The few readers of this site may know that I’ve been trying to get a book published since I was 18. The first book I tried with was the first draft of “Elseworld.” The first draft, looking back now, had lots of issues. There were lots of info dumps (still working on cutting those down), and too many characters and subplots.
I rewrote Elseworld multiple times, then started on a second book. Then a third, and now have six. The second, “The Garden of Abel” is now on the site. It is the shortest of my works, so I figured I could try to upload it here to see if it gets any traction. The length makes it a tougher sell for traditional publishers.
I recently rewrote my third book, the fourth needs a rewrite. The fifth is my favourite and the first 1,000 words of the sixth became my first published short story.
I’ve been able to get three more short stories and a poem published since, but these works were meant to serve another purpose. Doing short stories was an exercise to help my pacing, which was pointed out as a weakness by three different agents (who read parts of my book but declined taking it on).
So, I got promising feedback on my fifth book recently, and at first, it seemed like I finally cracked the code.
Then, I get feedback I’m more used to getting.
So again, something is not quite right to get it to the next stage. I was pretty livid when I read this. However, I’m trying to look on the bright side. The pacing was “nicely done” according to this agent. That gives me some hope that the book’s pacing doesn’t have to be a roadblock for any agent, and maybe the same could be said for other works. Perhaps there is a chance that I find the right agent, and don’t have to rewrite all of my books (again).
Leave a Reply