Chapter Seven: Agents of Change

As if my naiveté in this industry needed more evidence, I present this: Until quite recently, I hadn't even started thinking about obtaining a literary agent.

If you want to be an actor, you get an agent. If you want to be a director, you get an agent. If you want to be any kind of model, you get an agent. They are the gatekeepers to the world which you want to enter. So why did I not think about one until now?

I had become quite focused on the idea of self-publishing the novel. That's in no way a bad thing, and many people are finding great success on that path. But I made myself a promise to try the traditional route before going it alone. 

But I didn't research exactly how one does that. In fact, I just assumed you send manuscript samples around town and stuff happens. Like magic. But that's not how anything works ever. 

So how does a writer-in-training get an agent?

Good question. First you need to know a little more about your story. Can you describe it in a few sentences? Consider this your elevator pitch to the agent. You need them to get the whole idea and be on board before reading a single word. 

Next you include a chapter (depending on the agent, this can be more or less) and you make sure it POPS. I mean, you need to have the best few pages ever. If you aren't confident in your ability to hook an agent, how can you hope to hook a new reader? It's tough love, but you need to write and rewrite that first chapter until it dances off the pages. 

Then, research the crap out of your prospective agent. Write them a query letter that is personal, informative and shows you are professional. Spend time looking at which authors they represent, and which genres that already work with. You want someone who is familiar with your style, but isn't overwhelmed with copycats. If you don't stand out amongst their current clients, they might forget you. 

Finally, and this is the most important thing to know, you will get rejected. You will get rejected a million times. This is one of the most crucial steps in being a writer, and it is the most decisive. Out of 100 people who say they have a great idea, only three or four will get here. And two of them will lose hope after receiving their first rejection letter. A third will leave after the tenth note. 

You have to persevere. You have to believe in yourself and your book. If you want it published, the self-publishing route is always open. But if you think it is destined to be in the hands of a talented agent, grow some thick skin and get it out there. 

I have just started the very beginning of this phase, and I'm sure rejection letters aplenty are to follow. The point is, I am not going to give up until TGW is a reality. It's consumed a large portion of my life, and not in a bad way. I cannot wait to see it in hardcover. I can't wait to sign my mom's copy and act like a big shot for 5 minutes. 

But more than that, I can't wait for my first rejection letter. I'm going to frame it and keep it above my desk so that I always remember: You can make it better. 

Chapter Six: One Monkey and a Typewriter . . . And, GO!

You ever hear that old saying? If you had a million monkeys pounding away on a million typewriters, eventually they would reproduce the works of Shakespeare? Not to start preaching or anything like that, but I'm calling bullshit.

Monkeys are not at all qualified to attempt the graceful prose of the Bard, nor would they have the emotional context with which to create and evolve characters into believable and meaningful stories. So, in summary, that's hogwash.

To be fair, if you throw down a smattering of words, chances are something good will come of it. If I give someone a guitar and teach them which side is the business end, do you think eventually they will become James Taylor? No. It takes talent and personal experience to come up with the material that these artists have created.

Is that to say you are a monkey with no shot at producing something good? No, and don't ever call yourself a monkey in my presence again. I'll slap some sense into you.

The point is, sometimes you have to throw down a lot of words before you create something worth keeping. I have a practice, and I think it is one that many writers share, of writing down every idea I get. I don't care how many times I come up with the same "Wizard fights dragon with the power of song" story, it keeps getting better. One day I will find the chocolatey center of that puzzle and strike literary gold.

When I started writing my first manuscript, I had a lot of trouble working out different scenes. It wasn't exactly writer's block, but I could feel the stress building. So I did something a little different and tried free writing something completely out of left field. I wrote a fantasy story, starting with nothing more than "She found the boy near her usual walking path," and what came next was a universe of unexpected detail and filled with unique characters.

Is that fantasy story available for download onto my Kindle, you ask? No, it isn't even CLOSE to done, but the point is a threw down some words and found a story where before there had been nothing.

We are in a noble profession, us storytellers. No matter how many times your family says "Just be a lawyer," you need to know where your passions are and pursue them with tenacity. We create life out of nothing, weave stories with digital ink and electronic paper. We take people on journeys to places that never existed, and then make them sad to leave. People get angry at villains made up in your imagination. And there is, in my opinion, no better feeling than that.

So if you find yourself stuck on a particular scene, or lost as to how to start a story, try free writing. Shut off your brain and let the letters fall off your fingers. Or, in the grosser sense, cut your wrists and bleed out a story.

And if you need a prompt, I've got five journals full of them.

Chapter Five: Agonizing Antagonists

I'm terrible at coming up with a good antagonist. 

It's not that I can't make a bad guy. That's easy enough. Put a mustache or black hat on them and BAM, you've got yourself a villain. My failing comes in not making realistic or compelling antagonists with which to harass and haunt my heroes. 

I'm reading an excellent book on writing called Deepening Fiction, and it suggests that the best characters in any story share a deep and meaningful relationship. The villain and the hero are intertwined; they have to be. If there is no conflict or pull on an emotional level, the reader has lost a valuable level of interest. 

Now, this isn't to say that you should always make your villains somehow related to the main character. But there needs to be a relationship. Think about Frodo and Sauron of "The Lord of the Rings." Sauron is never actually IN the books. He is an ever present force that exists in a tower in spirit form, a looming threat that could congeal and destroy all of Middle Earth. Frodo and Sauron never meet directly, but they share a ring. A piece of jewelry that carries the darkest, most evil power in existence. 

Harry Potter and Voldemort were bound by a prophecy, but even more so by the violent act that scarred the "boy who lived."

You can go a more direct route, such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but often the less intimate the relationship, the more powerful the antagonization. 

And remember, there are three basic types of conflict to fall back on: Man VS Man, Man VS Environment, Man VS Himself.

What are some great relationships in movies, books and films that you enjoyed? Comment and post below and share your opinions.