Querying SF novel with only four chapters?

[Rich Denoncourt]

I'm very curious about something. I'm writing my first novel. It's a science fiction coming of age story about a boy with telepathic abilities (I just put an excerpt and summary up in the critiquing section).

Anyway, I've written and revised a prologue and 3 chapters (60+ pages) and I also have literally 70-90 single spaced pages of outline, history, character sheets, etc. Ive revised what I have several times and I want to send it out and (ideally!) get some kind of an advance so I don't have to work during the day.

I know this is all very hopeful of me, but I know that it's possible. I've been reading the 2006 Writer's Market and I want to start sending out query letters to agents and publishers. Is this recommended? Does it work in the SF industry? Or do I need to finish a manuscript first?

This story has been bubbling in my mind for over 5 years now and I'm extremely confident in it.

Anyone?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

When the time comes, you will probably only send out a handful of chapters (depending on how many the agent or publishing house in question asks for) but they will want to know that there is a complete manuscript ready and waiting should they ask to see it.

And not to discourage you, but you are being very optimistic if you think that a publisher will give you, as a first time novelist, an advance large enough to live on so that you can quit your day job. Unfortunately, most such advances, particularly in the SFF genre, come in around $7500 dollars.

Write the book because that is what you want to do, and because you hope someday to be good enough and lucky enough to make a living at it -- not because you are looking for immediate financial rewards. That's unrealistic, and unrealistic expectations lead to early disappointment, which often leads to the writer giving up too soon.

 

[John Jarrold]

I echo Teresa completely. Find out what a publisher wants, in terms of chapters, and send it. Some will want the entire novel. And in the UK it is pretty much impossible for a new writer to be taken on without a finished book. No one is commissioning novels over here from anyone other than well-known novelists. If you care enough, you'll write the book. Don't think of it as a source of income at this point. And of course, 99.9999% of the books that are submitted to every publisher are turned down flat.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I know this is all very hopeful of me, but I know that it's possible. I've been reading the 2006 Writer's Market and I want to start sending out query letters to agents and publishers. Is this recommended? Does it work in the SF industry? Or do I need to finish a manuscript first?

IMO don't solicit until you've got a finished product. The LAST thing you want would be for an agent to like your work, ask for more, and you be unable to supply it. Makes you look unprofessional.

Also - from a writing point of view, there's a *a lot* that can change in a novel after the first few chapters - most people here who've finished a novel to any standard will probably be able to tell you how a story improves the more you write it, and you will very probably find your early chapters sinigificantly revised as the story evolves.

2c.

 

[Rich Denoncourt]

This is all very helpful advice. I totally expected to hear a lot of "don't expect too much too soon," etc. but I thought I would flat-out ask anyway. I'll keep plugging away at it (if anything, just so that I can stop thinking about the damn thing) and hope for the best.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[C. Craig R. McNeil]

My advice to any wannabe authors is enjoy your writing for what it is. Getting published will be a lucky break and even then it's doubtful if you'll make enough cash to live on.

 

[John Jarrold]

It's certainly true that far fewer than one in 100 will ever see print from small presses and magazines, much less from mainstream publishers...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

One thing to remember is that while a large percentage of the books that won't get published are abysmally bad, some of those manuscripts are really quite good. Writing one good book is no guarantee that you'll get published; writing several good books over a period of years increases your chances dramatically.

So while it's great to believe in what you have written, it's even better to believe that if you keep at it long enough you'll eventually produce something someone will want to publish. Because every book you finish, whether you sell it or not, should teach you valuable lessons that will bring you closer to writing THE book.

 

[John Jarrold]

I have certainly turned down good books regularly, as a publisher and an agent. Talking in terms of UK publishing, you have to persuade your sales and marketing colleagues, and other senior editorial staf, that the new author you want to take on is veryveryvery special - 'good' doesn't cut it.

Couldn't agree more with Teresa. All your writing should be a learning process, leading to the breakthrough book.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Teresa's comment reminded of something UK agent Carol Blake once wrote, and that's around 90% of submissions she receives are completely substandard - basic errors such as not bothering to format, and even handwritten chapters. Complete amatuerish work.

After that, the next few percentage were simply well-written but lifeless stories, with the final few percent being well written and of a good standard, but circumstances (such as not taking on new authors at the time) meaning they couldn't be signed up to anything.

I figured if any aspiring novelist can push themselves into that last couple of percentiles, and keep pushing, then it's not so much a question or "if" as of "when".

Perhaps a little optimistic, but it seemed a goal to aim for.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Personally, I think getting from being good to, as John puts it, veryveryvery special, is a Herculean task. One, I think, I would even not know when I have made it, if I ever do.

The reason; well, the current project I am working on, is to me, at that time, the best. After awhile I see the faults and errors and only them. I cringe at the thought of the work. So I start a new project hoping that one might be better? But will it? Perhaps the third was the breakthrough novel, or the one before that or the next one will be. Each work I have completed reflects me, my ideas, my thoughts, my imagination at a certain point in my life. Can I go back and capture that part of me again? Re-work it into the “me” that is now. That is a question I often ask myself when I am editing an old work, like I am now and trying to work out a new one. Which is better? Which is worse?

 

[Rich Denoncourt]

I think the more passion there is behind something you're writing, the more special you think it is and will be accepted as being. The story I'm writing right now has been almost like an obsession of mine for 5 years and (at least to me) the characters are more real than most people I know. Of course, not everyone will feel the same way. I have to find some way to make them seem as real and as special to the reader.

I guess the question implicit in this is: what does very very very special really mean? Marketability? Writing finesse? Originality?

I just feel like anyone who feels passionate about the story they want to tell will also feel that their story is very very special.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Whether the ideas in a story are very, very special is always going to be subjective. One writer/reader/editor/agent's idea of special may be somebody else's idea of hopelessly dull -- but execution is somewhat less subjective and can be steadily improved. The best story in the world won't sell if you can't translate it in something approximating its full brilliance from your brain to the page.

So passion is good, but it can also blind you, and it's not enough to fall in love with one incredibly wonderful idea after another, you have to polish up your skills. I'm afraid this is where a lot of writers go wrong, because they never get past the infatuation stage.

 

[John Jarrold]

I guess the question implicit in this is: what does very very very special really mean? Marketability? Writing finesse? Originality?

Sophistication of writing and being in an area of the market that agents and publishers can sell come first, as well as all the often-enumerated parts: great characters, wonderful story, outstanding dialogue, narrative sweep and super-duper writing. But as I've said before many times, it's subjective - not a chemical formula. I spoke to one of the major SFF editors in London a couple of weeks ago - when asked what they were looking for, the answer was: 'I'll know it when I see it.'

A wonderfully-written book that has no commercial potential will be turned down. And Teresa is quite right - you have to be able to react objectively to your writing - one reason I always suggest newer writers should put their book away for one or two months after finishing, then re-read with a cooler, more objective gaze...and remember I'm talking first and foremost about the UK market.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Sophistication of writing and being in an area of the market that agents and publishers can sell come first, as well as all the often-enumerated parts: great characters, wonderful story, outstanding dialogue, narrative sweep and super-duper writing..

I think I will just put a bucket over my head and start humming... When it's spelt out like that, you realise the scale of the dream you are reaching for. It makes you wonder why you are doing it, yet I find after all these years I can't stop trying, even if I get nowhere.

Rich: I think you are pretty young from what you have posted, so, you have time. Time to live a life and then write, try and do both. When things get obessive you tend to miss things in life you never get the chance to see/do again.

 

[Paradox 99]

you have to be able to react objectively to your writing - one reason I always suggest newer writers should put their book away for one or two months after finishing, then re-read with a cooler, more objective gaze

I've done this a number of times and found it to be very effective.
It helps to have another project on the go whilst you've put the older one aside, because it's just too tempting to keep dipping back into it. Once you're absorbed into a new story, it helps to let go of the old one a little, thus making it easier to be objective.

However, after reading Sue's post in connection with this, it gave me a shocking revelation:

The reason; well, the current project I am working on, is to me, at that time, the best. After awhile I see the faults and errors and only them.

The key phrase there - "at the time".
I'll put a novel away for a few months and when I go back to it, I find that I feel exactly the same way as Sue. I can no longer see what's "special" about my novel. I can tidy it up objectively in technical terms, but have lost my love of the story because it's "old" and I know it too well. And so, having lost my confidence in it, I find it hard to motivate myself to send submissions.

I wonder how the flame can be rekindled, or perhaps that's a sign that it shouldn't be? Maybe, that very special novel I'm trying to write will not lose it's lustre after a break and an objective re-read.

Hmmm.... wanders off in deep thought.....

 

[Susan Boulton]

And so, having lost my confidence in it, I find it hard to motivate myself to send submissions.

I think that is when you need to develop a stubborn streak. You have spent so much time and energy on a project you need to push it to some conclusion. Sending it out is only going to cost you money and chip a piece off your ego After a dozen or more rejections you have no ego left and using your overdraft ROFL!

Seriously though, the fact that the story was special to you at the time, that you had a belief in it, got you through the process of writing it. You wouldn't have done it if it wasn't special.

Paradox 99; I suspect, you, like me have dozens of half started ideas. It's only the special ones that make it from beginning to end. To get that far is more than most do, to get it edited and out there is another hurdle many don't commit to. If you don't try you will never get there. Maybe that's part of the point of writing and submitting, the trying.

Or maybe it's the heat this morning making me ramble.

 

[John Jarrold]

Here is a quick overview of the major debut fantasy novels published in the UK this year, to give you an idea of how the market stands..

GOLLANCZ

THE BLADE ITSELF - JOE ABERCROMBIE. Dark and witty, featuring cowardly officers, cynical but fascinating torturers and a magi who may be a fake.

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA - Scott Lynch. Set is an analogue of Italy around the fifteenth century, with a protagonist who might be called a mixture of the Artful Dodger and Oliver Twist, times 100. Wonderful background and characters, and deeply funny.

THR STORMCALLER - TOM LLOYD. Young outcast 'white-eye' is called to replace the charismatic Lord Bahl, as prophecies wind around him. Very dark. Good sense of place.

TOR UK/MACMILLAN

SCAR NIGHT - ALAN CAMPBELL. Real tour-de-force, compared to Mervyn Peake and China Mieville, but more central to the fantasy genre. It does feature swords and witches, for instance. But setting is all, and wonderfully conjured. Campbell has designed the GRAND THEFT AUTO computer games.

ORBIT

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW - MIKE CAREY. First UK author to join Orbit's burgeoning 'supernatural thriller' stable (which includes Laurell K Hamilton and Kelley Armstrong). Sleazy, down-at-heel and witty. Carey wrote the graphic novels HELLBLAZER and LUCIFER, and has written for Marvel and DC over a number of years.

VOYAGER

TEMERAIRE - NAOMI NOVIK. Horatio Hornblower meets Anne McCaffrey's dragons. Good characters, interesting plot-lines.



As you can see. there is a wide spread there. And there are no elves or dwarves, or Dark Lords. Be aware of your market...

 

[Paradox 99]

I think that is when you need to develop a stubborn streak. You have spent so much time and energy on a project you need to push it to some conclusion. Sending it out is only going to cost you money and chip a piece off your ego After a dozen or more rejections you have no ego left and using your overdraft ROFL!

Thanks for the encouragement Sue. You're right, I do need to be a bit more stubborn. I've got the stamina to keep on sending out submissions, but I'm very conscious that they have to be as good as I can possibly get them. Each time I manage to view my work objectively I see where it could be improved, so I improve it and then think.... hmmm, I bet another look in a couple of months will make me change it again. And that's why I hesitate sending it off. It's a terrible chasing of the tail!

Paradox 99; I suspect, you, like me have dozens of half started ideas. It's only the special ones that make it from beginning to end.

Unfortunately I'm like a dog with a bone! I always finish the books and stories I start (at least, that's been the case so far). So far, I've never started on one and lost interest in it half way through, which I admit, seems unusual. There are times (obviously) when I struggle through particular parts, but I'm always encouraged by how I imagine the end result to be of the story as a whole. At the moment, I have four on the go at various stages - they won't get abandoned, but naturally, they'll take longer to complete.

 

[Paradox 99]

Here is a quick overview of the major debut fantasy novels published in the UK this year, to give you an idea of how the market stands..

In your experience, do the trends gradually morph over a period of years, or does the market taste change relatively suddenly? I'm just wondering if there's a pattern to how they change.
Thinking of things like cloathes fashions, there seems to be a cycle where trends today are very similar to the ones 20 years ago. Is there also a sort of cyclical trend in the S&F market?