Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime
Comments
"we enjoyed reading your sample chapters, though we thought 30,000 a little short for a teen novel. Perhaps you would like to look at the teen book shelves in the book shops and decide whether youd like to bring yours up to a more regular word-count to make it fit the market better.
Let me know whether youd be happy to do this.
Would you then please post the complete manuscript to the address below."
I know that the story is a tad short, but I don't think padding would improve the flow or content. On the other hand I really really want an agent to take it on. What do I do?
Ofcourse you say you will be more than happy to do it.There's always room for expansion in a novel- might be good to ask them where they think the storyline could be improved/expanded. Do it quickly and get the manuscript in! well done, wish u luck!
Padding shows up, you need to expand on what is already there, or something you didn't expand on.
It might be worth doing as Vijay says, a polite thank you, and yes you would be happy to do this, and was there any particular area that they felt would most benefit.
If you get a response then do what is suggested and resubmit.
Good luck.
"So what is the regular word count they want you to achieve?" - They didn't say but suggested checking out teenage novels to find out what is regular. Trip to the library coming on! Any comments from you welcome.
Ana, you are very right about the lack of distance. Fortunately I have found myself a personal editor - a very helpful American whom I met on an artists' forum. She used to do critiques for writers on a semi-professional basis, but now only does a select few for the pleasure of it. I'll run any changes past her before submitting.
My first thought was that changing the length, by "padding", would really be a disservice to the readers. But after feedback from friends I realised that the were certain points in the story they really wanted to know about. One of the biggest ones was regarding the protagonist. After I'd written a little more of his history and why he was as he was I found myself with only a 5K word shortfall to reach 60K.
In essence there was a hell of a lot in the back story the reader wanted to know. Other comments I received where about the lack of detail about other characters. I added that in. I'm almost at 60K, I sent the MS off to other friends and still found they were after more back story!
Because I was so focused on the plot, initially, I'd ignored a lot of scene setting and character construction. These types of things only take up a few sentences but when added in the right places in the story it does end up being quite a lot of extra words which really aren't padding, though sometimes it feels like it is to me, but I know it's not because the readers appreciate it.
Anyway this is my experience and from this I can say it is possible to find so much more to write about given good feedback from friends.
One point about friends, make sure they know they're not commenting to please you but just giving their honest thoughts. It really helps create that story which is that much stronger.
all the best
Richie
There is a formula for working out the total wordage, x number of words to a line, and lines to a page, and the number of pages.
If it's quiet the bookseller may be knowledgable enough to know the length.
Try not to see padding as that , but more of an opportunity to develop your work. Could you introduce a new sub plot ? Are they looking for 50-55,000 words or less?
All the very best to you.
Aegean
------
Don't forget, the agency only stays in business if it can sell the books its writers produce, which means the agent must have a very clear idea of what publishers are looking for.
You shouldn't have to pad it, though. As another respondent suggested, introduce a new character, or a sub-plot or a twist. Padding always shows.
Finally, 30,000 is short - very short. I'm working on a full synopsis for a new book at the moment, and I'm at about 39,000 words already!
Before you write anything, you should look at the market and find out what sort of length other books in that genre are running to, and aim for something similar. Don't forget, the reason every professional writer submits work double-spaced, left-justified, standard font, etc, etc, is because that's what the agent or publisher will be expecting. You have to give them what they expect in terms of presentation - including length - so that all they have to do is concentrate on the story you're telling.
Hope this helps
James
In the last couple of days, I've realised that I can bring back the back-story which I cut out in the last revision, but rather than have the first-person narrator telling the back-story to the reader directly, it'll come out in dialogue over a chapter, woven into some action (which I've yet to come up with).
The reason that I'm not jumping up and down with joy is that I've had a similar experience before - a publisher liked a children's story, but asked me to change the ending. Once I'd done exactly as they suggested, they no longer liked the story...
Look on this positively, the agent would not have asked you to expand it unless he thought he might consider you.
Forget the past, concentrate on this here and now.
Wishing you all the best.
Aegean
----