Yes, agents love debuts!

Don’t get down if you’re querying with a debut. Agents love finding and working with undiscovered gems.

Yes, a fantastic track record is great, but an inconsistent track record can muddle editors’ decisions, while debuts have such fresh market appeal. A debut has potential you can carve out of it and start a new brand. It’s exciting for authors, agents and editors.

Yes, debuts are the most difficult to query an agent with, but have faith if you have a fresh concept and terrific writing–you will be found.

Yes, you have a lot against you in order to stand out from the pack, but a lot of the ‘big books’ from the past couple years have been stand out debuts that have found their way.

Yes, you will get shot down by beta readers and some agents if the concept is new and no one knows what to do with it. But rest assured that someone recognize this. Agents and editors often pass on good writing only because they don’t think they’re the person to bring it to the market and know what to do with it–consider this a favour because you’re waiting for the team that does believe.

Yes, larger agencies have full lists and take longer to get back to you. So, why not try agents that are building their list? They’ll get back to you quicker and have more time to devote to your manuscript and you if they take you on.

Yes, the market is tough right now and it’s hard for anyone to get a deal, published authors included, but it’s times like this that electrifying debuts are looked upon to breathe new life.

Updated: What I’m looking for

Many frequent visitors to this blog know about what I’m looking for in queries and new projects. Here is an updated list of things I’m dying to see come in to me:

• Upmarket women’s fiction (high stakes, family issues, love, troubled heart, travel) with a new fresh concept
• Small town romance
• Historical fiction (i.e. The Tudor period, Regency, in the tradition of Philippa Gregory)
• Platform based non-fiction: must have a demonstrable expertise and know your quantifiable market
• Pop science and pop psychology proposals (i.e. brands, consumer behaviour, creativity, business with a commercial spin)
• Gritty contemporary YA
• High concept YA with a fresh new concept that hasn’t been done (i.e. light fantasy)
• High concept picture books that stand out from the pack

Q: An agent says they’re looking for commercial fiction and they pass on my ms. What’s the deal?

Agents say they are open to certain genres, but we pass on the majority of content that comes in. So what are we really looking for? Honestly, we don’t know why we fail to connect with work. It could very well be the quality of writing as it often is, but sometimes it’s more elusive than that: we don’t love it. Here are some of the behind the scenes answers for why we fail to connect:

• You might have caught us at a bad time. We’re human. We’ll sign a contemporary YA one week, and pass on one the next week. We are driven by emotional connection and we might be missing that *feeling* that we’re looking for.
• Our interests are more complex than genre labels. We, like everyone, have interests that intersect in a variety of ways. I like everything from irish history, to light women’s fiction, to pop science, to commercial literary fiction, to gritty YA, to romantic YA, to whatever falls on my desk or ereader that moves me.

Q: What should I do while my book is on submission?

So many authors get anxious while their book is on submission to editors, as they should be! This is an exciting time. However, you can really work yourself up so here are 5 tips to keep your head above water:

1. Find a writers group to vent with. You’ll need to talk to people who know what you’re going through.
2. Learn more about the process by asking good questions: Which editors are looking at my book? What imprint and publishing house do they work at? You know about your genre, now learn about the publishing side of it. But let your agent do their job. This is their expertise.
3. Keep writing. Whether it’s new material, blog posts, journalism, etc. But don’t track the submission process. You need to show editors that you are active online, but leave some mystery.

Plotting romance: when it works and when it doesn’t

Romance in novels is a big part of what drives readers’ emotional connection and thus sales.

Whether YA, women’s fiction, literary fiction, mysteries or thrillers, romance can be a big part of the plot and should never be overlooked. Writers spend so much time crafting plot. But what about crafting a romantic arc, a relationship, or a marriage?

What makes romance work in books:

• Authenticity. We want to believe that these two people are real, that their relationship goes through natural processes, and they share the same feelings we do.
• Motivation. A character’s hotness level isn’t motivation. It’s factual evidence. So what drives two characters together? Is it opposites attract? Do they spend a lot of time together in a close environment? Putting two characters together doesn’t mean they are right for each other, just like in real life when you introduce two people to each other. So show the reader how they fit, how they flirt, and what their connection is really like. That’s how bonds are built between the characters and between the book and readers.
• Complex 3D characters. Relationship success and failure is a big part of plot. It can drive it and layer it. When you show the sides of a character and consequently show the sides of the character in their relationship you build a layer of meaning to that character that they didn’t have before. It can help build character as I said, but also build plot because you weave storylines into it.
• Whimsy. My final point may seem contradictory, but it makes the relationship complete for readers. This being that your book isn’t real life, it’s fiction. Romance is part of escapism. So don’t use too many mundane elements of everyday love unless you can layer them in a way that works. Dishes aren’t sexy. Dog walking isn’t sexy. Grocery shopping isn’t sexy. So pick and choose carefully the actions and scenes where the lovers/romance interacts.

What happens when it doesn’t work:

Developmental and Structural Editing: What’s working, what’s not?

There comes the time when the book is ‘done’ and the revising stage arrives. How do you decide what to attack in the revision process? What questions do you need to ask of yourself and your novel? Here are guidelines to best-approach the developmental and structural editing stage.

Characters

Are they likeable?

Are they active or passive?

Do they complement the story or add extra baggage?

Do the characters seem to complement each other? (Can be in a negative or positive way)

Are their traits consistent and believable?

Do we know enough about them? (I.e. Are they 3D?)

Setting

Is the world you’ve created/place you’ve described convincing?

Do we want to spend time here?

Does it have depth? A presence?

Is the description of place organic and fitting?

Does it require fact checking?

Plot

Does it seem plausible?

Is it predictable?

Does the reader care about the outcome?

Is the reader satisfied with the ending and outcome?

Writing Advice from Will Self

Will Self, author of Walking To Hollywood and many more exceptional works, shares his writing tips:

• Don’t look back until you’ve written an entire draft, just begin each day from the last sentence you wrote the preceding day. This prevents those cringing feelings, and means that you have a substantial body of work before you get down to the real work which is all in . . .
• The edit.
• Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.
• You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.
• The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement – if you can’t deal with this you needn’t apply.
• Live life and write about life. Of the making of many books there is ­indeed no end, but there are more than enough books about books.