a rejection in time

i feel i'm about the catch the wave of completion and ride it all the way to the shore.


i'm gearing up to write the last 15k words of my wip, and it's exciting, scary and nerve wracking all at the same time. i am still not exactly sure where my final word count will end up, and i checked my email records to see how many words my last manuscript was (47k, incidentally). 


now, it has been three years since i sent out queries for my last novel, and although my success rate was high for passing through the initial gate, i received rejections on all my partial and full submissions. looking through my past emails, i re-read this rejection:

I would love to see more from you. I thought TITLE REDACTED was a wonderful story. I think where it fell down was you left MAIN CHARACTER's point of view. You have a great voice and obvious talent... 

I really do mean it when I say I'd like to read more from you including MAIN CHARACTER's story if you put it in her pov. Either way I truly wish you great success in your literary career.

"wow." was my first thought. "how the heck did i miss this?"
i wondered if i was so consumed with the fact it was a rejection that i missed the part where the agent offered to give a second look at my manuscript providing i did a rewrite.
i know i'm not so prideful that i would refuse to change my novel if an agent asked. i've done it before (though still with the same result *rejection*) and would certainly do it again if i felt the changes were reasonable. and indeed, in retrospect, this agent's request was.


so why didn't i at least attempt a rewrite? and why did i have no memory of her liking my writing so much?


well, a little visit to the absolute write forums told me exactly why.
although this agent is/was not a scammer, she did not have any real sales to her credit. there were also more than a couple testimonials where writers shared their (not so great) experience with this agent.
and no, she did not manage to help these writers get any steps closer to being published.
it seems this agent no longer does business, and the handful of established writers she represented all ended their contracts with her.


honestly, i'm happy that three years ago i (apparently) did my homework, which is why i never followed up with this agent. i'm also happy that my vision wasn't so clouded by the stormy skies of rejection that i was blinded to a possible redo with an agent.


so now it's back to my wip.
before i start the big finish, i need to go back and read everything i've written thus far. and i guess while i'm there, i will make all those edits and changes i told myself i'd do once i'd finished the novel.
so yeah, there's a chance it will be a few more weeks before i start the conclusion, but at least everything else will be tight and polished, right?


right?!?

y YA?

i did not originally set out to write YA fiction. in fact, when i queried agents for my first novel, i targeted those who represented women's lit. somewhere along the submission process i realized what i'd actually written was a young adult novel. and that realization was comforting.

i've been reading since early childhood, but it wasn't until fourth grade that books really began to speak to me. i can remember so clearly sitting in a circle with my friends in the back of our classroom, taking turns reading aloud from are you there god? it's me, margaret - absolutely baffled as to why you'd have to wear a belt with a pad.
judy blume taught us what our mothers wouldn't about periods.
actually, judy taught us just about everything.


i eventually graduated from judy blume to francine pascal's sweet valley high series. and when i got sick of the formulaic plots (and having to read the same paragraph in each book about how jessica and elizabeth may look the same but couldn't be more different) i moved on to novels that dealt with meatier subject matter.
strangely enough, i quit reading YA books in high school. in fact, i didn't start reading them again until after i'd written my first three novels.
yup - i wrote three young adult novels without even being familiar with the genre. i had no clue about current trends, or the target audience. all i knew was how much i enjoyed reading about teenagers when i was a kid, and how perfectly natural if felt to write about them.

so, three finished YA novels and no representation.
turns out i was damn good at writing two paragraph synopses, because i had many, many requests for my manuscripts. but all those requests were followed by rejection letters.

after novel #3 i was burned out, and still i didn't read any YA (not even twilight!).
when i started my current wip, i was honest with myself. i knew this wasn't just a hobby for me. that this was what i really wanted to do with my life, and that meant i had to do my homework.
having a good idea isn't enough. neither is having a great idea. it has to be well-crafted and polished.

so now i actively read the genre.
now i can see the difference between a good story and good writing. and the more i read, the more i wish to improve my skills so i can move on to refining them. and the more i know that YA is right where i want to be.