tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82639259664038290322024-03-08T00:50:11.537-08:00Ready To Be ReadThe road to getting published for writers of fictionJulia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-90118091622766564132014-04-10T09:17:00.001-07:002015-06-16T03:50:41.760-07:00<b>Thanks</b> for having a look at my blog! I stopped writing it a while ago (when I got published), but I see there are some fine folk still passing on through, so if you haven't come across it and are interested in having a look or even grabbing a copy, here's the link to my<b> *#1 Amazon best-seller* book ($2.99 or £3.59)</b>:<br />
<br />
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">US - <a href="http://amzn.com/B00GVG5NGI">http://amzn.com/B00GVG5NGI</a></span></span><a href="http://amzn.com/B00GVG5NGI"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;">UK - <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a></span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<br />
If you are interested enough to actually read it, I would be extremely grateful if you could write an honest line or two as a review on Amazon and Goodreads!<br />
<br />
Here's my <b>Goodreads </b>page, on which I'm going to be blogging more, my <b>website</b> address, and <b>twitter</b> handle.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18825144-if-everyone-knew-every-plant-and-tree">http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18825144-if-everyone-knew-every-plant-and-tree</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.juliajohnston.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.juliajohnston.co.uk</span></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/ajuliajohnston" target="_blank">@AJuliaJohnston</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-62838977111283614162013-07-25T08:10:00.000-07:002014-06-08T23:35:06.276-07:00<h2>
<i>If Everyone Knew Every Plant And Tree</i> to be published...</h2>
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Dazed and confused by the keen interest/not-interested-at-all-any-more attention from two lovely successful literary agents, I went and won a competition, the prize for which was to have my book published! Couldn't believe it. The opening of the email which flashed up was, 'Congratulations!' I took it to be an annoying lie, finger thus poised to delete, when I realised it was a bone fide good news missive. Result.<br />
<br />
The competition was judged by the editor of Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, Alysoun Owen, so, thrilled was I indeed.<br />
<br />
My first novel, <i>If Everyone Knew Every Plant And Tree, </i>is to be published by Createspace, owned by Amazon, and the prize package (sounds like a bull's bits in tight trunks) includes professional cover design, edit, some marketing etc.<br />
<br />
It will be on sale via Amazon and through American bookshops as a paperback within a month, and will be available on Kindle three weeks after that.<br />
<br />
A bit weird that my book will suddenly be buyable in the US, but not here... My hope is that, if it does well, there might be a possibility of being picked up by a British publisher; some refer to Amazon as the 'annotated slushpile'. In the meantime, at least it can be read by anyone interested.<br />
<br />
I am utterly aware of the unrelationship between bookshops and Amazon, but it still surprised me that my local (award-winning) bookshop in Falmouth is less than keen to sell it there. I had thought the whole 'local writer wins international competition to have book published' angle might swing it for me, since it sits comfortably with other news items from the area such as, 'man sets fire to tree stump', but it seems, not. Publishing through Createspace is classed as self-publishing anyway so I reckon they ought to let little old me have me book displayed in the window/back shelf/toilet. Makes me feel like I still won't be classed as a proper author, book in hand and all. I am not for the demise of book shops in any shape or form and my book might have even dragged a few more punters through the door, but, hey, I no make de rules...<br />
<br />
And as for securing a literary agent... it's on hold for the time being while I bask in the certainty that at least one respected writing person has endorsed my book (yes-- I can finally say 'book' without feeling like a fraud!) <br />
<br />
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-41633830636720865632013-05-15T11:06:00.000-07:002014-06-08T23:42:54.159-07:00<h2>
Coming soon to a screen near you...!</h2>
<h2>
A proper website/blog with video and everything, like!</h2>
<h2>
All this and more in November 2013.</h2>
<div>
Update -<br />
<br />
Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (grab a copy for just £2.99!)</b>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a><br />
<br />
If you are interested enough to actually read it, I would be extremely grateful if you could write an honest line or two as a review on Amazon and Goodreads!<br />
<br />
And here's my <b>Goodreads </b>page, on which I'm going to be blogging more, my <b>website</b> address, and <b>twitter</b> handle.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18825144-if-everyone-knew-every-plant-and-tree">http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18825144-if-everyone-knew-every-plant-and-tree</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.juliajohnston.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.juliajohnston.co.uk</span></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://twitter.com/ajuliajohnston" target="_blank">@AJuliaJohnston</a><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
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</div>
<h2>
</h2>
Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-57459900634602356232013-05-15T11:00:00.001-07:002014-06-08T23:41:00.460-07:00<style>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rewrite
for Literary Agent </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(following
requests for manuscript!)</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yipsville! After
a few more submission rejections (the Felicity Bryan one being printed without
even addressing me by name, on a ‘compliment’ slip—ha!), more requests for the
whole shebang! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two more
literary agents were interested enough to want to read the full MS of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If Everyone Knew Every Plant and Tree</i>
so, up I chugged on the confidence roller coaster. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I found myself
in the peculiar and lucky position of two agents giving both positive feedback
and much valued suggestions for changes at the same time. Huge learning leap: assessing which content I was attached to
versus content I’d be willing to revise/let go and coming to terms with the
realisation that some of the advice was conflicting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Agent numero uno
questioned the inclusion of a ‘horticultural’ theme: ‘With the objective of
Oliver being relatable to the target audience, I’m afraid I did question his
interest in horticulture.’ She advised me that her problem was that we don’t
actually see that much of it going on. She did say, ‘I know the horticulture
element gives you this brilliant title, but I’m afraid I do worry about it’.</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Arial;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Agent numero due
had suggested I add in more gardening scenes, so that seemed to be a
consensus—make sure this theme runs throughout. Wonderful to have two excellent
literary agents offering similar suggestions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Uno asked that I
work exclusively with her—‘If you want to revise the novel along the lines I
have suggested, then, I might suggest you pull it from other agents now.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">She assured me
that, although there was no guarantee of being taken on, it meant she was ‘very
interested.’ She hoped I understood and explained that there were novels with
her title and her opening line out there, for which she was given no credit as
the writer had gone with another agent. I agreed to put on hold any
communications with other agents and take some time to make revisions, after
which she would decide the next move. Exciting times, full of promise... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I rocked back
and forwards for weeks, assimilating her notes, mulling it all over, planning
mentally how to implement changes. Some were smallish like the proposal for the
MC to show anger derived from his ill little sister getting so much attention. One
of them was a pretty big ask—to change the age of the protagonist from twelve
to fifteen, which was hilarious because (whether she believed me or not I don’t
know) I had already changed him from fifteen to twelve, following the advice of
another professional! I more or less took on board everything she suggested,
but asked, ‘Now that I'm making Oliver fifteen again, would it be okay with
you, in the first instance, if I kept the horticultural angle?’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rewrite was
no mean feat. Changing the age of any character affects everything: language,
predilections, relationships, emotions etc. You have to more or less start
again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After several
weeks tackling the editing, I sent it, with racing heart, to Uno. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two months
later, I heard back.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">She said she had
read half of it, and didn’t think it was, ‘working quite right.’</span><span style="color: navy; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
had been so dying for her to read the new version. I can't pretend I wasn't upset that there was
not one positive comment in her rejection email, though she did thank me and apologise
for giving me bad news. Almost six months had elapsed between my initial
submission and the email turning me down. And I don’t imagine that’s out of the
ordinary. Of the three sentences she wrote in the body of the email, one of
them was, ‘I’m afraid I still don’t really think the horticulture aspect is going to be interesting enough to
the audience, also, I’m afraid I found Joe a bit whingey in this version.’ Oh
yeah, I forgot to mention that she’d recommended I ditch the MC’s name as she
thought Oliver/Ollie was too middle class. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I truly do
appreciate the job of literary agents, though, and I am most grateful for the time and valuable advice form Uno. And I do quite get that rejecting writers,
even ones with whom they’ve helped to make changes, is par for the course. But
my troubled main character, whom I’d grown to know and care
about over the years, she casually described as ‘whingey’... Ouch of ouches. Say it as it is, I suppose. Thick skin needed. I desperately hope he's not whingey, but I have to accept that a person who absolutely knows what they're talking about deemed him to be, so there's bound to be some truth in it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’d say I was a
pretty tough person who certainly doesn’t expect to be treated with kid gloves,
but, if I were an agent, after a six-month bout of communication with a writer,
I would hope I would not add insult to injury, especially at the byebye stage,
by slagging off the MC (see how personally I took it—well, after all it’s ME
really she’s slagging off, since I wrote the bloody thing. Oooh, there’s me
whingeing now!). I just wonder how she thought (if she thought) I’d react to that—give up maybe?
I very nearly did. She managed to get to my soft bit inside that got all
squidged up and stabbed and the roller coaster more or less buckled and flung
me into nettle world. But again, I do (half) get it. And that experience pushed me to 'grow' as a writer in a commercial world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Enter Agent Due,
stage left. No, she didn’t snap me up, but wrote a candid and caring email. I agonised over why I hadn’t found myself able to drop the plant/flower/tree theme,
telling myself that perhaps that was the true reason Uno hadn’t taken me on and please God I wasn't being precious about it, was I??
But probably, I decided, it <i>was</i> my reluctance to play ball, Uno-style, that I wasn't signed up. After all, she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">had</i> said, ‘…if you
want to revise the novel along the lines I have suggested...’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">What Due wrote
is, I hope, enlightening for any would-be-author at the stage of working alongside a
literary agent.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Dear Julia</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">I think with changes you have to remember that this is your book – if
something feels wrong, don’t think that just because someone else suggests
something that it’s automatically right; we’re just another opinion (hopefully
informed by the market, but ultimately still just a person with personal
tastes). Books about children dealing with [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">themes</i>]
are out there so you need to make yours stand out – the most convincing way to
do this is the voice of the main character through your writing, and if Oliver’s
plant and tree interest gives him something unique then my advice would be to
keep it.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">All best</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Agent Due</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Anyway, I do truly appreciate the invaluable assessment and suggestions from both the above agents. In effect, they spent precious time on my novel with no reward, so for that, I am grateful. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Would love to hear other stories of being led up the garden path only to
be flung into nettles. Fly farther off, wretched horticultural theme…</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;">!</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span>
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-1060752766568507332013-05-10T05:37:00.000-07:002014-06-08T23:39:39.636-07:00<style>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Encouraging words from
literary agents... sent to tickle us </span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Conflicting words from literary agents... sent to prickle us</span></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<div style="text-align: start;">
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
I said, it weren’t all bad, the literary agents’ responses to my <i>If Everyone Knew Every Plant and Tree </i>submissions
(first three chaps, synopsis, and letter). And, in case you don’t know, the
agencies mentioned here, in previous posts, and subsequent ones, are top well-respected,
well-established British literary agencies. Contrary to former musings, I’m not
gonna lay out agents’ comments anonymously, coz there’s no point. After all,
none of them wrote anything scurrilous like, ‘You’re shit; get a life’
(wouldn’t have wasted a semi-colon on me) or, ‘You’ll amount to nothing…
except perhaps a notch on my bedpost – fancy a drink some time?' I just hope the
comments will be of interest to would-be-published authors.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Aitken
Alexander agency gave positive feedback: </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘We really liked the imagination that went into your story
– the emotion library in particular – but unfortunately, we don’t feel able to
represent you.’</span></span></div>
<span style="color: blue;">
</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
seems that so commonplace is it to receive standard, computer generated
rejection responses, that such comments are to be treasured – actual personally
directed words, from an actual pen. Anything written individually to you about
your own individual work, should be taken as encouragement, as an agent
wouldn’t bother to take the time to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>convey these sentiments unless they thought there existed
some promise… I believe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Darley
Anderson sent even more actual words from an actual pen, providing a boost to
the ol’ rollercoaster confidence<span style="color: #3366ff;">: </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">‘While your book is not commercial enough for our agency, I do
hope another agent will take it on. I thought Oliver was a likeable and unusual
character. As the mum of a [young] girl, I found the hospital scenes rather
harrowing. You write well and I wish you luck in finding an agent.’</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
this last one, you see, call me deluded, but I detect a sort of, “I wish it
wasn’t all about money because I reckon lots of folk would enjoy your novel…
just not enough to make us a reasonable amount of dosh and, like it or lump it,
that’s the game we’re in.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>‘Commercial enough’ means ‘enough like other books which have already
made money.’ To me, there’s even a soupçon of guilt<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(delusions of grandeur now?) – ‘I do hope another agent will
take you on… I wish you luck in finding an agent.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the words truly ‘mean’, the Darley Anderson agent gave
me hope and an iota of belief that maybe I had something and I’m grateful for
that. And of course, I very much get that agents need to sell a product and if
they can’t perceive an obvious ‘hook’,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>they won’t have much chance of selling it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In
relation to the first Aitken Alexander quote, it may be of import to a few
that another highly regarded literary professional had the opposite opinion: ‘I
think the Emotion Library theme doesn’t work. I really don’t. Thing is, O is
very capable of explaining his feelings, and he really doesn’t need this
concept. As I say, it was a sweet idea but it’s not strong enough for the
amount of air-space it gets.’</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For
what it’s worth, the emotion library gets very little airspace in my view, and
appears in the prologue as an example of Oliver’s quirky cogitations. Nevertheless, I accepted the criticism and agonised over whether to ditch the idea or even
the entire prologue. People seem to view prologues like weeds – inherently bad
and in need of exterminating without a second thought. I don’t agree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If Everyone Knew Every Plant and Tree </i>is
written in the first person, I found the prologue a useful tool: Ollie could
speak directly to the reader who, with any luck, would gain an early insight
into who he was before the story began and learn of upcoming characters and conflicts.<br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another
instance of two experienced and discerning professionals offering conflicting
advice was indeed re the prologue. </span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One suggestion was,</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma;">‘</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">The beginning –
it’s weak.</span></b><span style="color: red;"> </span><span style="color: red; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I don’t think your prologue works.
Why not just start right in at Chapter 1? I know you are setting the scene and
voice but you do too much scene-setting and digression into whimsy.’</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma;">This contrasts thoroughly
with the words<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">,</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red; font-family: Tahoma;">‘I have to say
that I love the prologue. Short, pithy. The way it introduces four
main characters in just a few short lines is great and it promises humour and
intrigue.’</span><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Again,
for what it’s worth and at the risk of sounding narkily defensive, the MC is indeed
whimsical and I wanted to show this. Yet I accept the validity of the comment. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As
a writer receiving eagerly awaited feedback, you have to look inside yourself
and decide which suggestions reflect intrinsic flaws in the work, and which are
down to personal predilections. More importantly, you must decide, in your
heart, which aspects of the work you are attached to and will not part with, and
which you don’t feel that strongly about. These editing decisions are weighty, as their outcome could be the difference between gaining an agent or not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It
gets to be a real mine field, deciding which advice to take and which to ignore
(more of that in the next post…).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Anyone
else have examples of tantalisingly positive comments in the form of a
rejection? Or conflicting advice from agents and the like?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
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Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-64808039155834314032013-01-29T11:05:00.000-08:002014-06-08T23:39:14.114-07:00<style>
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<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
<b>Literary Agents and a wee sample of my writing from 'If Everyone Knew Every Plant and Tree'</b></h2>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sooooo</span></span>, </span>as the Americans start sentences—I was on about<span style="color: orange;">
literary agents</span> and publishers and that...<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: red;">Just </span></b>after I’d sent my novel off to the first few agents,
the very talented and mucha intelligenta <span style="background-color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: blue;">Nicola Morgan</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> (</span>author of ninety books
and avid blogger/tweeter ) critiqued my novel. It was a wonderfully useful and
highly recommended exercise, though when I first read her notes, I felt like
giving up. To my amazement, she initially said,<span style="color: midnightblue;">
</span>‘I<span style="color: midnightblue;"> </span>was<span style="color: midnightblue;">
</span>really taken by the original and clever voice and very competent writing.
I was actually quite blown away.’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But... you have to sustain the voice and the readers’
interest, and she questioned (somewhat firmly) whether I had managed that.
Well, cards on table, she didn’t think I’d managed it at all. It’s vital to
develop a thick skin at this point as it’s givvy-uppy time. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">Her</span> </b>detailed analysis was like a mini course in creative
writing, so there was a lot to take in/take on. After bolstering my self-esteem
with a few black Russians (of the cocktail kind, you understand—vodka, kahlua
& coke) and squeezing my head over how I’d tackle a rewrite, I got down to
business after a week or so and edited away. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: red;">Before </span></b>I had been sent the critique from Nicola, I had a request for the full
manuscript from <span style="color: orange;">David Higham </span>Associates, so I was able to incorporate some of
the suggestions before I sent it out. They didn’t take me on, more or less
echoing what Nicola had said—that the initial sample was ‘very promising’ and
that they were interested, but I hadn’t sustained the voice well enough or kept
up the pace. Dem and blarst. BUT, I had only incorporated a fraction of the proposed
amendments at that point. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">Of</span> </b>the thirteen submissions I sent out, mostly over a six-month
period, I was asked for the full manuscript from four different agencies. Apart
from these, I experienced the full gamut of responses. <span style="color: orange;">Mulcahy Conway</span> took over
a year to get back to me as I waited on tenterhooks for their response: ‘Sorry
for the delay—another Johnston confused the two submissions.’ Ah, right, nee
probs, ta very much. And <span style="color: orange;">Eve White</span> won the prize for the speediest reply, which
was an automatic email rejection. I had hardly stepped away from the computer
screen when their email yanked me back and socked me one. Whoa, ouch, okay
then, cheers. It did say, <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"I do assure you that we have considered your work carefully," so maybe the agency is just super efficient.</span></span> All part ut game. Actually… I shouldn’t count that one, should I?
Sooooo, I sent twelve submissions out, not unlucky thirteen. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: red;">Will</span> </b>tell more riveting rejection tales in the next
instalment, but for the moment, why don’t I let you read a snippet for
yourgoodselves?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If Everyone Knew Every Plant And Tree</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Julia
Johnston</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Excerpt from <span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chapter six, 'Saved by Lily</span>' </b>Main <span style="font-size: small;">char<span style="font-size: small;">acter</span></span> fourteen<span style="font-size: small;">-</span>ye<span style="font-size: small;">ar</span>-old Oliver Campbell<span style="font-size: small;"> is fretful;<span style="font-size: small;"> his little sister, Lily, is ill in hospital and now hi<span style="font-size: small;">s older</span></span> brother, Nathan, has gone missing. <span style="font-size: small;">Ollie and his best fr<span style="font-size: small;">iend, Kamal,<span style="font-size: small;"> plot the next move..<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></span></span><b><br /></b></span><br />
<br />
‘Dead Man Walking’ appeared from nowhere
looking grey and severe, his murky fish-eyes trained on us.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
“You’re
late for assembly. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thought </i>I’d scoop
up some deadwood out here. Always some dozy floaters lurking round reception.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
He
managed to say all this without moving his mouth. He was an experiment gone
horribly wrong: a ventriloquist’s dummy crossed with a serial killer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
“Hop
it!” he shrieked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
We
ran to the hall, which was only about ten seconds away. We were just taking our
seats on the ‘late row’ at the back of the hall, when assembly began. It was
exciting in a way, going to the latecomers’ row. I would say it’s actually the
best place to sit. You had to sneak in through a door at the top of the slopey
seat section—raked seating, it’s called—so you were at the back, higher up than
anyone else. It was definitely a top spot for spying. Once sitting down, I was
completely distracted by this sea of fidgeting in front of me. I went to a play
with school once where they had binoculars behind every chair. Well that
wouldn’t be a bad idea in schools, for when you’re not interested in the assembly,
which is about 99.9 per cent of the time. I had just spotted Bill Owusu rolling
a cigarette two rows in front of me, when the proceedings kicked off. Usually
all the teachers sat on chairs on the stage, but Thursday was ‘performance
assembly’, so we had some sort of show or short play or something to look
forward to (not).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
Kamal
nudged me and pointed out Poppy. The boy to her right whispered something and
she turned, slow motion, towards him, her hair snaking round. Her fringe was in
her eyes, brushing her eyelashes that were caked up with thick black gunge and
it sounds rude but her upturned nose reminded me of a pig just then, or, I suppose
a piglet. Not that she wasn’t pretty, by the way. I wanted her to continue
turning her head so that her gaze would fall on me and she’d wave, as if she
somehow knew where I was, but all that happened was she shoved the boy’s
shoulder and turned back to the front.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
My
attention shifted to ‘Dead Man Walking’, who had spookily materialised on the
stage, even though we’d just seen him in reception. His real name was Dr Spark,
deputy head and Chemistry teacher, nickname chosen because he never changed his
facial expression from one of gloom. My dad told me he wasn’t a medical doctor
(thank God—he’d probably end up poisoning his patients), but one with a PHD. To
become one, I think you’ve got to learn a heap of stuff about one massively
particular area, like ‘How an Ant carries a Crumb’ or, ‘The Use of the Word
‘the’ in the Works of Shakespeare’ and write a humongously long essay-type
thing about it. He stood in front of the microphone-stand and started, </div>
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“Notices
first: </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Tonight’s Year Nine Girls’ hockey match
cancelled</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[I
hadn’t rung Mum! She was going to be sick with worry.]</div>
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</span></span></span>First Eleven Football Team lost thirteen-nil</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[Should
I pretend I’d seen Nathan? No, stupid. Bonkers idea.]</div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>says here ‘Danielle Bell who left last year has
given birth to triplets — Chanelle, Sherelle and Rochelle. There’s a card to
sign in the sixth form common room. Only sixth-formers to sign.’ I don’t want
to see anyone else hanging about over there. You’ve been warned. </div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[Should
I go looking for Nathan? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He</i> would
have come looking for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">me</i>.]</div>
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</span></span></span>from now on, anyone caught smoking behind the
bike shed will report immediately to the headteacher, Mr Hickey. </div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[Yes,
I would bunk off school and go looking for Nathan. He couldn’t have gone far,
but he did have that naïve side to him. What if some weirdo had lured him off
somewhere?]</div>
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Now
all eyes to the front to watch a number from Year Ten’s new show, ‘Killer’. I
said all eyes to the front! ”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>[Oh
my God, he could be dead. My Mum and Dad would lose it completely!]</div>
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“What
an inspiration this man is!” said Kamal. “I wonder what his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">second </i>choice of job would have been?
Someone high up in chemical warfare maybe?”</div>
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I
just wanted to leave immediately, but I had to sit through this whacky show
that I didn’t get whatsoever. I would ring Sam. He was always ultra sensible in
panic situations.</div>
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I
wasn’t in the mood for Kamal’s banter:</div>
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“Lucy
Pool’s got socks down her bra! It’s a dead cert. Look at—”</div>
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“Shush
for once, will you?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
“Ooh!
What’s up with you today? Sorry, I know. Look, he won’t have gone far. Probably
at Manchester skate park.”</div>
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He
was right. Kamal always sussed things out really quickly. </div>
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When
Mr Hickey got up afterwards, praising Year Ten’s efforts and gushing how proud
he was of them, I wondered if he’d seen a different show. At least he was a
positive kind of person, I suppose. </div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to text Mum and Dad. That way, one
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">them </i>could go looking for Nathan
too. As we walked out of assembly, I told Kamal what I thought. He said,</div>
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“Yes
of course we’ll leave school together. Better that more of us are looking,
Olvo.” <br />
<br />
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[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<div style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
</div>
Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-58597385103283812282013-01-14T05:44:00.000-08:002014-06-08T23:38:40.860-07:00Submitting to a Literary Agent<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]<br />
<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: magenta;"><span style="background-color: white;">I</span><span style="color: black;">n</span></span> this new era of ‘Do you really need a publisher?’ and ‘Is it really worth securing a literary agent?’ where do I stand? That was a rhetorical question by the way. Do I personally actually have a personal actual literary agent yet? Am I, by some miracle of fate, properly traditionally published now by a proper traditional publishing house?<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">C</span>all it a hunch, but I think my blog posts, at a stretch, could feasibly be considered a tad gappy. So, here I am, fully present, trying, from now, to be more regular, commas and all: tabula rasa, fresh start, square one and all that. I even plan to start tweeting (“Big deal,” I hear you say. Well I’m going to do it anyway, you know short pithy laugh-out-loud soundbites type stuff.) Watch this space…<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">N</span>ow then, down to business… I have, since the commencement of this blog, which, let’s face it, does claim to be ‘ready to be read’, sent out my work to some literary agents. I will be quoting (anonymously) the broad range of responses I received, so you know what to expect if you’re about to embark on the road to publication.
I learnt that mostly, you cannot approach a publisher directly, and that only a literary agent can recommend your novel to a publisher. I dutifully bought the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook and the Writers’ Handbook. Then, together with t’internet, I compiled a list of agents I might approach. It’s important to research literary agents so you know their background and the type of person they are but, crucially, the sort of manuscripts and writers they take on and ultimately, novels they've taken on which they have subsequently been published.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">W</span>hen you have selected a handful (or two) of agents to approach, you must send a covering letter, a one-page synopsis, and a sample of your work (usually the first three chapters). Would-be published authors know all this as it’s squirted in our eyes from all directions, as is the assertion that we should expect nowt. Every book and website and blog you read tells you to look forward to a nice little pile of politely-worded rejection letters, but you gotta cling onto some hope innit? So you post or email your submissions to carefully selected, gorgeous, hugely discerning literary agents. Then you wait… and wait… and wait…
And just when you’ve convinced yourself that you weren’t even worth the time or effort to be formally rejected, you start hearing back.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">I</span>n the end I received a reply from all those I’d approached (two took over A YEAR to reply). It’s a bit of a catch 22 as agents do not like you to make multiple submissions but they are so busy, they don’t have time to read yours for months. But at least it weren’t all bad news… update in next blog post.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">I</span> will finally live up to my blog name and post a wee sample of my novel very soon too…<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">M</span>y lovely and clever Mslexia diary includes a section called ‘Submissions Diary’, to facilitate keeping track of everything you send in; column headings are ‘what’, ‘where to’, ‘when’ sent and returned, ‘feedback’ and (the touchingly optimistic) ‘payment’. The diary includes supportive messages, reading suggestions and… wait for it… a menstrual calendar which charts cycles of the moon! Ooooh. It’s been fascinating to observe the two interweaving – ‘Ah that’s why I feel even weirder than usual today.’<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">I </span>recommend www.mslexia.co.uk
Here’s an extract from their website, so you know what you can expect from Mslexia…
‘Welcome to the website for Mslexia, the magazine for women who write. Mslexia is an independent publishing company that provides information and (we hope) inspiration for published and unpublished women in the UK and beyond. In addition to our quarterly magazine and Writer’s Diary, Mslexia runs workshops and events, and a series of high-profile competitions for poets, novelists and short-story writers.
We welcome submissions for every part of the magazine (apart from the Editor’s letter). Explore the website to submit to the magazine, enter our competitions, sample past and current issues – and generally join in with the Mslexia conversation. We look forward to hearing from you.’<br />
<br />
<span style="color: magenta;">Be back soon </span>(a promise and a command… please, then)
<br />
<br />
<div>
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-27840876539525131062010-05-20T06:28:00.001-07:002014-06-08T23:37:08.812-07:00 <link href="file://localhost/Users/joolzj/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link> <style>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;">How Not To Write A Novel</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: magenta; font-size: x-large;">I</span><span style="color: magenta;"> </span>recently read a book called, '<b><span style="color: lime;"></span></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #6aa84f; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>How Not To Write A Novel</b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="background-color: white;">' </span>by <i>Sandra Newman</i> and <i>Howard Mittelmark</i>. It is a jocular jaunt into the fundamentals of writing a worst-seller, a useless yarn, a stinking story (can’t remember if they mention over-use of alliteration). It proved both helpful and hilarious, but potentially heart-sinking too for the would-be novelist. They take perverse delight in concocting passages of the kind they have to read, to exemplify their warnings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though it feels a tad superior and verges on malicious, I would recommend this book to, well, anyone really, but specifically those engaged in the unholy endeavour of writing a novel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: magenta;">H</span></span>owever, I would welcome comments on a point made in the book. My mother always said, “Nothing’s ever totally wrong or totally right. Never follow anything blindly. Always question.” Which is handy — I can blame her for this show of self-defence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The fact that the book is subtitled, <span style="color: #6aa84f;">‘</span><b style="color: #6aa84f;">200 Mistakes To Avoid At All Costs If You Ever Want To Get Published</b><span style="color: #6aa84f;">’</span> is a hint that religiously following its suggestions might be a tall order. In my novel or whatever it is, the protagonist describes a dream, but the book ‘says’ (cf ‘Mr Del Monte, he say…’), <span style="color: red;">‘A good approach is to allow one dream per novel. Then, in the final revision, go back and get rid of that, too.’</span> (Don’t agree with that last comma, by the way!) Hmmm. What do you think? I did actually go back and change the dream into a day-dream, but I’m not sure. My mother’s words still incite head-scratching over it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: magenta;">E</span></span>xamples of good books with dreams in them, please, anyone?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
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Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-86956878817824890912010-05-15T00:50:00.000-07:002014-06-08T23:36:41.863-07:00<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="color: orange; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;">Which Doors to Knock on? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"> (Okay, or, On Which Doors to Knock?)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span>
<div style="font-family: Times;">
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<div style="font-family: Times;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
</div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">I<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">think it’s about which doors you knock on… and who answers them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I have a novel. I’ve written one. But I don’t know if it is one. It exists only for me — whatever it is.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">S</span></span>oon, it will have to be read. </span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I’m going through it for a third time with a fine-tooth comb…and a spade…and a shovel. But I don't know how sharp my tools are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Which </span>doors to knock on? <span style="color: red;">Who </span>will answer them? </span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">D</span>oes anyone remember <i>‘Knocky Nine Doors’</i>? — Knocking on strangers’ doors and running away? If you were really brave, you could spy on the door-openers from behind a hedge or a car. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-size: large;">K</span>nock Knock.</span></span> A middle-aged man would put down his can, press pause and press his spread out of his chair (his own special chair). He’d tuck his work-shirt that he couldn’t be bothered to change out of into his straining trousers, to look respectable, decent. To look like he wasn’t someone who spent his evenings watching TV, drinking lager. It could be a neighbour or a police officer or a politician. He’d appear at the threshold, ready, always ready...Nobody. Been made a fool of. The tucking pointless now. He could go back to his pointedly pointless evening. No, he wouldn’t leave it at that, couldn’t face that; he’d step out of the house. He’d saunter up to the gate, rest his hands on his belt and look both ways. He’d swivel round and check the roof — he wasn’t daft. On his way back to the door: “Morons”.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">K</span><span style="color: orange;">nock knock.</span> A bathing mother would force her teenage son out of his bedroom trance, shouting for him to get the door. He’d put down his phone, press pause and roll himself off his sofa which his mum had got for him but really for her. He’d slide down the staircase and skid to the front door. He’d run his hand through his hair to make it look even messier. To look like he wasn’t someone who sat at a desk doing homework. It could be a girl or a girl or a girl… Nobody. Just another irritating event in an already totally annoying life. He’d take a perfunctory glance up the street (up but not down) and as he pushed the door closed: “Mental”.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">K</span><span style="color: orange;">nock knock.</span> An old lady would rattle her china cup onto its saucer, place her magazine on the side-table and rock herself out of her armchair. She’d slipper-shuffle her way to the front door, thrilled at her luck; not only had she a brew on the go and fresh slices of (packet) ginger cake, she was wearing her pearls (she always wore them on her mother’s birthday). A mug or a cup? It would depend on who it was. Rare excitement. She’d straighten her blouse, to show she was smart and content. It could be a social worker or the priest or Stan… Nobody. She’d hold the frame of the door and call out in case she’d missed the visitor. She’d wait too long before closing the door and, as she'd shuffle back to her tepid tea… “Mammy”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: orange;">D</span></span>isappointment. You’ve got to expect it. But just maybe when you expect it most — surprise. Or even when you expect it least… No pattern. I’ll have to knock on some doors soon. Not Mr Del Monte’s. And I’ll have to leave my baby (did I say baby?), sorry, manuscript on the doorstep. Can’t hang about to explain what I meant, what I want to say. Can’t meet their eyes and channel everything through a face — say with one look, “Would you like to know him? It’s all in here. You can read him in here.” Just the manuscript. Just words. Poor little words on their own, cowering and desperate. Yet, I think, bold and well-armoured too. Drawn, and saved in cyber caves too numerous to be sought and carved out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: orange; font-size: large;">S</span>o it matters not whether a printed copy finds a gruesome end. It’ll foil its destroyer by surviving in a bottom drawer, on a hard drive, on a memory stick, on a time-machine, in a cave.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Do I detect a smidgen of defensiveness here...? How do you ward against this? Should you? To what end, pre-empting rotten-tomato fallout?</span><br />
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[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
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Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263925966403829032.post-30234225233107823522010-05-11T04:58:00.000-07:002014-06-08T23:36:13.197-07:00 <link href="file://localhost/Users/joolzj/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0/clip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link> <style>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 28pt;">How to be<span style="color: red;"> ready </span>to be<span style="color: red;"> read</span></span></b><br />
[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 24pt;">H</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">anding in a test paper — to be scrutinised by an examiner — that is unfinished. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Never again, the experience of bitter humiliating distress, like a bucket of putrid water to the face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Time’s up. Put your pens down.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 24pt;">T</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">here’s no one wrenching our manuscripts from our hands or pointing manically at their watch. We have the luxury of time. But we need to be finished before submitting our work to an agent or a publisher or a literary consultant or even a friend. <b>How do we know if the book is finished, though<span style="color: red;">…ready </span>to be<span style="color: red;"> read?<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 24pt;">I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">’ve been drudging through dunes of books and articles and websites and blogs, longing to reach the sea, the space, the smile — longing to feel finished. If you’re tough on yourself, it’s tough to gauge how near you are to the ‘end’, the sea. We know, once there, we will be tossed by the billows, but we would do well to arrive with a decent batch of equipment: a boat, an anchor, a sail…a life jacket…a whistle…a flare. Right, enough of that sea malarkey — we need to ensure our work is as good as it can be, which means arduously going over and editing what we’ve written. Then, someone may read it. If they read the whole thing, and they criticise every aspect of it, we are <i>not </i>going to say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<b><span style="color: #9bbb59;">Well, yes, I mean, I knew that really. I meant to change that bit…add something else in there…get rid of that section. Yes and of course I wasn’t at all sure about the title, and yeah I’ve really gone off the name of the main character and I was going to make him quite a bit nicer, to be honest. I don’t like him much either I suppose. And well, I’m not stupid; I knew there were tons of piddly little mistakes, but the editor’s supposed to sort them out. I mean I’m not going to clean my house before the cleaner comes, am I? Duh?!</span></b>” </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">(Come to think of it, I know people who do exactly that.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 24pt;">S</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">o we should alter, omit, insert, wherever it seems appropriate to us. Others won’t agree with our alterations, omissions and insertions, but we have to make those decisions. And it doesn’t matter if we’re not sure, as long as we have a good reason for them. We should not be too sure though, as we’ll be over-defensive when we’re told they’re all wrong! If it’s suggested our decisions have been rubbish, we <b><i>are</i></b> going to say,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<b><i><span style="color: #9bbb59;">Ah, okay. Thanks for that. That’s a good point. Yeah, that sounds better. No, that doesn’t sound right. I agree, ‘Rona’ instead of ‘Rhoda’; that would work well. Rona Booke, not Rhoda Booke. And, sure, I did like my title for the book on Rhoda’s…sorry Rona’s trawl of public toilets, ‘To Pee or Not to Pee’, but I like yours too — ‘Britain’s Bogs – The Best and Worst of Public Toilets’.</span>”<span style="color: #9bbb59;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "Brush Script MT"; font-size: 24pt;">I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> mentioned books, articles, websites and blogs, so here follows a recommendation for each:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: green; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Book</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> - <u>Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook</u>, published by A&C Black (pretty much the bible of would-be authors)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: green; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Article</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> – actually a series of six monthly articles in <u>‘Writing Magazine’</u>, by Sophie King on the process of writing a novel, covering plotting, characterisation etc, starting in Jan 2010 edition (<a href="http://www.writingmagazine.co.uk/">www.writingmagazine.co.uk</a> and </span><a href="http://www.sophieking.info/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.sophieking.info</span></a><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">)</span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: green; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Website</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> – </span><a href="http://www.fictionfactor.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.fictionfactor.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (online magazine for fiction writers)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: green; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Blog</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> – excellent blog by Nicola Morgan, writer of 90 published books, teeming with useful advice, warnings and links, </span><a href="http://www.helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">www.helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">(My husband says this blog looks mental with all the colours and fonts. Maybe I’ll do summit different next time.)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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[Here's the link to my<b> *top ten Amazon best-seller* book (</b>grab a copy for just<b> £2.99!)</b>:</div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GVG5NGI</a>]</div>
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Julia Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02550905222945425282noreply@blogger.com6