Month: February 2017

One of the things I most looked forward to on my trip to Minnesota was getting a critique of the first ten pages of my novel. Due to a scheduling mix up, I didn’t get to talk with the agent, but she did send a written critique. That written critique really brightened my day.

The critique itself was short and direct. There were a few things I needed to clarify about the settings and the date when the story takes place. It was also suggested that I introduce my hero earlier in the piece, even if only briefly. The rest described those first ten pages as, “Eerie, startling, and intriguing…”

The previous agent feedback was also positive, but it mentioned a big flaw. My novel started well before the story did. I had that on my list of things to check, but it can be difficult to be objective. That agent said it was good writing in general, but the story would not convince someone to part with the money or time to read it. With that feedback, I set about the rewrite at what I thought would be the correct place.

Still, my confidence really needed fed; my submissions since the rewrite brought home no responses. This new feedback suggests that I need to keep trying. I need to make the needed changes and try again. I will also need to keep working on my query letter (critiqued by someone else and I’m still analyzing).

With my semester in full swing, I may not have the time to make the changes for a while. In the worst case, I will have to wait till the middle of May. If I schedule my time right, I might be able to get it done before then and start submitting sooner rather than later. It will be a constant fight between the manic need to write and the exhausted need to sleep and keep the bills paid.

I just returned from the Minnesota Writing Workshop in St. Paul. Many of my writing friends have always said they enjoyed their experiences at writing workshops and conferences. I wish my experiences had been like theirs.

There are usually two parts of the workshops: seminars and meetings with agents. Because the workshops have to pay for themselves, there is a basic charge to attend and then secondary charges for the meetings with the agents. These charges can add up quickly, so you want them to count. If you have to travel and stay in a hotel, like I did, the expenses grow even more.

For this conference, the sessions were definitely not worth any money. Most of them involved a speaker with unstated qualifications telling us the basic writing facts that you can get from any book, magazine, blog, or any other source in the writing and publishing world. The exception was the woman who explained that you should the twenty-some years starting in college to make writing friends and contacts, and then make sure you took a half hour now and then to watch television. Oh, and she loves her cats. There were regular mentions of her cats.

Discounting the sessions, there is the agent feedback. The first bit of feedback came in an email. This was a critique of my query letter. I was hoping to talk with the person who provided that feedback, but was told no by someone who seemed really far to busy to answer questions from someone who paid to attend. The answering questions thing would continue to be an issue.

Due to other miscommunication when asking questions, I also missed the critique of the first ten pages of my manuscript. This was the part that I really wanted, and it didn’t happen. What’s more, when I tried to get more information about what happened, the untrained volunteer seemed confused.

The result of this communication was that I was presented with a pitch session when I was expecting my critique. For those not familiar, a pitch session is when you sit down in front of an actual agent and try to sell them your story. This is a good time to shine. However, if you are expecting to do something else, it can catch you off guard and, though you will leave an impression, you will not shine in any way.

Now, the agent in the pitch session seemed to be very understanding, and she gave what advice she could. I appreciate that and hope to review it and use it. That was at least a pleasant aspect of the trip.

Overall, the Minnesota Writers’ Workshop was an unpleasant and expensive experience. It was nowhere near worth the money or time and I will not be attending any others put on by the same group. It was obvious that the people running the workshop were disorganized and had made little effort to train their volunteers. The two, small pieces of advice I received from the event may prove useful someday, but I still think the whole thing was a waste of resources.