Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
When an agent or editor requests your full manuscript, it’s nerve wracking to wait and wonder, day after day, if they’re reading it and whether they like it. If they finally decide not to offer representation, it hurts and you just want to know… why?
Most agents try to offer some kind of explanation if they’re saying no to a requested manuscript. But giving this kind of feedback is sometimes more difficult than you might think. Each manuscript usually has some good points, and some not-so-good. Often we agonize over our decision. It’s good, but is it good enough? I like it, but will others like it? Are the positives enough to overcome the negatives?
It starts with my gut.
Before I try to analyze exactly what’s going on with a manuscript, I try to experience it as a reader would. I pay attention to my my instincts and natural responses as I’m reading.
You know how sometimes you’re reading a book and you don’t want to put it down, and you’re really frustrated that it’s time to go make dinner or put the kids to bed, and you just want everyone to leave you alone so you can read your book? And whenever you’re doing something else, you just want to be finished so you can get back to reading your book?
But other times you’re reading a book and it’s easy to put down. You find yourself distracted. You go check your email, or see what’s on TV. Or fall asleep. Not that you can really define anything bad about the book, it’s simply not holding your attention. And when you have some time to read, you debate whether to go back to that book or not.
I have the same kinds of responses.
It’s no different when reading manuscripts, only I’m paying close attention to my responses. Do I want to keep reading? When I’m doing something else, am I eager to get back to reading the manuscript? If not, I will probably pass.
I can usually identify why the manuscript isn’t keeping my attention. Maybe it’s just plain boring or the writing isn’t good enough. Maybe it starts out strong but then falls apart. Maybe the characters aren’t well-developed. Or the dialogue isn’t working. Or it didn’t feel original. Or any number of other problems. But for me, the yes or no starts in my gut. It’s not scientific, but it’s what I’ve got.
How do YOU decide whether or not you like a book? How long will you stick with a book you’re not enjoying?
Love the way you developed this, Rachelle.
* I’ll drop a book in the first three pages, because life’s just too short.
* Reasons?
– Lousy or derivative writing (remember when everyone and his ferret wanted to write like Tom Wolfe in “The Right Stuff”?)
– Important technical inaccuracies. I’m an expert in a few areas; cross me there and it’s adios. I’m available as a consultant, dear author/agent/publisher…you should have hired me.
– Sex, or sexually charged language (including innuendo). Characters whose carnal lives are, so to speak, laid bare are not being respected by the author, and I don’t hold with disrespect.
– Gratuitous violence. Yes, I’m trained to BE violent, but I don’t like to read an amateur’s ‘loving’ description of murder. To me, that’s profane, and can border on a kind of pornography. An example is a thriller from a wildly successful author that opens with a Mossad station chief being assassinated whilst servicing a dead drop in a public lav. The way the killing was detailed was disgusting (and inaccurate), and that was made more grotesque by the fact that a COS would not, under any circumstances, service a dead drop…and most certainly would not lack the situational awareness that allowed the killing. It was appallingly bad, and I gave it up then and there.
– Abuse of animals. Seen enough of it in the dog rescue area, don’t need to read about it.
– And being boring is perhaps the most heinous literary sin of all. When I was single I’d go to Starbucks and pretend to read Proust, to try to impress women. Unfortunately women don’t seem to be impressed with a dude who falls asleep over his espresso.
The first sentence/paragraph/chapter must be a “literary” black hole and suck me in. Then the tale should entertain to keep me immersed, preventing my escape to the ‘believable’world.
I’ll drop a book for some of the same reasons Andrew has mentioned:
technical, or cultural, errors;
gratuitous behavior;
stilted, or clumsy prose;
and flat characters.
I marvel that you agents, along with your burdened schedules, have time to absorb full MSs, but am grateful for the occasions when mine have been requested. Universal gratitude to all your clan.
I usually have several books going at the same time: light fiction, non-fiction loosely related to healthcare (my day job), something educational (often historical) and something to develop my writing. The fiction is strictly entertainment, and if it starts to feel like work, I’m done. And the other categories–if I’m not learning anything new, I’m done.
* The book has to continue to give value (entertainment is value). Count me in with Andrew. Life is too short to read something useless or annoying.
What a great post, Rachelle. It’s good to know agents can approach books the same way others do. It used to be hard for me not to read an entire book even if it wasn’t my favorite; skipping through some narrative to get to the dialogue and shorten my commitment. These days, I give the book three chapters. If I’m not interested at that point, I won’t continue. If I used that philosophy while reading The Stand by Stephen King, however, I never would have finished one of my favorite books. It took me 600 pages to really get into that story, but after that I couldn’t put it down.
Let’s see, my sister-in-law gives a book 20 pages. I usually give it one reading session, however long that is. I sit down and give it a try. Once I made my son give a story 40 pages ( he hates trying new authors ) but that was a bit excessive, I think. I really thought he would like the book! Sometimes I”ll try a book a couple of times, but really, if I spend 30 minutes and I”m not loving it, there is no reason to continue.
For me, it takes me a little bit to fully reach a point where I can’t put the book down so I try to always make it to 50 pages. I decide whether I like it based on my interest, the writing ability. The best books I remember long after putting the book down.
I have a hard time giving up on a book. Most of the time, I finish it even if takes me a month. However, if I didn’t enjoy the book, I won’t read that author again. At least not anytime soon.
I’m like CJ. Unless there is something truly objectionable about a book, if I start it, I finish it. It may take a while and I may read something else before I finish, but I don’t give up on anything quickly.
I was complaining to a writer friend about a book I know you love, Rachelle, how I was struggling with it and how mad it made me.
My friend finally said, “there are too many books in the world, Michelle, you don’t have to finish it if you really have that many objections.”
What total freedom!
I’ve now happily tossed books away every since, thrilled I’m no longer required to read books like that never-ending Ulysses I had to read in college!
I give the author three shots. If I don’t like the character, if the story is unrealistic (join me, Andrew, in complaining about these pseudo-military stories that have nothing to do with the real military), if the history is flat wrong, I quit.
That author doesn’t deserve my time.
Other than that . . . LOL
How do I decide whether or not I like a book is based more on the emotional side of what the author is giving. Am I in the mood to laugh? Cry? Learn something new? Do I see something beautiful in the way the author is expressing life? Am I inspired? I love reading new writers work, because there is joy in knowing I’ve helped them in some small way, encouraging them to perfect their craft before it goes to publication. After publication if I am disappointed in redundancy of a series or same story line I do set it aside, most of the time I try to skip over what is slowing me down to get to what has my attention, possibly a question I want answered.
If I’m reaching the halfway point of a book, and pretty much know exactly what’s going to happen in the second half, I skip to the last chapter to see if I was right and then find another book.
I agree … it’s that feeling that you just can’t put it down … that’s how you know you love a book. However, some books fizzle out–they have a wonderful start but terrible ending. Maybe it drags out too long and you’re ready for the last page. And some books that I didn’t like the beginning, I grew to love …. Some of my favorite books I was certain that I wouldn’t like because the beginning didn’t grab me. But I stuck to it and sighed turning that last page, stating, “That’s the best book I’ve ever read.” So I usually stick with a book until the end … I don’t like leaving things unfinished either. 🙂
Rachelle,
A fiction book has to grab me within the first few chapters for me to keep reading, and the writing has to flow smoothly. If the book is boring, the language, sex or violence gratuitous, if I have to work hard to figure out who’s speaking or acting, or the writing is “choppy” (extremely short sentences), I put it down and don’t pick it up again. I was disappointed in a few books by well-known Christian authors. Two were boring, and another had choppy writing that, two-thirds of the way through, finally got on my nerves too much and I didn’t finish the book.
*It varies how long I’ll stick with a book. I used to try to finish a book, but now, it varies. As Andrew said, “Life’s too short”.
*When reading non-fiction, I try to give the book more time, because I figure there’s something to be learned. Even then, the book has to be interesting and the language at an acceptable level. I was reading a highly-recommended writing book by a much-published author. The writing tips were good; however, two-thirds or more through, I put it down because the repeated use of a certain four-letter word got to me, and I decided enough was enough.
I loved reading through all the responses thus far.
Since I rarely read fiction, the non-fiction in my hands has to engage me through helping me see something differently than I have always seen it, or it has to teach me something completely new. For example, I am plowing through Sarah Beckman’s “alongside” right now. It is teaching me how to be a helpful friend to someone in crisis.
I need to take a page form Michelle Ule (and her friend) and learn the craft of tossing a book aside. I am almost finished with a book that I cannot, and will not recommend. It is beautifully researched, fairly well written, but the author is seriously depressed, and the book is depressing me. But there is something within me that says, “You must complete this reading.” It feels almost like a weakness or failure to bail out.
And all the authors who currently have books in the “requested” pile are praying that agents are skipping meals and letting children stay up way past their bedtimes right now!
That’s the clue for me that a book is a winner. If it delays a meal, it is golden.
If there’s too much narrative and not enough dialogue, I will be bored and likely to put down the book. I’m not too upset by a little bit of swearing here and there (even though I would not write it myself), but if foul language is excessive, I will stop reading. Also, if the story takes too long to get going, I will stop reading. I usually give a book about two chapters.
Once I read a novel that began with a plane crashing onto the runway just outside the terminal where the main character was standing. Wow! You can bet I kept reading. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I was reading the latest thriller novel by a very well-known writer and struggled to finish it. I’ve read many of this author’s books and enjoyed them, so I made myself read this one to the end. I was so disappointed. Nothing happened! What would have been a one-chapter scene in any of this author’s previous novels took up about half the book!
I give it a few chapters, at most.
If the book has gotten nothing but rave reviews, I might keep going. But if I don’t like it, why bother? I owe that book nothing.
For me , it depends on the kind of book. I write suspense and it is my genre of choice for reading material as well. I can usually finish a full-length novel in 4-5 hours after a long day at work. That said, if I can put a suspense novel down half-way through, chances are good I won’t pick it back up. My standards are a little different for other genres and I’ll usually finish them (even if it takes me a few weeks). Like Andrew said though, if you get too many facts wrong or are inconsistent (like a kid aging four years in the space of a few months – yes, I’ve read a book with this plot hole), I might finish the book, but I probably won’t read that author again.
I find the more writing knowledge and experience I have under my author belt, the faster I can spot errors (head hopping, unoriginal plot threads) and, conversely “whodunnit” ahead of the novel’s end ~ sort of takes the enjoyment out of a lifetime habit of avid, unaware reading.
I recently read a book that introduced over a dozen characters in the first chapter. I had to make a chart. The story was good and I kept reading, but I’m not usually willing to put forth that much effort.
I feel like it’s immoral to stop reading a fiction book before finishing, it even if I must grit my teeth and force myself to continue reading. Of course I never read anything else by the author of a book like that.