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One of the agents who had my 50 pages got back to me.
Thanks for this info and the opening chapters. I admired your writing talent, although I don't think the book is marketable in the terms any of the large commercial publishers would require.
It's not really my place to offer literary criticism at this juncture (nor would I be able to devote sufficient time to describe my reservations in detail) but I did think the plot is too slow in developing, with almost too *much* character development. Your central 'hero' is so anti-heroic I think he would instantly alienate many if not most readers! And the novel takes an early turn towards what is practically hardcore pornography, which may please a proportion of your readership, but again I believe will alienate many others.
Sorry to be writing with disappointing news. As I said, I think you're a talented writer, and I'd be interested to see other new work from you in the future.
I don't know. Maybe he's pretty much 100% right, and I should put Mad World back in the drawer for now and focus on something else.
Like that romance that I hammered out 7500 words of yesterday.
Thanks for this info and the opening chapters. I admired your writing talent, although I don't think the book is marketable in the terms any of the large commercial publishers would require.
It's not really my place to offer literary criticism at this juncture (nor would I be able to devote sufficient time to describe my reservations in detail) but I did think the plot is too slow in developing, with almost too *much* character development. Your central 'hero' is so anti-heroic I think he would instantly alienate many if not most readers! And the novel takes an early turn towards what is practically hardcore pornography, which may please a proportion of your readership, but again I believe will alienate many others.
Sorry to be writing with disappointing news. As I said, I think you're a talented writer, and I'd be interested to see other new work from you in the future.
I don't know. Maybe he's pretty much 100% right, and I should put Mad World back in the drawer for now and focus on something else.
Like that romance that I hammered out 7500 words of yesterday.
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I think the beauty of the novel resides in the nature of the characters.
The sex is the way they comunicate, s mny other people.
Love your writting Pepper.
Laura, from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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So I'm offering unsolicited advice here ;)
To me it sounds like you submitted to the wrong agent.
Mad World is not a book for everyone. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a wonderful story, however it is not suited for all audiences and some people are going to hate it. For it subject material and its strong sexual content. Anyway... Back to the point.
I'm a Norwegian so I won’t pretend to know who's who in the American publishing world. However I would try to find an agent who was more into your style of writing.
Find books that resemble Mad World in subject material and sexual content and find out who was the agent for those writers. Check out the publishers of those books, maybe the accept submissions directly from writers.
You probably knew this... Anyway, Good Luck
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Ok, that is just the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Obviously this came from a man because a woman never even believe such a thing was possible. Also, the plot is not too slow in developing, he just doesn't realize what the plot is. He's looking at the investigation and the various other action-oriented aspects of the story as the main plot when really that's just context for the development of the relationship between Jason and Daisy. The stuff about the subject matter alienating a certain proportion of the potential readership, well, you knew that. Obviously this isn't a story everyone's going to be able to get into. But there certainly is a market for it, it's just not the mainstream market.
The main thing I would suggest is to go to female agents with this particular story. Most men just don't get that women do have a dark side and that we can enjoy violence and aggression just as much as a gentle romance.
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I think this is partially my fault. The query paragraph I sent him focused more on the plot he's looking for, and less on the "real" plot as it were. I think I will have to go back to the drawing board with the query and start from scratch, changing the focus and making it more about Jason and Daisy's relationship.
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I think he has some valid points, but I also think you need to find the right niche for this story and this guy isn't it.
Good luck!
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But don't be depressed. I think this is encouraging.
Plus, once we win the lottery and move to Italy it won't matter anymore! Mwahahaha
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I agree with the others that you're probably looking at a niche market, especially with the anti-hero.
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He's an ass....I would buy this book...as a matter of fact, I need something like this...I need a new obsession to read and dream and lust about...and I did with this.
I love your writing, your detail, and the character development. You are awesome! Don't let it get you down...maybe his parents had the same last name before getting married and therefore he has 6 toes and isn't very good at his job.
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Correction, this is a fucking great rejection letter.
Agents are busy people with more crap coming across their desk than most of us would believe possible (and I mean "crap" literally). That he would take the time to stop and write that is a signal that he did feel your work had merit. Yes, he doesn't feel he can take you on as a client on the basis of Mad World, but notice the last sentence: I'd be interested to see other new work from you in the future. If you write something that he feels is marketable, I think you might have a possible agent.
I know it's disappointing, but this is definitely not a "please never darken my door again," letter and those are very rare indeed. Certainly better than the one I once got that simply had boxes to check off.
Hey, if he handles "women's fiction," maybe he'd be a good market for that romance novel.
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this post is late... sorry