Friday the 13th Mini Bulletin: Agent Update

In which I revise

My last mini bulletin was about feedback from an agent. She thought my novel needed to better deliver on the murder plot that drives it, and I needed time to decide what, if anything, I wanted to do with that feedback.

What follows is that decision…

The update

After talking with friends, journaling, and occasionally startling bolt upright in the night, I decided to lift the hood of my manuscript once again. Just to check on the engine.

Reader, oh reader. I saw room for improvement.

The impact

That I knew exactly where to look for plot thinness suggests my subconscious noted it at some earlier point and, out of misguided kindness or fatigue or mischief, chose not to tell me. Without getting too into the weeds, I also found opportunities to clarify the emotional arc of my main character.

Knowing my tendency to tinker, tinker endlessly, tinker for years, I braindumped every possible action I could take to address the manuscript’s challenges. I included frightening and terrible ideas, such as removing the plot entirely. I also wrote, “do nothing”—as valid an option as any. In the end, I chose the top three actions that met the following criteria:

1. Improved the novel significantly

2. Are doable in 1-2 weeks

Then, I got to work. If I’ve been slow to respond to you these past few weeks (slower than usual, I mean… I’m never the speediest), blame novel revisions. Most of my free time was spent slashing, drafting, and doing a final read-through for continuity. I added about 5,000 words of new material and cut probably 2,000. I also added some structural elements like sections and time markers.

Finishing the revision this past Sunday, just in time for the Seahawks & Bad Bunny, felt like coming above water. It felt rad. And it was nice to have a day to feel rad in these, our dark times.

thanks, nypost, for your continued value add

The outcome

Feeling freshly confident in my manuscript, I sent it out to the next few agents on my query list, all of whom I’d be thrilled to work with. (I keep waiting to “run out” of agents that genuinely excite me, but it hasn’t happened yet. They continue to turn up.)

Naturally, I fumbled the ball (!theme! coherence!) at the one-yard line by sending an excerpt without page numbers, despite proofing my query for 20 minutes before hitting send. Oops!! Embarrassing. I can only hope this works in my favor by proving my status as a human, as I hear AI submissions are currently flooding query inboxes.

What will these agents think of my refreshed book? I’ll let you know.

Be well,

AK

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If you are wondering, the average price of my preferred coffee (black decaf Americano, like a serial killer) is currently $4.08, according to the first link I clicked on at the top of my Google search.

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