"Personal" question(s) to John Jarrold

Thanks, Geoff.

and before I go completely neurotic, for agents who accept submissions by email, is it good form to send attachements or put everything: chapters, synopsis and CVs directly into the body of the email?
 
It isn't so much a matter of 'good form' as virus-conscious safety for the agents. In any case the initial query might only need your hook / brief outline in the body of the email. Check with the agent's website for submission guidelines before you send anything.

Geoff
 
Another question (I'd also like to know about the attachment issue):

I think I read here that John prefers to forego a synopsis because he likes to get a feel for the story from the sample chapters. In the draft e-mail I've written: "The book is a fantasy story set in a fictional world which is light on magic and heavier on political intrigue" and left it there because I didn't want to spoil it. Is that ok?
 
thaddeus6th said:
Another question (I'd also like to know about the attachment issue):

I think I read here that John prefers to forego a synopsis because he likes to get a feel for the story from the sample chapters. In the draft e-mail I've written: "The book is a fantasy story set in a fictional world which is light on magic and heavier on political intrigue" and left it there because I didn't want to spoil it. Is that ok?
Click to expand...

Yes, that will be ok, least in MHO.
 
Something that may be worth bearing in mind is that agents and publishers are running a business, and a busy and demanding one at that.

Therefore consider that any professional reading your manuscript is looking for excuses to put it down, so don't give that excuse - that means proper proof reading and editing where possible to get it as polished as reasonable.

Also, there's little point fretting over the amount of work that you send, because your work either stands out or says "dump me" on the first page. Therefore it won't matter if you've sent 5 pages or 50 - no one that busy is going to push through 20 pages of badly written and unappealing work and desperately want to read the other 30 you might have sent.

If, however, your first pages are great, the agent/publisher will ask for more as required, to see how consistent the writing is.

Just my personal opinion, because I remember fretting about similar things a few years ago, and these days think it's all kind of missing the point.

Just an opinionated couple of cents. :)
 
Something I'd be keen to get some input on, if possible, is the thorny question of cliff-hanger endings.

There seems to be very differing opinions on this, but not much given in the SciFi/Fantasy field. I am trying to finish off the first in my trilogy and have wavered between pure cliff-hanger (which I can see could really hack people off) and running the story on, so that the characters/storyline are in a place of relative calm, for want of a better description. If I have a beginning and a middle, is it wrong to have a cliff-hanger ending, since many might say 'that's not a proper ending'?

Any guidance on this would be great.
 
Boneman, I can't offer a definitive answer on this, but can explain how I've handled it.

Both my first two novels have been bought by different publishers with commissioned sequels. I do believe the reader deserves some closure at the end of a novel, but at the same time wanted to make it clear there was more to come. So what I've done in each case is resolve the issues that were in the foreground, driving the narrative, but have left various sub-plots hanging, and in each case blown one wide open at the close.

Therefore, resolution, plus a teasing cliff-hanger.

Not certain how that sits with your own piece, and other wiser heads might be able to add different viewpoints, but I hope that's of some use.
 
Ian, many thanks for your input, which helps a great deal. I know that I'd be pretty annoyed if there wasn't some decent form of resolution, so I guess this is the way to go.

If I've interested them enough in the first book, then they will, hopefully, have some empathy with my characters and it may well be seen as short-changing them, if it's too obvious that I don't 'trust' them enough to want to read the next book. I always hated the saturday morning matinee cliff-hangers...
 
Does anyone else have problems the RTF format?

I've read that email submissions are usually required in RTF, which is fair enough and understandable, but whenever I try to use it (in Open Office) it will not retain formatting properly.

Time and time again, I set everything correctly, double spacing, etc, but when I save and reload the file, I find eratic double spacing, and centered positions for chapter headings are out of place.

It's driving me mad and taking up time I'd rather be getting with the actual writing than fiddling about with formatting.

Can we not just just submit in *.doc format?
 
Not heard about that. Don't even know what RTF is.

Hopefully Mr. Jarrold can reply to clarify this.
 
Of course you can, and if you want, most of the agents and publishers should have PDF readers. So for you, use whatever method you prefer and when you're submitting, create a PDF or post sample chapters in the email body.

When and if they ask for a editor copy, then ask what format they want.

thaddeus, I don't think you'll see him here this year. Maybe next time in spring - if we're lucky.
 
ctg said:
thaddeus, I don't think you'll see him here this year. Maybe next time in spring - if we're lucky.
Click to expand...

I know John fully intends to get back here more often, ctg, but his workload is such that he can't always visit as frequently as he'd like. I'm sure he'll drop by again soon.
 
I realise that Ian, and I'm sorry for painting him in such a negative light. I didn't mean that he has abandoned us, but rather thought that he's so busy he doesn't have any time to visit the forum. I hope people forgive me. I'm sorry.
 
Ah, so it's ok to send a .doc attachment as a submission? Glad to hear it.
 
ctg said:
I realise that Ian, and I'm sorry for painting him in such a negative light. I didn't mean that he has abandoned us, but rather thought that he's so busy he doesn't have any time to visit the forum. I hope people forgive me. I'm sorry.
Click to expand...

No need for apologise, ctg -- I realised you doubtless meant this as a light-hearted 'fair warning', but thought it best to clarify. :)
 
Don't want to be a nay sayer, but if an agent or publisher says RTF file and you send a doc, they might just bin it, as I believe virus programs tend to leech onto docs more than RTF files.

Follow the submission guidelines, folks.

As to what a RTF is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format

Dark Powers, you might have to use word rather than open office, the formatting does remain most of the time *grin*
 
SJAB said:
Follow the submission guidelines
Click to expand...

A very simple rule and one that should be burnt into the minds of all writers, aspiring or otherwise.




(If only all rules were as easy to understand in this life.)
 
I still unsure, so checked his site, and found this:

"If you want your novel to be considered by the agency, please e-mail the first six chapters as a Word Document to the e-mail address on this page or contact me there to ask any questions."

Super.
 
Microsoft Works to the rescue!

I've just loaded it into MW and all is fine. It loads and saves the format with no problems. Marvellous!

Right, back to the actual writing then.

Thanks all, for your suggestions and help. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
P SF written by scientists that had a personal impact Classic SF&F 9
Lafayette What Does Expulsion Mean Personally? Writing Discussion 18
Extollager Post the Biography of Your Personal Library! Book Discussion 6
Extollager Arthur Machen Comments on Algernon Blackwood (a personal acquaintance) Classic SF&F 4
T (Found) Personal portal to alternate history world Book Search 4

Similar threads


Back
Top