A recent querier made a unique claim: their book, which had a male protagonist, passed the Bechdel test. The Bechdel test requires: at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. A female protagonist is not necessary. But it’s rare to find a Bechdel-passing story with a male lead.… Continue reading Bechdel and a male protagonist
“My book will be a bestseller.” I know you think that. But the query isn’t the place to say it. Tell your mom, not prospective agents. Like movie claims, bestseller claims make me suspect the author doesn’t understand the business. They have false expectations about getting rich quick. Of scoring a publisher in a few… Continue reading The false smile of a bestseller claim
What would you do if sociopathic aliens threatened earth? Would you cower under the bed, or grab a shotgun and long-distance DNA analyzer? What if doing so came at the cost of your 18-month-old daughter’s life? Rhetorical questions don’t work in queries. They put the focus on me instead of the protagonist, and force me… Continue reading Do you like rhetorical questions?
One writer wrote in their query that their novel was 75% dialogue. While that’s not info we need, in this case it helped me decide. Reject. The author, a screenwriter, said the story’s heavy dialogue would adapt well for film. Sure enough, the sample pages had two sentences setting the scene followed by lines of dialogue.… Continue reading Dialogue, narrative, and exposition
February’s stats give a great overview of the average email haul. But the day-to-day isn’t as simple. A few days ago, for instance, we received a new query every 10 minutes. Today saw 6. That’s right, 6 total for the agency. And it’s a Thursday. Perhaps people prepare for Easter 4 days in advance? Do… Continue reading Slow days
Every few days I find a query that says: This story was optioned for film, So-and-so is interested in the film rights, or This story has great potential as a movie. The first problem is I can’t verify claims about who may or may not want to make a movie from your book. Such claims do… Continue reading Movie rights
Thunder rolled across the plains like the beating of a drum, lightning punctuating its rhythm with the crash of cymbals. Immersed in the roar of Mother Nature’s heartbeat, no one heard the gunshots. These sentences are a perfect example of purple prose. The writer embellishes the exposition with tactile words, metaphors, and poetic rhythm. The… Continue reading Purple prose
Each week we get a few romances where an older male professor and younger female student get it on. She’s either his grad student or in his class. They’re attracted to each other’s fiery wit, hot body, tutoring skills, etc. They shack up and fall in love (order is variable), his job and/or her scholarship… Continue reading Older men love younger women
One writer submitted a story about a protagonist whose “deviancy” protected him from the sexual repression of our modern culture. Consequently, the protagonist liked sleeping with men. My first reaction was astonishment. You meant gay, not deviant, right? I forget these ideas still circulate in uneducated places. The writer didn’t know they were being offensive:… Continue reading Get the facts straight
I haven’t done a formal survey (yet), but I’d guess we get similar numbers of male and female queriers. I’d also guess at least 80% of protagonists I see are male. One of our agents is active with #MSWL (Manuscript Wishlist) and one of her wishes mentions a type of boy story she’d like. A… Continue reading He’s a hero
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