In this case, the "wow" isn't because I'm so impressed with my story. It's more because it's so completely different from anything I've written since that I hardly recognize it. I wrote The Book Collector several years ago and haven't looked at it in a year. I'm rereading it because an agent who passed on Friday said to feel free to query her with anything else I have, and my new YA projects are nowhere near ready. I was a little worried that the main character in The Book Collector, Alice, didn't have a distinctive voice, but that turns out not to be the case. In fact, she's so quirky that I'm worried she won't appeal to the masses.
I actually got some very positive feedback on this novel when I queried it originally, but I got to a point I'm approaching with Friday - the point where I get a lot of requests, and some very kind rejections, but no real helpful feedback. On the one hand, it's nice to know there aren't any glaring issues with my novels. But when you keep hearing, "I just didn't connect with it the way I need to," over and over and over, it can get very frustrating. I try to remind myself that this just means I haven't found the right agent yet. But there's a part of me that can't help wondering if I ever will.
On the bright side, the novel doesn't suck completely, and there's no harm sending it out one more time. Maybe I'll learn something I didn't know before. And at the very least, it's helped me to realize that with each novel I think is the one, somewhere down the line I'll recover and write a new one I love just as much, if not more.
1 comment:
I think it's a great idea to send that novel out to the agent. :)
Post a Comment