Last week, I had another discussion with an agent. This time, Meredith Ford of C+W. I couldn't believe what she had to say. She actually said that there wasn't a single criticism she could make about my submission... not one! Instead, rather than giving me advice, she and I just sat for a quarter of an hour and discussed a few suggestions she'd come up with. But even then, she was very willing to listen to my opinions, and agreed with many of the points that I made. So, she and I agreed that I would make two changes. 1. To make sure that my reader really believes in the way that my characters behave, given the awful things that happen to them, they need to speak to each other slightly differently. Not in a major way, just a few verbal references to Strictures of the Human Condition here and there. 2. We agreed that the first part of the second chapter drags a little, and needs to end sooner. Thankfully, both these things are quite simple, and I have to say that I actually agree with her. These changes will make my book better! I find myself enjoying the process of making the changes because I can see the themes of my novel coming out louder and clearer than ever before. And then the best thing... I could almost have cried when I heard these words. Meredith said that, provided I make the agreed changes, she might well be interested in reading the full book, and if she doesn't feel it's quite right for her then there is another agent working for C+W - Alexander Cochran - who almost definitely will! It's so exciting!
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Updated: Aug 8, 2021
Hopefully most if you will have seen on FB that I've had my first interview. I hope you enjoy it, I certainly did. However, FB doesn't tend to be much of a forum for considered discussion. So if you'd like to discuss the interview further, please comment below. I'd love to speak with you about it.
Lately, I've been using FB to create something of a diary of my journey to representation and publication. I'm very excited about just how much this is focusing my attention. It drives me to succeed. And so far, the results of that extra push have been quite impressive. I've now had positive feedback from two agents, including one who told me that she 'loved' the concept of At Utopia's Core, especially the fact that I've succeeded in creating a novel about a utopia rather than a dystopia (I'll let you ruminate over what differences there are between those two concepts!) and positive feedback about the writing of the novel from the Grindstone Award, which I'll be re-entering next month. I'd love to hear what ways you've found to motivate yourselves to succeed, and how successful those attempts have been.
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