How to use this Page

Skila Brown  (author of CAMISAR a novel in verse) and agent Tina Wexler  of ICM team up on Casey McCormick’s and Natalie Aguirre’s excellent Literary Rambles Blog and share Five Tips on Revising after getting Feedback from an Agent. Here is an excerpt:

1. Drop your defenses. Think the agent doesn’t get what you were trying to do? Maybe that’s because it wasn’t clear enough. Think the feedback was overly-critical? Maybe that’s because you’re thinking this is about you and not about your story. Either way, you’re on the right track if an agent connected with so much of your story that s/he wants to help make it stronger. Celebrate that.

Tina Wexler: This is a great first step. I know it can be disappointing to receive an offer to revise instead of an offer of representation, but if a writer can shake off that disappointment and welcome the creative feedback, oftentimes an offer of representation will follow. My relationship with several clients started this way, and I’m grateful they were able to drop their defenses and let me share my thoughts on their work.

2. Listen. Before you begin revising, listen to what the agent is suggesting. If you’re lucky enough to have more than one person weighing in, search for commonalities in their feedback. At first glance, it might seem contradictory. One agent says, “I think the romance needs to be stronger,” while another says, “I think you should lose the romance.” The commonality? Both think that your book is teetering on romance without deciding if it is or it isn’t. Which means you need to make a decision – cut it or enhance it. Maybe the agent’s comments are prescriptive in a way that you don’t really like, but listen hard to what problem s/he is identifying and see if you’ve got another idea on how to fix it.

Tina Wexler: I often try to suggest solutions when pointing out problems in a manuscript, mainly because they
help illustrate what my concerns are. But I’m not a novelist, and it’s not my story. As such, I really appreciate it when an author is able to come up with their own way of fixing a problem. It’s almost always a better solution than the one I’ve proposed.

3. Don’t lose (the) heart. Think long and hard about what is sacred for you in this story. This can sometimes be the spark that initially drew you to the piece. Maybe it’s the relationship between two characters or the setting or the fact that you’re telling it in a specific way – like verse or multiple points of view. These sacred seeds might not be something you’re willing to alter. And that’s okay. If this story, in your heart, is really about a girl on the brink of suicide and an agent tells you, “I think you should lose the suicide bit,” this might not be the right agent for this novel. But be careful labeling something as sacred. Most things shouldn’t be.

4. Give it a try. You might not be on board with the agent’s suggestions right away, and that’s okay. But what’s the harm in trying? If you spent time researching an agent, if you felt s/he might be a good match for you and your work, then you must already respect this person, right? So keep that in mind as you read over the feedback and have some faith in the professionals. Give these suggestions a try and just see where it leads. You might be surprised that things work out better than you hoped.Tina Wexler: Yes! I love this advice, especially for writers who are asked to change the story’s point of view. (It’s more common than you may think.) A rather daunting task, with or without an offer of representation in hand. So, you take baby steps. Rewrite the first page. Is it working? Yes? Rewrite the first chapter. Still like it? Keep going. As you say, there’s no harm in trying.

Hop on over to the awesomeness that is Casey McCormick's blog, Literary Rambles, and check out my first ever guest post!

Blogger of the Week:
Casey McCormick, Literary Rambles...


The "About Me" on Casey McCormick's blog Literary Rambles describes her as an "aspiring author, amateur photographer, coffee craver, and (tired) mother of two–trying to find my place in the writing world . . . join me," she says, "as I struggle and thrash against the bonds of my doubt and insecurity." I'm certain her bio resonates with many writers who include Literary Rambles on their online reading lists. Here Casey talks about the evolution of her blog and offers terrific advice to other writers on making their way in the blogosphere.

How long have you been blogging and what prompted you to start? What did you hope to accomplish?

I had been blogging on and off for about six years (never regularly or well) before I started my writing blog in April of 2008. I had recently joined the Absolute Write forums and thereafter found myself reading the blogs of both published and unpublished writers. I was immediately
sucked into the time-consuming black hole that is blog stalking (but not in a creepy way, I promise!) The kid lit community is just amazing and full of awesomeness, but I doubt I need to tell anyone reading this blog that!

What did I hope to accomplish? In the beginning I had no idea what I wanted to do with my blog. I wanted a presence in the writing community and was happy to remember to post once a week or month or… ever at all. I considered myself a terrible blogger but I wanted to be like all the
other cool kidlits. My very first blog post says “new” in the subject line and “encourage” in the body and that’s it. That’s how much I didn’t have to say. A year later, I’m blogging almost daily and Literary Rambles has definitely taken a more professional turn. Looking back on the first six months of my blog is like looking at my first manuscript, i.e. cringe worthy.

What kind of posts can readers expect on Literary Rambles? What are your regular features?

I didn’t have any regular features until I started something called “Wednesday’s Word Count” late last year. After a post I wrote about goals and how beneficial they are to writing, I decided to create a weekly post where we could publicly state our writing goals as a means of encouragement and motivation. It hasn’t been extremely popular, but it’s always there, and it helps me to know that I have at least a few eyes on my weekly word counts.

More recently, I began a feature called “Agent Spotlight,” which is significantly more popular. The idea behind Agent Spotlight was to condense the task of researching an agent into a blog post. I find whatever information I can including interviews, quotes, preferences, pet peeves, realistic response times, etc. and then try to include what people are saying about the agent, whether good or bad. I openly invite readers to post their experiences with the spotlighted agent in the comments (even anonymously, if they prefer) or to e-mail me if they feel I should have the information prior to the post’s launch. Those go up on Thursday and I really can’t wait until I have a large list of Spotlights for writers to reference.

Beyond those weekly recurrences, I post helpful links, random publishing news, contests, questions, goals, the occasional article on writing, and whatever else I can come up with to keep me blogging. Recently some friends and I have been doing a 30k in 30 (one) Days writing challenge, which you could consider a concept-cousin to NaNoWriMo, and I’d love to do more challenges like it in the future.

Your blog lists other places readers can find you online. Do you participate in other blogs and in what capacity?

The only other blog I actively belong to is a group blog called Flashy Fiction. What is it? Seven writers give flash fiction prompts seven days a week. It’s a ton of fun and a great place to practice or loosen up for a day of writing. We keep it very low-key and nonjudgmental. Writers of every caliber are welcome as long as they respect the rules, which are under the 411 link on the sidebar. My prompts go up on Tuesday.

I love your To Read Montage. (I have two giant and precarious nightstand stacks myself.) How quickly do books move to your Reading spot on the blog?

Not fast enough! It really depends on the book and the amount of time I have for reading. Isn’t that always the case? Some books I’ll read in hours, others take me a few weeks. I try to read a minimum or two or three books a month but I certainly wish I had time for more.

Could you offer some advice to writers new to the blogosphere?

If you’re interested in networking and building a platform for little more than time, then definitely get into blogging. Just remember that whatever you say reflects back on you. No matter what you post on your blog, keep an underlying tone of professionalism. If you’re journeying toward publication, your blog will eventually be a means for publishing professionals to assess you as a person, and the person behind the pages matters, too.

Also, give your blog time to grow. You’ll probably start off slow and that’s fine. I did. I have a post on my blog called “Blog Topics for Writers” that you can find here if you’re stumped. The best way to get a following, at least in my opinion, is to give as much as you take. Get out there and participate in the blogging community. Comment on other writer’s blogs, but don’t bother unless you have something genuine to say. After you get into the swing of things, try finding something unique to offer your readers. If you’ve got something good, word of mouth will be your vessel from there.

If you’re not the blogging type or just don’t feel ready, I’d encourage you to at least make a profile that you can comment from. Beyond the joyous advantage of making friends, you can make a name for yourself so people will recognize you later if you ever do start a blog or become
published.