Literary Agents, Myth or Reality

That’s it. Yesterday, I’ve sent off the last envelope with my manuscript submission to the last agent. I feel strangely nervous, a sort of stomach-tight high, the way I felt after exams at school and University. You submit the paper; you get your stuff and make your way home. You feel drained and hollow and desperate to know the results. And yet, you feel elated. You’ve done it. All you do now is wait. Wait, but try not to think about it. Waiting consciously has a peculiar effect of stretching the time dimension to infinite lengths. Get your mind on other things and time suddenly speeds up to a gallop.

But as I wait, I have a question to ask. I’ve read a lot about the process of getting a book published over the last two weeks. I understand and accept the difficulties involved in becoming one of the chosen ones who actually get to see their work in book shops. What concerned me were the reports of the so-called rogue agents, the ones who charge reading/editing fees, who promote their own paid services and participate in referral schemes. There is also plenty criticism directed at amateur or incompetent agents. I would like to hear your opinion on this topic.

Dishonesty and incompetence of literary agencies, is it myth or reality?

Writing Synopsis

I’ve decided to take your advice and submit my work to a literary agency. It took a few days fighting doubts and a couple of phone conversations with my parents to make that decision and now I feel scared and exited at the same time.

I’ve done some research during the last week and it made me realise that getting a book published is a long and complicated process. The first thing that I came across was Rejection. Don’t get discouraged by rejections. It’s all right to get a lot of rejections. Everyone gets rejections. Etcetera, etcetera. Oh well, at least I’ll know what to expect...

Gardener, Introduction

Following the general outline of the Snowflake, I’ve decided to start the Gardener with an introduction, a part that’s meant to pull the reader in, give them a glimpse of the story before the story really began. It is this glimpse that I want to share with you today. I hope you enjoy it.

Gardener, The Story

As I promised in my previous post, the first draft of the Snowflake is now complete. But as I celebrate writing circa 100K words (I still can’t believe I’ve done it!), the Gardener pulls at my thoughts, distracting me, demanding my attention.

The Gardener is a continuation of the idea behind the Snowflake, but not a continuation of the story itself. The plot is different, the characters are different, even the location and timespan have been changed. What two books share in common is topic – modern computer/cyber crime, focus on a single human flaw – a feeling minor in itself, but which has a capacity to lead to severe consequences, and a legend – a story that is told by one of the characters explaining the meaning of the novel. Just as the Snowflake, I’ll try to make Gardener modern, engaging and realistic, while trying to deliver a greater meaning (though I promise, no preaching). And so, to the story and its main players...

Answering questions

Let me use this post to answer some of your questions.

Firstly, my “book-writing” software. I initially created the program as a sort of brain dump management (in case anyone wonders, dump is actually an official term used in software world, most commonly referring to memory dumps), a customized spreadsheet that suited me and my somewhat hectic brain structure. Through regular bursts of enthusiasm and weekends spent in front of the computer screen, the program acquired features suitable for story writing. It allows me to input main characters, their physical and psychological descriptions, their relationships, major positive and negative traits. When the main characters are established I can move onto setting out main plot milestones, detailing the characters, the places, the motivations. Once all the data’s in place, the program produces a plot outline, providing an approximate chapter by chapter breakdown, timing for major revelations and for red herrings (who enjoys a book without them). It also produces some nice wall charts that are very useful for keeping a visual image of the story.

Now, this is starting to sound pretty good even to me. Of course, it’s not that wonderful. The program has a few bugs, few problems here and there... and its main flaw – it doesn’t actually write books. It’s a tool. A tool that works fine for me, but would probably cause an outcry of negative feedback if it was ever marketed. It’s handy, it keeps my thoughts organised, it helps me to re-focus my brain from job-oriented to book-oriented and ... that’s all really.

The Gardener

I haven’t quite finished the Snowflake as I write this, but it’s oh so close. I’m planning to type the final stop to the final sentence sometime next week. Still, the story is there. My characters have finished telling the tale and I’m simply documenting it now.

The Gardener, on the other hand, is untold. It’s floating around me like early-morning mist, revealing very little, yet promising so much. Writing a book, as I found out, is as much of a journey for the writer as it is for the readers. And I can’t wait to step onto the new trail and see where it leads me. As always, I welcome everyone along.