Bummer

I started the week (well, the day after Christmas) on a bummer note.  I finally heard back from the agent only to be told with no explanation that she would not represent Doomimals, my chapter book series.  Not the news I hoped for, certainly.  I sent a follow-up email asking for an explanation, so I would know what route to take next, whether to an editor or another agent.  I heard nothing back, which is not helpful.  At least the last refusal came with an explanation. 

So I decided to try something entirely different.  I sent it next to a local publisher that publishes everything from adult fiction on down to children's.  Another branch of the publishing company may eventually be able to publish my romantic fiction, so I could see this being productive.  On the other hand, my confidence is sort of shot because I have no idea if I was refused based on the quality of the prose, based on the agent's limitations, or on something else again.  Just as I begin to get my hopes up, they're dashed again.  Someone did remind me the self-publishing route exists as well as the idea that Rowling tried to publish her Harry Potter manuscript several times before it found a home.  It would just be nice to get past no and into at least maybe territory. 

Art Portfolio

The first agent passed on my chapter book, Doomimals Book 1: Cockadoodle-DOOM, because it didn't fall within her scope of expertise, though I submitted it by specific invitation.  I am now sending it to a second agent.  As part of that, I may or may not have an opportunity to illustrate it.  In the past, I have been told that authors are rarely allowed to illustrate their own work.  I have taken years of art classes and would love that opportunity.  I need to upload my art somewhere, so she can see samples.  This is my blog readers' opportunity to see it, too.  Here you go: 

Cats in pen,1993

Self-portrait in colored pencil, 1993

               
  

Family portrait, 1993

Sister, drawn from life in pen, 1993

Liz Taylor, drawn 1994

Mel Gibson, drawn 1993

           

Self-Portrait, 1994

Ruru, 2017

Chapter Book Research

As I said on my last post, I received an invitation at The League of Utah Writers Fall Conference to submit the first installment of my chapter book series to an agent.  That's a big deal because it means I can slide right past the slush pile.  Since then, I've been researching the genre.  When I started Doomimals Book 1: Cock-a-doodle-DOOM, I thought I was writing a middle-grade fiction series.  I thought of it as akin to Animorphs, Spiderwick Chronicles, or anything along those lines.  I had no idea how all of this worked.  First, I did the research and read several comparables (I didn't even know I needed them when I went to talk to the agent in the first place).  Then I got to work on the manuscript.  I have now, after a month's hard labor, turned a rough manuscript into something that may be considered by publishers in the not so distant future.

Let me share something of what I've learned in the last month.  I am no expert, but I have discovered a few things.  One is that there are precise definitions and word counts for books in the children's book realm.  At least for your first book, you must stick to those.  You'll want to do more precise and authoritative research, but the best I can figure, children's books are divided up as follows: there's board book (roughly a sentence per page); picture book (up to 1000 words total, and the story relies heavily on pictures); early readers (around 5000 words, still reliant on pictures for much of the story but with short chapters); chapter books (8000-12,000 words, for slightly more advanced readers of roughly 7-10 years old); middle-grade books (30-55,000 words, though some sources say they can get shorter or longer); then up to young adult fiction, which is usually longer than that.  It turns out there's a whole science to all of this, knowing your readability statistics, comparables, the market, etc.  I'm not kidding.  There is a lot to know.  Oh, and the agent with whom I spoke said that current trend in middle-grade fiction is following young adult fiction into darker areas like suicide, death, and drugs.  If you want to write a fun romp, you may want to research younger age fiction, but then younger age fiction is hard to break into because it isn't much of a money-maker by comparison.  All of it kind of blows my mind.

At this point, I don't know if the agent will want to represent me simply because I found out (after talking to that agent who invited me to submit, different agent) my genre falls outside their agency's area of expertise.  Any which way, I have something publishable that I hope will find a home in the publishing world soon.  And that feels pretty dang good. 

Writing Conferences and Presenting to Agents

I haven't bothered to write her for a while because there are only just so many ways to say, "I'm still revising.  Pardon the dust."  But over the weekend, I went to a League of Utah Writers conference that was amazing and really got me back on track with writing.  For several months now, I've been working on revision of my adult novels based on an editor's and fellow writers' feedback, much of the time putting it off by doing other writing.  I know I need to get serious about that and get it done. 

But the morning of the conference, I had the thought that not spending a little extra money to present to a publisher or agent would be squandering a sterling opportunity. I don't make it to the conferences often.  Before I could doubt myself, I submitted a request to meet with an out of town agent who was looking for manuscripts for her agency.  Middle grade manuscripts.  That's when I thought of the series I have mapped out but that, other than the first two books, have simmered on the back burner while I beat my head against my romance novels. 

Now, I've sent off materials to agents before.  I've presented to publishers and agents at conferences on occasion, and nothing has ever come of it but a polite thank you and a we'll let you know if we're interested.  But I figured why not?  I've already gotten League feedback on the first two books of the Doomimal series.  My kids love what I have so far and are always making more suggestions for my next stories.  It was worth a try. 

I was a bit disheartened when two freelance editors pointed out all the flaws in the first chapter at that conference, but I was already committed, and the agent had tacked on an extra time slot just for my last minute arrangement.  I forged ahead and met with her, not expecting much. 

My spirits sunk a bit lower as she informed me I was thinking in terms of the wrong genre, that it's not middle-grade as they usually work with but early chapter books.  It turns out middle grade fiction now concerns itself more with darker, more teen or adult issues and tends to be longer than my research suggested and than my manuscripts were.  A story about kids and their pets facing off with some mysterious dog of war and her magical army of animals just didn't seem like middle-grade material like I thought.

But then she also told me she thought my concept "had legs" and could go places.  For the first time in my life, an agent invited me to submit my manuscript to her agent who works with middle-grade.  It's no guarantee since its target audience is a bit younger than their usual, but it's a definite opening, and after I rework the manuscript according to the feedback I've received (as quickly as possible), I will act on this opening.  It feels like I'm standing at the cusp of something big, something I've dreamed about since I was constructing picture books for my sisters out of scrap paper as a kid. 

I can't celebrate just yet, but this feels like a good thing.  A very good thing worth a blog.  There is definitely something to be said for conferences and for taking advantage of every opportunity available to get your work out there. 

This little piggie (one day soon) will go to market

I've been working on finishing the switch from first- to third-person with my second manuscript, Pigs Fly.  I wanted to get that done, so I could send it out to my beta readers and start getting feedback.  I want to get a nice slew of first-round, nonwriter feedback from friends to apply before I start sending it to my League of Utah Writers group a chapter or two at a time.  I didn't do this with my first manuscript because it was a little too personal, a little too religious, for the people I tend to find in League.  Also, I didn't know this handy dandy online-only group existed when I was sending it out to readers.  Now, I have global feedback to apply from a professional editor.  However, manuscript two is more conventional, something with which this group will do well.



In the meantime, I'll be launching into a hardcore reboot based on two sets of global feedback, one from a stellar writer from League and one from that editor.  I know the story from After the Dream needs to get out there, but I also know it's not ready yet for another submission to a publisher.  I'm so close to sending it in for consideration for publication that it drives me nuts.  I just need to work through the feedback.  I can do this.  And I will.

Enjoyment

I haven't gotten to the meat of reviewing the manuscript I had the editor go over, After the Dream, though I've started it.  I'm right now focusing on finishing turning its sequel, Pigs Fly, into 3rd person since 1st person from two perspectives was not working for many people.  It's a long, tedious process.  However, I'm finding it enjoyable because I quite like the characters and the story.  Which tells me readers are more likely to enjoy it.  I've heard it said that if a scene from your story makes you laugh or cry--feel something--chances are good you'll get a similar reaction in your reader.

Here's one of my problems with the first manuscript, the one I've been procrastinating: I've gone over it so many times that it's hard to view it with new eyes.  It's difficult to feel all I'm supposed to feel with it anymore because it's hard to gain any distance.  One major reason I haven't tackled it yet is because I'm trying to achieve that emotional distance again, to be able to see it with eyes as fresh as possible.  But I haven't actually read the second one all the way through, yet.  It's still fresh to begin with.  It's much easier to enjoy because I've only ever read it once, maybe bits of it twice, including when I first wrote it.  I imagine I'll get tired of it, too, one day.  But the manuscripts need to be published in order for them to make sense.  Soon, I'll be done with the work on Pigs Fly and will get back to After the Dream.  In the meantime, I will keep enjoying that second manuscript as I ready it for my alpha and beta readers.

Back into League

Along with the feeling of being just too overwhelmed to write much, I was also stricken with the absolute inability to stare at other's writing, as I do with League of Utah Writers.  I know I need to help others just as they help me.  I truly missed some of these stories and some of these writers.   But then there are those pieces that are just so painful that it's hard to push myself to read.  Even then, though, I know they need help.  They need outside eyes to help them see those issues they can't see when they're too close to their own writing.

Then again, I know my own writing has such issues.  Very few writers write so perfectly the first time that they don't need the help of fellow writers to see the weak characters, the slack narrative, the data dumps, and the poor dialogue snippets that sound great when they write them in the first place.  I know I need League as much as they need me.  I highly recommend other writers seek out a group like this.

Getting past the blocks

Part of my issue with continuing to work with my writing group was a simple case of writer's block.  I kept thinking about how I needed to amp up the action, make my middle-grade fiction more and more challenging.  I could not figure out how to get my characters out of their latest fix by having them climb a taller mountain because I'd built the mountain so high.

Then I started talking to my kids, who both fall into the target audience, about what to do next.  They didn't know exactly how to get my characters out of their fix, but they had a different perspective.  Maybe I didn't have to have the characters climb the mountain so much as to tickle it.  What if they didn't have to climb the mountain but to make it laugh?  What I needed to do was to think like my audience to get my characters past the latest problem.  I didn't need to make the characters harder, faster, meaner than they already are but remember that the story needs to remain fun for my audiences.  I don't have to break the rules I already set to have fun with the story.

I haven't quite gotten the characters out of their latest fix, but I'm getting closer.  And once I do, I can see momentum will start to build again.  If I have fun again with my writing, so will my audience.

Torn

I know what my story concept is and always has been for the beginning of "After the Dream."  A woman dreams of and acquires her perfect happily ever after only to find it's not what she bargained for.  Yet I keep running into people, most recently my paid local editor, who recommend I incorporate my character's past later and don't start with these events at all.  Granted, my editor just said this was a bit long for a prolog.  Now, I'm torn between staying true to my vision of the story, the original concept on which I based the entire story, and heeding the gatekeepers to publication.

It is frustrating that in the conceptualization stage, an author is led to believe the sky is the limit, that anything you can imagine can be written and shared.  Yet when it comes right down to it, those who don't bow to the conventions of the craft can't get a story out there to be read.  This makes self-publication tempting; however, how does one get one's name out there to begin with if it isn't attached to a known publisher?  I see all these people around me getting published.  It feels so effortless.  I'm sure all of this will ring a bell to many beginning authors.  I'm just looking forward to being one of the wise, published authors who can guide others through this dizzying gauntlet.