Frustration ...
When I last wrote on this blog, I believe I was waiting to hear back fromy my agent concerning the latest rewrite of Black Pearls. I ended up phoning her again. Apparently, she'd been sick for nearly two weeks and naturally fell behind in reading. At any rate, she promised to reread the manuscript herself (up until then, only her assistant had read it -- and I'd gotten to the point at which I REFUSED to make any more changes based upon what the assistant was saying). The agent promised to get back to me -- in a week. Well, she didn't. I gave her a week and a day, and then I called her myself. She told me that having read the manuscript, she 'believed' I'd done the research to show that people in 1926 in Harlem had personal telephones (one of the items that came into question), but that she had parts of the story. Parts of the manuscript were wonderful, she said. Other parts were boring, if not "dead." She couldn't understand why the writing was so "uneven," she said.
I could've told her: It was hard to write "evenly" when one has two full-time jobs and two kids and ... well, need I say more? Actually, I didn't say anything. I simply told her that I would not go back into the manuscript and do any further rewrites without more specific feedback. Privately, of course, I was thinking that some of the best-selling books I've ever read had pages and pages of dead space that I would've gladly cut if I'd had a blue pencil. But I didn't say that. Instead, I reminded her that I've had the experience of changing something to make an agent happy, only to have an editor reject a manuscript and mention that very 'something' as a reason for his/her decision. So I've learned to be very leery of agent "suggestions." She was kind enough to agree that manuscript evaluation is a subjective affair. However, she still felt that parts of the story just didn't do it for her.
I asked her for examples. "Did you put tick marks on the margins of the manuscript maybe? You know, mark scenes that bothered you?"
She hesitated, then said, no, she hadn't.
I just couldn't understand it. How in the world can you give a writer such vague criticism and expect them to do anything constructive with it? From the writer's point of view, it's like battling shadows.
She said that in order to give me any more specific criticism, she'd have to sit down and take the book apart. I thought, duh ... She said she'd get back to me this week.
I don't know. I like her very much as a person, but her constant hesitations are killing my enthusiasm.
I have already decided that this is the last manuscript I will put with an agent. The whole system of agents vetting for publishers works -- for some people. Indeed, it even worked for me. However, for many writers, it's a monumental waste of time. And time after time, agents and editors have shown that they too, are just human, and do make mistakes -- sometimes costly ones. It's hard to get excited about writing when I know I'm going to have to run this gamut every single time. God, I'm so sick of these people.
I've decided to set up on my own small press -- and publish my own work. I've bought my own ISBN numbers and will design my own book covers. Writing will be fun again -- not the miserable torturous exercise it has become.
I could've told her: It was hard to write "evenly" when one has two full-time jobs and two kids and ... well, need I say more? Actually, I didn't say anything. I simply told her that I would not go back into the manuscript and do any further rewrites without more specific feedback. Privately, of course, I was thinking that some of the best-selling books I've ever read had pages and pages of dead space that I would've gladly cut if I'd had a blue pencil. But I didn't say that. Instead, I reminded her that I've had the experience of changing something to make an agent happy, only to have an editor reject a manuscript and mention that very 'something' as a reason for his/her decision. So I've learned to be very leery of agent "suggestions." She was kind enough to agree that manuscript evaluation is a subjective affair. However, she still felt that parts of the story just didn't do it for her.
I asked her for examples. "Did you put tick marks on the margins of the manuscript maybe? You know, mark scenes that bothered you?"
She hesitated, then said, no, she hadn't.
I just couldn't understand it. How in the world can you give a writer such vague criticism and expect them to do anything constructive with it? From the writer's point of view, it's like battling shadows.
She said that in order to give me any more specific criticism, she'd have to sit down and take the book apart. I thought, duh ... She said she'd get back to me this week.
I don't know. I like her very much as a person, but her constant hesitations are killing my enthusiasm.
I have already decided that this is the last manuscript I will put with an agent. The whole system of agents vetting for publishers works -- for some people. Indeed, it even worked for me. However, for many writers, it's a monumental waste of time. And time after time, agents and editors have shown that they too, are just human, and do make mistakes -- sometimes costly ones. It's hard to get excited about writing when I know I'm going to have to run this gamut every single time. God, I'm so sick of these people.
I've decided to set up on my own small press -- and publish my own work. I've bought my own ISBN numbers and will design my own book covers. Writing will be fun again -- not the miserable torturous exercise it has become.
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