So. Seven (count them!) years ago, I sent a copy of a manuscript to a literary agent in NW1. I'd already recieved in the region of twenty rejection letters from agents and publishers, but to be fair, most of them didn't actually *read* the sample I gave them.
This particular literary agent sent me what I thought was another rejection. It was more helpful than the standard 'not really our thing, thanks.' THIS letter actually LISTED everything that was wrong with my first three chapters. Bullet by bullet. Ouch! Then it said, "do please send me the rest of the manuscript when you've made the above changes." Well I was a bit confused but I did as I was told. The agent was rather excited when she read the rest and invited me round to hers.
When I got there she explained how come, when she didn't like what she'd read in the first place, she still wanted to see more. It was the letter I'd written introducing myself that convinced her I had potential, even though the manuscript was shite. (I discovered quite rapidly that she can be quite a blunt lady.) "And you are only 17, after all."
"Um, 18, I'm afraid."
"Well, whatever."
Anyway it never did work out because she still wanted me to make more changes to the manuscript, and then some more changes, and I wasn't happy with it either but we didn't always agree on what needed to be done and in the end I couldn't do it anyway. So I went to university instead.
Not sure how to brooch the subject of a new novel after all these years, so I kept it simple. I mean, I wrote this long letter about the novel and its place in the market and everything, but with only a line to indicate, er, we kind of met before. That was last week.
I don't think the response could have been any more terse:
"Dear Hannah.
Good to hear from you.
Tricky subject, but I'd be interested to read the complete typescript. Do send it.
Regards."
This particular literary agent sent me what I thought was another rejection. It was more helpful than the standard 'not really our thing, thanks.' THIS letter actually LISTED everything that was wrong with my first three chapters. Bullet by bullet. Ouch! Then it said, "do please send me the rest of the manuscript when you've made the above changes." Well I was a bit confused but I did as I was told. The agent was rather excited when she read the rest and invited me round to hers.
When I got there she explained how come, when she didn't like what she'd read in the first place, she still wanted to see more. It was the letter I'd written introducing myself that convinced her I had potential, even though the manuscript was shite. (I discovered quite rapidly that she can be quite a blunt lady.) "And you are only 17, after all."
"Um, 18, I'm afraid."
"Well, whatever."
Anyway it never did work out because she still wanted me to make more changes to the manuscript, and then some more changes, and I wasn't happy with it either but we didn't always agree on what needed to be done and in the end I couldn't do it anyway. So I went to university instead.
Not sure how to brooch the subject of a new novel after all these years, so I kept it simple. I mean, I wrote this long letter about the novel and its place in the market and everything, but with only a line to indicate, er, we kind of met before. That was last week.
I don't think the response could have been any more terse:
"Dear Hannah.
Good to hear from you.
Tricky subject, but I'd be interested to read the complete typescript. Do send it.
Regards."
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
stewhimself:
re: Lunar Eclipse photo. No really its the lunar eclipse, taken on my camera phone where it just looked like a tiny white dot. I'm actually impressed by how it looks on a big screen....but only mildly. 
walkswithbears:
I remembered the line 'Destroy Every Dream This Man Ever Had', and then googled that with 'beetle'.