At least its not one step forward, two steps back. I got a request for a partial today and a rejection of a partial.
The rejection was the first partial I ever submitted. To be honest, my manuscript was kind of crappy back then (not that I knew that at the time) and I'm not surprised it was rejected. It took forever, but this agent is notoriously slow.
But the partial request cheered me up. She asked for 30 pages and a 2 page synopsis, so I'll be zapping that off shortly. As soon as I whittle my synopsis down from 3.5 pages to 2. Seriously, a 3.5 page synopsis is ridiculous, but I can't seem to control myself sometimes. Most people request the synop be pasted into an email so I haven't worried about how long it is, but this person wants it as an attached word document, so she'll know how many pages it is instantly. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not allowed to go to .9 margins all the way around or times new roman 11 font. I'm such a cheater. I have to do this the right way.
The Shark Is Closed for Queries
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6 months ago
ha! i thought about cheating too, but I refrained. Synopsis suck. My problem is I write play by plays rather than being nice and concise.
ReplyDeleteYay! Sorry, must clarify...Yay for the request. Boo for the rejection. You wouldn't have liked that agent anyway. *blows raspberry*
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ash. Eliz. -- synopses suck. I have tried whittling mine down but can't get it below three pages no matter what I do. My advice is don't sweat it too much. She's not going to request or not request a full based on whether your synopsis is a page too long; she'll make her decision on those 30 pages. (Remember, she'll no doubt read, or at least look at, the 30 pages first.) Good luck and bravo on the new partial request! P.S. Did you see your Golden Pin award on The B.L.?
ReplyDeleteYay hooray! Partials are great!
ReplyDeleteWhat is it you write again? And can you tell us anything about your novel?
Thanks everyone! And thank you Travener for the Golden Pin award! I'm always trying to be clever, nice to know I succeeded! Perhaps I should add a new blog called Too Clever to be Very Humble? :)
ReplyDeleteSierra, I write YA. My MC is a 16 YO girl who gets targeted for death by time travelers. She falls in love with one of the few who try to save her, then she becomes a traveler herself and things get all sorts of crazy.
Awww...I didn't know what was happening yet. I should never have come back to read this. Boo.
ReplyDeleteDarn it! I WAS afraid I was going to ruin it for you. I should have said SPOILER ALERT at the beginning or something. Sorry!!! (You would have found out pretty soon anyway...)
ReplyDelete