So this week has been filled with rejections. But the bad news was tempered with some good...the agent who had my full actually put some feedback in her response. FINALLY!
She said that she loved the story and that the period and setting really stood out from other run-of-the-mill historical romances. The reason she did not bite was the POV shifts. She was not a fan plus she felt that it might be a hard sell to publishers.
OK, I can handle that. At least I know that I'm creative and can write an enjoyable story. Now the question is should I revise the story to all third person? It would take a lot of work and I may have exhausted my querying for this particular story. The agent did not invite me to re-submit so that makes me wonder if there were other problems. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should I just put REBEL HEART to bed and work on my other novels? My other works are all third person so I might not have the same issue. Additionally, I'm getting some good initial feedback on REBELLION. I have an inkling (a very small one) that I may have hit upon something very good with that one. I've just got to focus on writing it! Which seems to be so very, very hard for me right now.
What do you think I should do, dear readers? Should I close the book (ha, ha) on this manuscript and move on or should I revise, rinse, and repeat?
What are the different POV shifts?
ReplyDeleteThis is great feedback!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and definitely stick with it. You've come too far.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rebecca!
ReplyDeleteStephsco, I used first person for my female character and third person for the two male protagonists. I know...kind of odd. I thought I pulled it off. But I guess not!
A story I was working on was multi-POV, and the advice I got from other writers was to find comparative work in YA. I had a lot of trouble finding ANY multi-POV in YA, and if I did it was 2 max (I had 3). I did find "Hold Me Closer, Necromancer" which has 3 POVs, but while I liked the book a lot, I found the shifts distracting because it wasn't consistent, like every other chapter. So I actually understand now why it might not be favored.
DeleteHowever that led to a lot of personal confusion for me on how to best tell the story. I ended up putting it aside to focus on a more straightforward story, and hope to someday go back!
I can see how your format could work, but maybe it's setting an extra challenge for yourself for agents to also buy into it. Some other questions posed to me were why I needed to tell the story from 3 POVs, and to choose whose was strongest. I was encouraged to pare down to two if I wanted it to be sellable; this was feedback from another writer, not an agent.
Good luck deciding. It's tough to determine what we need to stand up for and what might be worth altering for marketing purposes. Only you can decide!
I believe that's what they call a "good rejection"!
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is you should stick with what you have the most inspiration and energy for at the moment... if you are on a roll with Rebellion, go with it. But if your brain needs a break from that, start on your revisions for Rebel Heart.
It's great that you got some real feedback here, even though it was not entirely positive. My gut feeling is that the agent knows the industry, and that the switch of POV in your manuscript just might not sell. However, if you're rolling with your other manuscript, best to keep going with that. You can always come back to this one with fresh eyes in the future.
ReplyDeleteMy advice--just what I would do--is to shelf this for now. Not because it doesn't have potential (I've read it, it's a great story!) but because writing your next book will give you perspective on this one. Put Heart aside for now, delve into Rebellion, and when you've learned all you can from writing another piece, go back to Heart and see what you think. You might know *exactly* what to do with it...or you might not be as in love with it as you are now. You never know, but that's what distance is for :)
ReplyDeleteThat is certainly quality feedback. If I was in your shows, I would take a short break for now, and come back to it with fresh eyes in a month or two. It sounds like the story and the characters are ticking all the right boxes, which is great news.
ReplyDeleteNext time you're over at my blog, I've tagged you!
Go for the three 'R's. I'd kill to be in your position. So if you throw this one away, I'll be knocking on your door :P
ReplyDelete