the problem with good writing

This week I did not read about breasts once. (I know, my life has become sad and empty.) In fact, for all the questionable manuscripts I read last week, I must have read twice that number of really good samples of writing.

I don't know what's worse.

The problem with the good ones is that most of them are missing one crucial factor, just that extra je ne sais quois to make it spectacular. It might be underdeveloped characters, stilted dialogue, a weak premise. And that's harder. To read about each character's breasts thrice on each page makes my life easy; it's a fairly quick rejection. To read the good stuff with the interesting plot and carefully constructed characters makes it quite difficult. I want to respond to each manuscript with things like, "Please keep writing!", "Revise and submit again in six months!",  "I love the part where Cynthia tells Jake she loves him for the first time but it's already too late because he's accepted the job in Asia and married the woman from the prologue!"

But I can't. No one can. Sadly, there are not enough hours in a day to write out detailed reviews of everything I liked and didn't like. Once I thought a story showed a lot of promise, but it was so not the genre my agency looks for, so I took the time to look up the information of another agent who does rep the genre, and I passed along the info. This will probably not happen again. There are not enough hours in a day.

As a result, I do give serious attention to every piece of writing I read. It's a big responsibility having other people send in their stories for consideration. I know all of them have put in serious work, so I must give serious consideration. I do. Like I said, it's tough not being able to do more in terms of feedback for the ones that get rejected. (Except for that guy with the breasts. Oh my God, I don't think I'll ever recover from that one.)

But just because I (or any agency) cannot give more feedback, doesn't mean that no one can.

http://www.critters.org/ is a good website for fantasy and sci-fi writers to receive feedback. This website also makes it a requirement that members give detailed feedback about other writing as well, which is super useful because it means you have to take the time and figure out what did and did not work for a certain piece. As a writer, once you start seeing what does and does not work, you will be able to see those things in your own writing. Really, feedback and critiquing are equally useful.

http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/ - this is another good website for finding agents. Like I said, some of the really good stuff I see just isn't right for the agency I represent, but there could be other agencies out there who are interested.

In conclusion, there is lot of good writing out there. A rejection doesn't mean it can't be published, a thoughtless response doesn't mean your story was thoughtlessly reviewed, and ultimately: a breast doesn't mean an intern will automatically reject a manuscript.

(But within reason, people, within reason...)