Old Dogs, New Tricks, Yadda Yadda
by Lynn Daniels on Thursday, February 2, 2006 at 7:04 am
There’s a new writing contest in progress at Romance Divas, the Best First Meeting contest. I didn’t enter this one, but it made me remember the one I did enter, and some of the important things I’d learned from it.
Back when the Best Opening Hooks contest was running, I blogged about what I was learning from my contest experience. And I learned a lot. Primarily that contests are not the “Be All, End All” in the world of writing. That good stories might not be good contest stories. That I shouldn’t take judges’ comments personally. And that I don’t write dreck (well, I don’t always write dreck). All important lessons. But there was one more lesson I learned — one I didn’t talk about in that post because it didn’t come until the final round.
I won’t always agree with what literary agents say.
This one came as something of a shock to me. The writer in me looks up to literary agents. They are the industry adult to my little girl, with more knowledge, experience, and know-how. And — it almost pains me to admit this — I find them a little intimidating.
So when I saw my final round scores, that particular world broke into a few big irregular and jagged hunks. It didn’t shatter into a million pieces because there’s still a large part of me who, upon seeing an agent at a conference, would think OMG, isn’t that…? Isn’t she…? She is! She’s ANNIE AGENT! I need her to like me. I must impress her. A little pathetic, but there ya go.
The rest of this post is not me slamming the agent who was generous enough to donate her time as the final round judge. From everything I’ve heard, she’s a wonderful agent. Knowledgeable about the industry. Good at what she does.
And it’s not sour grapes. I don’t feel like I was robbed or treated unfairly. I don’t think they were out to get me or the whole thing was fixed.
It’s simply my own observations. A discussion of what I’ve learned. And maybe, just a little bit, it’s me trying to pound my conclusion to this post into my head. Trying to fix it in my brain so that when I’m having one of those I suck days, I can look back on this as a voice of reason, reminding me that I have more good days than bad.
Anyway, back to the contest finals.
The score she gave my piece was less than wonderful — 27 out of 40 — but I wasn’t disappointed. Not at all. In fact, I was grateful for her input, and overall, she really had nice things to say about what I’d written. She even went so far as to say there was good skill and craft there.
However, one of her comments was that my opening sentence was too long, and she gave a suggestion for tightening it a bit to make it zing. Even though I was grateful for her input, I didn’t agree with the effect of her example. In fact, I thought her example sapped whatever zing already existed right out of it. Completely destroyed the rhythm of the opening.
I don’t presume I’m any kind of writing genius, and I’m certainly no expert, so it’s extremely possible I’m completely off base with my feelings about this. And my unpublished author status, as opposed to her well-respected literary agent status, would suggest that her way is the better one. But I’m stubborn (I know that my admission of stubborness is probably a shocking revelation :faint:), and I still prefer my opening to hers.
Does that make me insane?
Where this long-winded, tangent-filled post is going (and yes, we’re finally there!) is that one of the most important things I learned from this contest — important in my journey to publication — is that this is an agent I probably shouldn’t submit to. Despite my “skill and craft”, it seems that my writing style doesn’t speak to her. And that’s okay. Everybody has different styles, and different tastes, and my style isn’t to her taste.
Other writers have stressed the importance of finding an agent who’s a “perfect fit,” and now I can say I truly understand what they mean. It would be like me trying to stuff my size 7 foot into a size 5 sandal. Just ain’t gonna happen, no matter how hard I try.
(Of course I’m going to conclude this. It’s either that or I really do suck.)
Do you know what I’m going to do? No, it doesn’t include huddling in a dark corner and eating my hair. I’m going to keep writing. I’m going to do a lot of research before I submit to anybody. And the most enjoyable thing I’m going to do is …
I’m going to tell SoundGuy I just got smarter.
He’s gonna love that.
Comments
8 Responses to “Old Dogs, New Tricks, Yadda Yadda”
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I think you’ve got it, Lynn-san. It’s difficult, because there are people you *want* to work with…but they might not be for you. Cast your net wide.
Great insight, Lynn. We can’t please all the people, all the time. Ya know what? I bet that the agent who takes you on is going to LOVE your opening the way YOU wrote it
You make great points. And not every set of eyes - even “professional” ones - is going to agree when they look at a work. Stick with your gut when it tells you to ignore advice you don’t agree with.
I’m learning a lot about myself from the contest. I was really happy with a 55 I got, for about 30 seconds - then I thought, why did she/he give me that? It’s not that good. Especially after a few more grounding judges left comments (and lower scores), I can see some places that need some real work.
I entered the BFM not to win, but for the feedback. I’m feeling more anxious over the feedback I’m leaving than what I’m getting :???:
Karen - Sounds like you’ve got the right attitude. When I entered the BOH, I didn’t think I’d final. I did it for the feedback. To see what people other than my CPs might say about my work.
I haven’t started judging over at BFM yet — it’s on my list for this weekend.
Teresa - How does that saying go? You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time or something like that.
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Marty - Good advice. Or as they say in the South, Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
It’s “really that”, I think. I tried to read a best-seller last year, but never finished it. The story was fine, just didn’t fit my style.
Annalee - There’s a multi-published, highly revered author that I absolutely cannot read. I’m sure it’s a style thing, because I’ve seen others sing her praises, but she just doesn’t do it for me.