Literary Agents For Fiction Novels
How To Write Your First Novel
I began my writing career as a poet, and I’m still a poet. So my journey into fiction was never a planned career move. In fact, my first short story arrived as a complete shock. No kidding.
Because I have written and published poetry in books and magazines for years, I’ve developed a writing schedule that provides time to write every day, always a half hour after breakfast each morning and again after dinner every evening. I also keep a notepad and pen next to the bed to capture any lines of poetry if they float through my mind while I drift off to sleep. This means I’ve not only learned how to write pages of notes in the dark but also how to decipher those scribbles in the morning.
About eleven years ago, as I fell asleep one night, several lines suddenly appeared. Before I could decide to wake up and write them down, a startling thought flared in my mind like a wild firecracker: “This isn’t a poem…it’s the first paragraph of a short story, and I’ve never written fiction before!”
My eyes popped open, I grabbed the notepad, and followed the thread of those lines until I’d written three paragraphs of a short story in the dark. That was my first experience seeing an imaginary character in my mind and following her around, writing down her words and actions.
Throughout the next year different characters and their stories peopled my mind, and I began writing and publishing short fiction in magazines. I had never taken a writing class, so when I began writing poetry in my early thirties, I studied the books of contemporary poets, and eventually developed my own form of free verse poetry. I approached fiction in the same manner. I read and studied all the short story collections I could find, and ultimately created an experimental format for my short fiction, which resembled a prose poem composed of segments, each signaling a scene change or a change in a character’s thought process. Editors loved it, and almost all of my short stories appeared in magazines and literary journals. Those stories were eventually collected in a book that sold well for many years.
But two years later, short fiction no longer satisfied me, and I began to crave a longer form of creative expression, like a novel or novella. I could feel a novel percolating within me, but I knew nothing about the characters or plot. With no revelations emerging from my subconscious, I sensed this novel needed time to develop, so I began writing poetry again and published several poetry books.
Five years passed, and then one afternoon the title of the novel suddenly sizzled through my mind. The next day the main character appeared and announced her name. And on the third day she began telling her story, and a plot emerged. At the time, I had just started a new collection of poetry, but that hardly mattered. I’d been waiting for this novel for years, and once it arrived I dropped everything, grabbed my notebook (all my first drafts are handwritten), and four months later I had completed a short novel. Years later, I would add more material to this novel and republish it as the first in my series of Occult novels for women.
After the main character in that first novel began speaking, the entire writing experience flowed quickly in the white heat of a creative blaze. I always say I’m lucky I remembered to breathe during those amazing months! But don’t let this throw you. That was the first and last time I had to wait for a novel idea. Now new characters and plot ideas arrive frequently, and the day after I finish one novel I usually begin the next.
So, how did I write my first novel? First, I let the main character tell me who she was and what the primary plot of the novel would be. Next, several subplots emerged. And that was all I needed to start writing. For short stories I never used a structured outline. Instead, I patched those stories together organically, as if they were fabric swatches in a quilt, jumping back and forth between the past and present, allowing the characters to tell me what comes next. If you work this way too, you’ll feel comfortable arranging the scene and the characters in your mind, grabbing your notebook, and then following the characters around, writing down their words, thoughts, and actions. However, I found the prose poetry format I created for my short stories wouldn’t work for a novel. It just didn’t feel right. So I tweaked and tweaked and developed another experimental format that I still use today.
As I mentioned before, I do not use an outline for my novels, but I do edit each chapter completely before I continue. I work like this for two reasons. First, I submit each chapter as a short story to magazines and literary journals when I finish it, so the novel will gain publication credits, the kind of acknowledgements publishers and agents love to see. Second, polishing each chapter gives me the time to submerge myself in the characters and to intuit how the story should progress into the next chapter. Best of all, when I finish the last chapter I have a polished novel manuscript. Then it’s just a matter of going back and adding details to earlier chapters, important data that emerged during the process of writing the novel. Finally, I conduct one last punctuation and grammar check, and that’s it. I’ve written another novel ready to be published by one of my publishers.
If you follow this formula, relax, and allow the story to develop organically, you’ll end up with a polished first novel manuscript sitting on your computer desk before you know it. And you’ll enjoy every step of the process!
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What are some great literary agents who get fiction books published?
What are some great literary agents who like to get fiction books, about magic and action adventure type novels published. I’m looking for the best one for an idea I have. I’m only 16 though and have been writing since I was 10 and have gotten awards and praises. This is what I was meant for, please help me by listening literary agents and their contacts.
Publishing companies now have all the resources to publish books with the same productivity and efficacy as that of regular black and white books you see in physical bookstores. Considering the fact that most books are in full color, you should choose a publishing company whose book’s are of the highest quality, bar none.
Traditional publishers can only so much, you know. Perhaps its best still if you happen to have a publishing plan mapped out and then go from there.What are your thoughts on publishing the whole thing yourself while waiting for agents to do it for you? There are actually lots of chances for agents/editors/publishers to take notice of your book once they see the finished product. In the meantime, I’ll give you something to peruse while you are at it. Let me know if you have questions.
How do I search for literary agents that handle very unusual kinds of novels?
I’ve written a book that is packed full of sex and sexuality to the level of pornography, but it’s not a romance or a “sex book” or anything like that. It’s a serious literary fiction novel full of insights and social commentary, but the main subject that the insights and commentary are about is sex. The fundamental theme of the story necessitates that I write very bluntly about sexual behavior. How do I find the kind of literary agent that would consider trying to sell this kind of book? I am aware of many resources for finding agents, but I don’t know how to specifically search for the kind of agent that would recognize the value of my book and not be afraid to try to sell it. I’m not even sure what exactly to google for this. Any suggestions?
I’m looking for a literary agent for my novels.?
At the moment I am writing my third childrens fiction novel and plan on penning a complete series. I have been accepted by The Children’s Literary Agency New York but after a google search I have doubts about their commitment.I have sent off a few query letters but it is so difficult to even get an agent to look at your work. I genuinely believe my books are fun filled reads and have commercial viability so if anyone out there is in the know, I would be forever grateful for any pointers.
You could try these agents but I don’t know if they handle childrens stories
You have to classify your book into a genre. Books that are hard to classify are hard to sell, because if a publisher doesn’t know how to market it then they’re not going to buy it. This is what I learned from different literary agents.
And, like the others said, you can look for books that are similar to what you’ve written and see who the publisher is and who represents the author, and what the book is classified as. If you have to, then tone down the graphic sex if that makes it easier to find an agent.
Are there literary agents that accept foreign submissions?
Dear All,
I live in Malaysia and i have written a fiction novel and wanted to find a literary agent for representation. The problem in Malaysia is that the concept of literary agent have not quite caught up yet so there are near to none, there are only a few rare individual who formerly worked in the publishing industry .
So the question that i wanted to ask, are there any literary agents that accept foreign authors/manuscripts or i would have better luck by sticking to my home country?
thanks
How do i find officail literary agents for sci fi or fiction novels?
I think i need an agent. Where should I look for bona fide agent?
I’m writing a sci-fi novel too, and I’ll tell you this. Sci-fi is considered a niche genre, so those who say they represent fiction do not include sci-fi in that genre. They represent sci-fi if they specifically mention it – this is what I’ve learned from a writer’s forum from those who are more experienced in the biz. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums
http://www.aaronline.org – has a database of agents who’s websites you can visit to see what they represent.
Also, http://www.agentquery.com is good, or so I’ve heard, but I’ve never used the website, so I can’t personally vouch for it.
While literary agents often consider foreign submissions, many would rather deal through third parties — literary agents in the foreign countries with whom they have some sort of an understanding or partnership arrangement. This is because of the myriad problems in working with foreign authors. These include, on the one hand, language and style problems, and, on the other hand, currency restrictions, censorship, and intellectual property issues.
An irrelevant relevance: Some 20 years ago, the film, “The Russia House,” starring Sean Connery as a British publisher, presented several of these problems in a sensational way. “The Russia House” was based on John LeCarre’s novel, so you could expect a lot of espionage and the like, in addition to witty dialogue and well-drawn characters. The international publishing aspect was definitely way down on the list, but I thought I’d mention it in passing.
You’d probably best served by a literary agent in your own country who has a connection to literary agents in other countries. There is probably a Malaysian literay agency with an arrangement with an Australian literary agency, for instance — this could open up the entire English-language market to you.
Another idea: contact the Malaysian branch of an English-language publisher. Chee Wah Corporation Berhad (Butterworth) and the Kuala Lumpur branch of Oxford Fajar Sdn Bhd come to mind. Editors there might have connections with overseas literary agents.