maybe I should get more motivated to actually edit book 1 instead of working on book 4 after book 3

 

[The Scollard]

Really excited for the lead-up to NaNo. I was planning on doing a sequel to Scales and Swastikas, but I haven't gotten the first one done yet (I really need to get working on that again, since I have the entire plot laid out, just need to write it) so I decided to do something else.

My current novel is a love-letter to the writers of the twenties and thirties, mainly Agatha Christie, but also features elements inspired by the writing of another famous author of that era. It's a old-fashioned detective novel where two Scotland Yard detectives and a bunch of others are trapped on an island in the middle of a storm (inspired by And Then There Were None, of course), and a murder occurs. It's something that I wanted to write for a long time.

 

[Grudy]

I'm just procrastinating any kind of planning for my Nano novel until the thread is up.

No rush, Cyan

 

[Random Human]

.

 

[Timu]

Awright, awright!

It will definitely be up this coming weekend. But of course you should start planning right away!

You're making the Nano thread this weekend?

 

[Delio]

That's the plan! I think that actually puts us at slightly earlier than last year's thread. But I know some folks are raring to go!

Dear god this weekend? But i have nothing planned helpppp. Also go ahead and shove me on the list.

 

[MilkBeard]

Getting a copy of my novel-in-progress printed today for reading and light editing. Gonna continue this novel for NaNoWriMo, as I used it for the contest last year, but put it away for a year after finishing the 50k and writing another 5k words or so afterward.

After finishing this, I will start planning for the next 50k words. Getting hyped.

 

[zulux21]

Dear god this weekend? But i have nothing planned helpppp. Also go ahead and shove me on the list.

How about a story where a man goes on a deep sea mission, and suffers a health incident that knocks him out for who knows how long. that when he resubmerges and gets back to the world, he discovers it is quite different and overrun by sentient capes. He thinks he somehow got teleported to a different world, only to discover that it was the Earth at the end by finding a stash of playboy magazines.

you could call it.... Planet of the Capes :3

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

My final draft of Toyland has begun! It's been strange so far. I know I want to make a few changes to one of the character's motives, to put more of his internal struggle up front, but that's honestly pretty light. It's just rewording the implication sentences to be more straight forward.

Everything else should probably stay as is, but I keep making changes and then reverting them because they'd ripple too damn much. Or in the case of chapter 2, drastically change the tone. BP6 is a bad guy, but he isn't THAT bad, kind of thing.

Editing sucks.

Edit: some of these changes would be like BP6 not knowing about the weapon at all and finding it while going to steal a jeep, making John's worry unfounded. But then this isn't John's fault at heart, so that ruins a lot of his internal stuff, even if he doesn't know it. It just makes him a boring worrywart. Unless John isn't worried about that, but that means drastically changing chapter one AND still somehow including the info necessary to keep the book going. It's just easier to not change any of that since by and large, my beta readers haven't had any of the issues I'm currently having.

I'm basically unable to like anything I make for more than a few days.

 

[Blargonaut]

oh yeah NaNo again I remember failing to fulfil my promises

will this year be different? maybe

 

[JasonMCG]

Editing. Sucks.

I'll hit a string of chapters where I think, "Hell, this is pretty good!" Then, after one rough patch, my entire mindset changes to, "This is trash. The book was always trash."

&#128553;&#128553;&#128553;

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Editing. Sucks.

I'll hit a string of chapters where I think, "Hell, this is pretty good!" Then, after one rough patch, my entire mindset changes to, "This is trash. The book was always trash."

&#128553;&#128553;&#128553;

That is exactly how it works every time. I don't know how I put myself through it (I say as I look at an empty wine bottle)

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Funny, that's what I think after writing just one sentence posts.

ALT + F4 is the best editor.

 

[zulux21]

ah.... finally managed to connect what i was writing to a bit of the story I wrote weeks ago in advance.

though during that time I made some changes to the planned arc, and thus will likely have to redo some of that, and it took way longer than expected, like... I mean to connect in like 1.5-2k words when I started the chapter and instead took more like 4.5 and thus the chapter is like 8k words now (and if I recall right wasn't a fully complete chapter anyways) so I might have to split this chapter still lol.

it would have been faster, but my main character and the newest party member really really wanted to have a bonding moment over killing some rabbits for stew >.>; There is far more to the scene and it does serve an overall purpose in reminding the reader of some abilities the new character has that haven't been covered since they were first introduced 40-60k words ago, but still, it was a weird road bump I wasn't expecting going in lol.

anyways 3/3 in oct for my 900 words per day word count.

Funny, that's what I think after writing just one sentence posts.

ALT + F4 is the best editor.

the last time I went to edit I realized that my goals for the story had changed so much that I just said screw it and started a new draft.

To be fair I changed a ton of stuff, introducing more technology, making my characters about 4 years old so the main character was around 21 instead of 17 ect so a simple edit wouldn't have been able to do it. I am hoping when I go to edit again it will be an actual edit, but I have been working on changing and improving my writing style since the first book, and thus heavy rewrites might still be needed before I truly get to an editing point. at least story point wise there isn't to much that I know of that I need to actively change this time. just a bunch of little things that in the context of book 1 really don't change much, but are very important to change for later books.


edit: random extra thought. My word goal has had one interesting effect. I am actually doing more of my writing during the day now, because the pressure of my streak nags at me so much that if I don't get it done I don't enjoy doing anything else >.>;

 

[Valdfellgar]

Rejection number two! Yay.... only hundreds to thousands more to go. I hate this part as I'm sure everyone does.

 

[zulux21]

Rejection number two! Yay.... only hundreds to thousands more to go. I hate this part as I'm sure everyone does.

I've never sent out something, so I at this time don't hate this part lol.

granted even though i am working on finishing up book 3 I still haven't given much thought to how i want to eventually publish things.

whether that is just self publish a chapter a week online, or actually self publish properly to like amazon, or try to get a real publishing thing.

heck I don't even know if the main companies I would like to work with (light novel publishers like yen press or seven seas) would even let me submit something to them given I am not from Japan

I mean, my most likely path would be pushing a chapter a week somewhere online (perhaps I make a website or something or just use wordpress or patreon) and ideally get readers, and then after building up a fan base, work towards publishing compiled books of the chapters that go through heavy editing and some changes like a number of actual light novels do.

as it stands I have 43 chapters, which would be a decent head start on making sure I could post something each week, but editing a chapter for such a thing and writing a new chapter each week could prove troublesome even if it does seem to take me about 4 days on average to write a chapter right now.

eh... i will worry about it when I finish book 3 and seriously try to edit 1 lol.

 

[Aiii]

Awright, awright!

It will definitely be up this coming weekend. But of course you should start planning right away!

Planning schmanning... I had a pretty cool dream last month that is itching to be discovery written to shit.

 

[Valdfellgar]

I've never sent out something, so I at this time don't hate this part lol.

granted even though i am working on finishing up book 3 I still haven't given much thought to how i want to eventually publish things.

whether that is just self publish a chapter a week online, or actually self publish properly to like amazon, or try to get a real publishing thing.

heck I don't even know if the main companies I would like to work with (light novel publishers like yen press or seven seas) would even let me submit something to them given I am not from Japan

I mean, my most likely path would be pushing a chapter a week somewhere online (perhaps I make a website or something or just use wordpress or patreon) and ideally get readers, and then after building up a fan base, work towards publishing compiled books of the chapters that go through heavy editing and some changes like a number of actual light novels do.

as it stands I have 43 chapters, which would be a decent head start on making sure I could post something each week, but editing a chapter for such a thing and writing a new chapter each week could prove troublesome even if it does seem to take me about 4 days on average to write a chapter right now.

eh... i will worry about it when I finish book 3 and seriously try to edit 1 lol.

I know, thanks to running an anime review website, there is at least one Western Light Novel Start Up you could try submitting your work to/checking out. They're called Vic's Lab I believe. http://www.vicslab.com/home/ I dunno how eager they are for submissions and such, but I did think of them when you started posting about your work.

I don't know all that much about them though. They sent us Light Novels to review, and outside of a very quick check on their website and amazon I don't know much else.

 

[zulux21]

I know, thanks to running an anime review website, there is at least one Western Light Novel Start Up you could try submitting your work to/checking out. They're called Vic's Lab I believe. http://www.vicslab.com/home/ I dunno how eager they are for submissions and such, but I did think of them when you started posting about your work.

I don't know all that much about them though. They sent us Light Novels to review, and outside of a very quick check on their website and amazon I don't know much else.

thanks for the info. Given my inspirations and style I not only feel like a light novel company would be a good fit for me (granted I would need to commission some artwork). but on the one in a billion chance readers actually like my work, and it takes off for the company. I would love them to be able to bring over more light novels in general thanks to my work (or in this case publish more light novel like works).

edit:
*looks into some stuff from the site*
if this is the normal rate (and I imagine it easily could be...)

Copy editing: 1.5 cents per word ($750 for 50,000-word manuscript)
Line editing: 2 cents per word
Content editing: 2.5 cents per word
Formatting: $100 for ebooks and $200 for print books
Book cover: $500 ($250 for original art with one character and background and $250 for front and back cover design).
Interior art: $150 per character/page.

I seriously need to find an editor that loves my story and wants to profit share, as those numbers add up quite a bit over the 200k words my story currently has lol. though that was for self publish, they do seem to at least accept some books outright. and getting editing and art help to publish the book could be worth getting only 40% of the profits from sales. something to worry about later lol.

though I wouldn't want to use their artists. it's not that it's terrible art, but it doesn't feel right. clearly western or even koren in origin.

edit: got my word goal again. also decided to take a look at my file count.
I only need to write 21 more chapters, or make some other files keeping track of things such as keeping track of characters back stories for my story to have over 300 files associated with it lol.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Little late to the editing discussion, but I recently came back into like hand editing. There is something immensely satisfying about marking down notes on paper. Too bad my handwriting is atrocious and it is a struggle to decipher said notes, but hey, it's fun.


Anyway, now that I have free time again I am going to go through some old stuff and get new stuff into my editing pile before I start figuring out beta-readers for my short story "Pauli Meets a Suicidal Man" I also hate finding beta-readers, but this is the kind of thing I really need to know how people react to this particular odd brand of crazy :/

 

[zulux21]

Little late to the editing discussion, but I recently came back into like hand editing. There is something immensely satisfying about marking down notes on paper. Too bad my handwriting is atrocious and it is a struggle to decipher said notes, but hey, it's fun.


Anyway, now that I have free time again I am going to go through some old stuff and get new stuff into my editing pile before I start figuring out beta-readers for my short story "Pauli Meets a Suicidal Man" I also hate finding beta-readers, but this is the kind of thing I really need to know how people react to this particular odd brand of crazy :/

my first edit wave will likely just be done on the computer, but when I get around to a second edit I will likely print it off and hand edit it, I have done it in the past for certain things. makes it easier for me to read.

In regards to your "Pauli Meets a Suicidal Man."
I would love to say I would be willing to read it, but unless I get into the right mindset (which is rare) I barely read at all. I tend to read like two pages of light novel a day on average so it takes me months to finish one of those even though they are only like 50k words lol. (I should note if I actually sat down and read it it would take at most 2 hours to read, as I am a decently quick reader despite not reading.)

that being said, I feel like I could learn from reading your writing, so we will have to see when you are ready if we get lucky and I am in a reading mood

 

[FlowersisBritish]

that being said, I feel like I could learn from reading your writing, so we will have to see when you are ready if we get lucky and I am in a reading mood

Awww thanks, but you are giving my writing quality waaaaay too much credit. I try super hard to not think about it being good or bad and just in ways it can be better.

 

[zulux21]

Awww thanks, but you are giving my writing quality waaaaay too much credit. I try super hard to not think about it being good or bad and just in ways it can be better.

well for starters my writing quality is no doubt poor. Improving, but still novice level (though ideally the actual plot and twists/details are well above that)

second, you keep winning those challenges so I think your writing must have something going for it

and if I recall right the single writing challenge I participated in, despite your story not grabbing me, I still felt like it was the most like reading a polished book. I think I gave you second or third in my rankings. I would have to look.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Holy shitballs. So that agent got back to me with a "I really liked it but" and gave me a list of things she was confused with or had problems with. Fair enough; not the first time I've gotten this.

But it ends with "I'm willing to discuss this further" which is fucking new.

Now I"m looking at that list and going "some of these aren't plot holes but ARE answered in the book, but apparently not very well" and I guess I'm kind of nervous about replying to this email. I don't want to come off as an asshole or like I cant take criticism when I very much can.

And to be honest, I haven't read the manuscript in over a year and don't remember stuff >_>

Thoughts on how to approach this? Aside from being really happy this isn't over

Edit: more importantly, the stuff I don't have answers for because I didn't think of it, how should I approach that?

 

[kamineko]

Holy shitballs. So that agent got back to me with a "I really liked it but" and gave me a list of things she was confused with or had problems with. Fair enough; not the first time I've gotten this.

But it ends with "I'm willing to discuss this further" which is fucking new.

Now I"m looking at that list and going "some of these aren't plot holes but ARE answered in the book, but apparently not very well" and I guess I'm kind of nervous about replying to this email. I don't want to come off as an asshole or like I cant take criticism when I very much can.

And to be honest, I haven't read the manuscript in over a year and don't remember stuff >_>

Thoughts on how to approach this? Aside from being really happy this isn't over

Edit: more importantly, the stuff I don't have answers for because I didn't think of it, how should I approach that?

I do editing at a poetry press. Not the same, but it's good they are pointing out things you haven't thought about, especially if you think they are good suggestions. I'd acknowledge the suggestions, and respond earnestly about how you might go about addressing them. Express enthusiasm about hearing their thoughts.

This is a great response. I love responses that include suggestions and invitation to dialog because it means they are taking the time to think about it in a serious way. It's a very positive situation. Congratulations on this opportunity!

 

[MidnightCowboy]

"Thanks for sending us your story. We really enjoyed reading it...

...unfortunately we feel it's not quite the right fit for us."

 

[Random Human]

.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

You definitely have at least a couple of days to respond, so don’t panic, and since it’s the weekend you probably have a bit longer. If it’s been a while since you read the book, I would say re-read the manuscript and then see how you feel about the agent’s comments. If you ultimately think she’s right, maybe you can work with her, but if not I would just thank her for reading and for giving feedback. In my experience “arguing your case” so to speak doesn’t really get you anywhere. They’re not looking for you to explain how you already did it, they’re looking to see you fix it.

If she’s giving you feedback about plot holes or being confused about something, even stuff you think is explained, I would say to think long and hard about those comments. Those are the ones that always feel annoying at first because it’s like, no, I thought of that, it’s in chapter six! But when you step back, you realize 90% of these “I’m confused about X” critiques are pretty on the money. The story makes perfect sense to us because we’ve created everything in it, but that won’t be true for readers.

Anyway, good luck! Even if nothing comes from it that’s a cool response. Most agents don’t want to encourage writers responding due to nuts, so willingness to discuss it further is big. I don’t know if it’s technically a revise and resubmit but it sounds like it could turn into one.

For some of that you're probably right, but for others...man, going "is that thing evil?" when I go out of my way to make it really evil makes me think she did a lot of skimming and just missed details that ARE in the book.

And that's fine because day jobs are day jobs and it's not a small book, but it's still frustrating too. "Why doesn't your protag do this?" when he does kind of thing.

I don't want to argue with her though. That won't get me anywhere. I do kind of want to calmly answer each question with a open-ended "maybe it ISN"T as clear as I think it is" which could be true for some of it. I'll skim the book myself this weekend.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

For some of that you're probably right, but for others...man, going "is that thing evil?" when I go out of my way to make it really evil makes me think she did a lot of skimming and just missed details that ARE in the book.

And that's fine because day jobs are day jobs and it's not a small book, but it's still frustrating too. "Why doesn't your protag do this?" when he does kind of thing.

I don't want to argue with her though. That won't get me anywhere. I do kind of want to calmly answer each question with a open-ended "maybe it ISN"T as clear as I think it is" which could be true for some of it. I'll skim the book myself this weekend.

Yeah thats my worry for you too. Congrats on this though! Big news! Id say answer each of her questions and try really hard NOT to include page numbers. Just plainly answer the questions and at the end ask her how she thinks you should improve on them. She's clearly interested so all you have to do is show her you have answers but are willing to work WITH her to improve amd sell it.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Yeah thats my worry for you too. Congrats on this though! Big news! Id say answer each of her questions and try really hard NOT to include page numbers. Just plainly answer the questions and at the end ask her how she thinks you should improve on them. She's clearly interested so all you have to do is show her you have answers but are willing to work WITH her to improve amd sell it.

Yeah, that's a great idea. Make it a collab effort, because at the end of the day, that is how it seems to go with authors/agents.

And to be honest, the book is at a point where the only way it can get better is if I have some real help. I've done what I can, but I'm me

I'm really trying to keep my emotions in check on this though. It's hard because I've gone through three databases of agents and am pretty much sick of it. If this falls through and the other one with the book does too, then it'll go into the "self publish" pile. Which will happen sometime next year after the video game I'm working on is done.

Edit: Appreciate the advice guys! Y'all are awesome.

 

[zulux21]

I just want to mention.... coworkers give you odd looks and amusing reactions when you ask them

"If you are determined to show their resolve by putting a dagger through your hand and if you were left handed would you take the dagger in your left hand and put it through your right, or would you instead take it in your right to put it through your dominate hand?"

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Editing. Sucks.

I'll hit a string of chapters where I think, "Hell, this is pretty good!" Then, after one rough patch, my entire mindset changes to, "This is trash. The book was always trash."

&#128553;&#128553;&#128553;

Yep.