Our guest literary agent explains what he wants from a manuscript submission. It may surprise you...Once I get through the hyperbole and overblown salesmanship of most covering letters, it is all about my relationship to the prose.
In the case of fiction (which it usually is) I am looking for a voice. Simple as that.
I am not so concerned about plot or setting to begin with – I just want to feel that I am setting off on a journey with a writer who just for one moment or two can grab me, make me forget I am reading a book and who might just might change my perception of the world around me.
A great writer can accomplish all that and more in a paragraph. Think of the opening of Catcher in the Rye or Great Expectations and you are totally drawn in as a reader. If a writer’s prose is bland, derivative or just plain clumsy, then I won’t read beyond the first page. If I get beyond that then I want narrative. Big time.
In a world where we are bombarded with micro-messages, greatest hits and tweet-sized chunks, I am convinced that all we yearn for is to be taken back to those bedtimes when we were nicely tucked up and having a wonderful story being read to us. ‘In the beginning there was a Princess who lived in a castle in the middle of an enchanted forest...’.
So basically if you want me to keep reading your work (and maybe even take it on) I want the simple conditions to be met:
- spell my name right
- check my website and see that I actually am looking for your kind of writing
- write me a letter that makes you sound great but not so arrogant that working with you will be a nightmare
- be the creator of sparkling life-changing prose, and
- take me on a wonderful journey somewhere with your narrative.
Get it? Got it? Good. Now back to the enchanted wood and the Princess...
Yours,
Grumpy Old Agent*
*Grumpy Old Agent is Simon Trewin, a literary agent at United Agents. He tweets as simontrewin.
Stephen Mcdaid on March 17, 2010
Great article. As a reader I love to find opening pages that I can simply fall into; and am allowed to follow the characters around as if I have just met them; get involved with their ups and downs. Getting to know them. On feedback sites I hear a lot of 'hit the ground running' advice, when it comes to crime fiction or thrillers: but I'm not so sure this formula is the best when it comes to engaging the reader; most of my favourite books seem to have an honest voice, if you get my drift. They usually intrigue me by showing me art rather than the artifices suggested by current style police formulas, which seem hackneyed, and therefore visible, to me.
Michael Dakin on March 18, 2010
I wonder if you know that these things can’t be taught or explained. I think it is highly likely that you do. So you just write this stuff for your own ego and then you have the cheek to say in your article that your writers shouldn’t be too arrogant. Does that mean that they can be arrogant as long as they know their place at the end of the day? I am not being rude here (as a MEP once said).
I really have to wonder whether you actually think that a writer who seeks advice on blogs ought to be in the business. It is a business after all. Artists are the worst for getting some high ideas about themselves and then trying to dress it up in artistic clothes. It is only about ego and money. If writers hide this from themselves then I have to wonder why anybody would publish them. It would be a fine thing if every publisher stopped asking for three chapters, a CV, a synopsis and a covering letter and instead asked for the writer to state why they are writing. If Mr. Writeio-Sage of suburbia says it is for self expression and they don’t mind if anybody reads their story on the futility of slogan based doormats and their abhorrence of such mindless things then that would save the need for SAEs. Just tell him to grow up and get a grip. People are so sadly sordid but they butter it up with talk of art and ideals.
Saying all that I do think that Leo Tolstoy and Gabriel García Márquez can be long winded and yet I read every word and hold on to those words and delight in their beauty. Maybe I would skip twenty or thirty pages occasionally with say Tom Clancy or JK Rowling and I wouldn’t have lost anything either in terms of the plot or the characters. They are examples of those that just cannot write and proof that being successful is all about remembering that more people buy furniture from IKEA than Kika (Kika is a Austrian Habitat type place over here in continental Europe). Which tells you all you need to know about the first three chapters approach. It sells well, but when you put it in your lounge it looks a bit tatty after a couple of weeks and when you go to a friend’s house they have the same table but in ‘Sabbath Ebony’ rather than ‘Duran Beech’.
Do you consider the baldness of the first three contributors (including article writer) a Yul Brynner moment?
Cressida Downing on March 18, 2010
michaeldakin - you've raised a lot of points here - would anyone like to comment?
I certainly don't feel that seeking advice from a professional site would invalidate an author from being published, it's all part of research.
If we asked authors for their reason for writing, we would probably get a range of answers, which would range from wanting to earn money to wanting to express themselves - but none of the answers would actually show an editor what quality of work they could produce.
I think the 3 chapters and a synopsis approach works well to showcase talent. What does everyone else think?
Cressida
Stephen Mcdaid on March 18, 2010
I think eight thousand words and a synopsis would enable agents to decide if the work has potential, if it captivates their interest concerning voice, premise and resolution (just my opinion).
I agree voice cannot be taught, but it's said it can be learned by writing more and more.
Tea Maljkovic on March 18, 2010
Well, let's go in chronological order of posts and replies.
"Response to the post of the Grumpy Old Agent", said she with a smile...
I agree that the opening paragraph and page should pull a reader in faster than a black hole.
As far as the points that 'a writer seeking an agent' are concerned, they make sense. I think that it is immensely important to write the name of the agent properly.
Imagine if your book was out there being printed as we speak and your name was misspelled on the jacket of the book!!! And why would you send your book out there to an agent if you think it is less than perfect?
I would be ashamed to send it out unpolished and in the peak of perfection.
A response to reply of michaeldakin...
"Does that mean that they can be arrogant as long as they know their place at the end of the day?"
How do I even begin to comment this?
Let's start that we must have understood the lines from the post completely differently. I understood them like this;
That the writer should be confident but also aware of his own personality traits and everything concering the work, so to say. I agree with michaeldakin that the post sounds as if it was written after a very bad day, but so what? It's a reminder that agents are only human. And a small thing, people shouldn't judge, cause the reply to the original post doesn't sound so well-intended either.
Second bad reaction. It's all about money?!?!
Okay, I'll play along and admit that money plays a big role in everyone's life, especially in a career, but it still isn't the thing that makes the world go around. Sorry to disappoint anyone, but I've checked. It's my friend, Zeus, that does the planet-evolving thingy.
I don't think it is necessary for people to be asked "why they write"-- I think that all the stuff necessary right now are just okay. It gives the agent a glimpse into the mind of the writer, be it through the covering letter or through the first three chapters. The point in publishing business is not to make friends but to publish books of excellent quality (something which certain publishers neglected recently...)
With regard to the taste of michaeldakin --- I am glad that people can still enjoy good literature. But in that process, people tend to get a wee bit exclusive. Just because Tolstoy is amazing, it doesn't mean that J.K.Rowling is horrible or whatever opinion one might have of her, just because she didn't die of starvation or some illness. Thankfully, she wrote amazing series that I personally enjoy reading very much. Just because it's about a teenage boy doesn't make it any less good or any less thought-provoking.
But alas, that is why we all have different tastes.
At last, I agree with Ms Downing. Looking up things on blogs and various other sites and asking for advice are good things which can only improve writing skills and awareness of the writer.
Actually, I am thinking of starting a blog, just to hone my writing skills and have a sort of portfolio...
All best to everyone!
Until the next time.