Am I Rushing things?

My idea is the opposite but I have no idea if it's right or wrong. I plan on having three novels ready before trying to get an agent. The reason is that if the first one is no good I have two back-up novels ready rather than feeling so depressed that I cannot write for a while before starting again. It's alright to think I'm crazy. Perhaps I am.

Hi David. I can only speak from experience, I like your other advice givers would say not only wait til you have finished the full M/S, but wait until you have done your redrafts and edits and even maybe paid for a professional edit. I thought my book was finished ages ago, I am not going to say just how long that is but think l-o-n-g... and found when I began the proper work, (which started after it was finished) that IT decided to add a new first chapter and, after brilliant advice from other members of this site, I found I had done more telling than showing than I had realised. Then, the book decided it wasn't a stand alone and began getting itself ready for the the next and even an idea for a third. Mind you I may not live long enough for that if I don't find more time to write. So yep finish first, but I think you know that already.

best wishes with it. Regards Paul

David, finish the product first, I know from bitter experience.

I had four strong chapters of a book, plus I sort of knew where it was going. So I too thought, let's send it off and see what happens. It only took a couple of weeks when I received a letter ( yes before emails! there was such a time) from an agent asking for the rest of the book. It was embarrassing, and to be honest, a wasted opportunity, when I had to confess that my novel was more than a chapter short of a full story. Then finishing it and working full time became a challenge and the agent went off into the sunset with someone else.

So David, have the product finished and polished, then you can pitch with confidence to an agent.

Adrian