How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

A long long time ago (like in May of last year), I expressed some confusion about people saying "thank you" for rejections. Why, I wondered, would someone send a thank you for a form rejection? What's the point? And now agent Janet Reid has confirmed for me that my decision not to respond to form rejections is cool. I was getting a little concerned that I'd been inadvertently rude by not responding to form rejections, because some agents have said things along the lines of "oh, I like it. It adds civility." Reid's reason -- that thank you emails are polite, but when she's getting tons of email each day, a thank you for a form rejection is just taking up time she doesn't have -- really rings true to me. As someone who gets, literally, 400 - 500 emails a day in my Real Job, cutting down on email every chance I get is a huge priority. I have literally said to people "there is no need for you to send me a thank you email. I assume your ...

1. Case Histories , by Kate Atkinson, is a really good book. It won't make the Jay Loves a Book list because I didn't fall in love with any of the characters (and, as I think we've firmly established, character is key for me), but it was touching and funny and well plotted and really well written, and I really enjoyed it. I got it because it was reviewed by someone as a mystery,* although I don't know that that's exactly what it is, since I wasn't particularly motivated to keep reading because of the mystery. Although there certainly were mysteries. Three of them, in fact. But really it was just so engagingly written that I couldn't put it down. I'll be looking out for other things from her. 2. We're having some spring weather right now in Ohio, which on one hand is nice because I love spring, but on the other hand is unpleasant because my yard looks awful. 3. I read Watchmen this weekend in anticipation of seeing the movie (I'm one of ...

I'm always amused by those aspiring authors who think that most of what gets published nowadays is crap, but who are, nonetheless, desperate to get published themselves. These people are convinced--CONVINCED--that they aren't getting published because they are too brilliant to be recognized by plebian agents and publishers that only put out mainstream crap. To demonstrate their literary superiority, they send letters like this one , which The Rejecter featured on her blog not too long ago: The dynamic for agents is to find that compelling work that is salable, not an easy task I'm sure. For me some books that are considered page turners are often so empty and the characters so thin I don't care what they do and the plot so mundanely crime-ridden or romance-ridden or horror-ridden that I don't care what happens. I could give many examples of such profitable books with their suspense page turners in different genres that the only reasonable thing is for the charact...

"I don't think romance ever dies... which might be the cheesiest thing I've ever said." Agent Ted* I've been thinking a little bit about romance in fiction, inspired not only by Agent Ted's trenchant comment, but also by Maggie Stiefvater's post on the topic over at her blog. Stiefvater brings up the movie Jerry McGuire , specifically the dramatic scene where Tom Cruise tells Renee Zellwiger "you complete me" and says that this is an example of romantic chemistry that simply does not work for her. To which I say: sing it, sister. That scene, to me, was the most objectionable part of an otherwise inconsequential movie, because it's the point where, because of some sappy speech, the woman goes back with a man who has been pretty much nothing but a jerk to her. This is the happy ending? Really?** Basically, the problem is that, without a real attachment between the characters, there is no way for them to overcome the fact that Tom Cruise wa...

1. Dear Continental Airlines: If you insist on charging $400 more than your competition for flights, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist on flying another airline or renting a car. Seriously, SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS to fly to Nashville? You must be on the drugs. 2. Because I was working on the revisions to The Book over the last few weeks and was not permitting myself to work on other projects, I was a virtual FLOOD of ideas for other projects. Of course, the minute I sent the revised Book to Agent Ted, that flood has become a creek, a trickle, a very shallow puddle. Fortunately, I wrote down the other ideas as I had them. Oh, irony, you shall not defeat me! 3. The Taken is a movie that is exactly what the trailer promises. If you think that trailer looks cool and badass, then you should see the movie, because you will enjoy it. I did. Also, Liam Neeson is seriously huge and scary in this movie. People don't realize it, because he usually plays an intelle...

Apparently, there's a term floating around for writers who don't plan ahead in their writing--pantsers. As in, these writers fly by the seat of their pants, I suppose, although it sort of sounds like these writers run around stealing other people's pants like frat boys during pledge week. As unflattering as the term is, the basic idea is that there are two types of writers: planners (who plan everything) and pantsers (who plan nothing), and many writers fall somewhere in between. Although I object to the term, I think the basic concept is sound. But this model fails to take into account the process. At the beginning of a new project, I am a pantser. I start with a character and an idea of what the book is going to be about* and once I feel like I know who the character is, I start writing. What's going to happen? No clue. What is the conflict? No idea. Just writing. As I said in another post, for me a good book is all about character, so that's all I need ...

I don't have a lot of advice to give about finding an agent, since all I did was follow the advice of countless other blogs and articles out there: I researched some agents, I wrote a query letter, and found an agent.* That makes it sound easy, and it's not. But (in my opinion) finding an agent is like doing pushups--it's not complicated, it's just hard . But I was interested to see this post by Maya Reynolds on choosing the right agent, because I think she's dead on here. I queried a lot of agents during my search. A LOT. Many. And from their responses (both positive and negative) I learned that there are some agents out there who it is better if I don't work with. Not because they are bad agents, or are unprofessional,** but because our working styles would not mesh well.*** Let me explain: right from the beginning, before I even accepted an offer of representation (hell, before he even made an offer), Agent Ted explained that he was a hands-on age...