In my last post I outlined my plans for my third session: a 10K extract focussing on the the relationship between Reverend Jenk and Agatha. Well, a lot can change in the world of writing in the space of a few days.
I put the plan to Miranda and she was happy with the suggestion so I had my target of finishing session two by today and then starting work on draft 3 of the novel, initially focussing on the relationships of the main character Chris Symes, with the idea that this would form session three in a couple of months.
In the interim I had a response from one of the agents I pitched my novel to during the World Horror Convention last month. They liked it, they had some concerns but they liked it.
I’ve submitted work to agents in the past and only ever had once personalised response and that hadn’t been promising. Now here I was with a bonafide positive reaction to what I had written. I felt like my writing had just taken a huge leap forwards.
Now how to make the most of this opportunity? The agent had raised some concerns about the opening chapters - in particular relating to Chris Symes’s introduction (can you see where this is going - sounds a bit like session 3 to anyone?). So I could simply carry on with my game plan and submit the Agatha/Jenk session to Miranda and then the Chris Symes session in July… but I’m not sure that delay would go down too well with the agent.
So today I’ve contacted Miranda with a new suggestion: if she’s got time I can submit the prepared session 2 today and then a “fast-tracked” session 3 on Chris Symes in a couple of weeks… or if that’s too intense we drop Agatha/Jenk for the moment and I’ll submit the reworked Chris chapters in a couple of weeks. Either way it means within 4 weeks I’ll have something to take back to the agent that has strengthened the introduction of Chris’s character.
