Category: Querying

  • The art of killing one’s darlings.

    The art of killing one’s darlings.

    “In writing, you must kill all your darlings,” William Faulkner famously wrote, suggesting that the process of editing requires a certain stoicism, and the suppression of affection towards superfluous material, no matter how much we love it. In the midst of many outright rejections from agents, I got an email last week from an agent…

  • What my first literary agent rejection has taught me.

    What my first literary agent rejection has taught me.

    Last week I got my first rejection from an agent I queried. I was introduced to this agent by a contact whose book is coming out next year, and I was delighted to have a direct line to an agent who represents some pretty amazing people. Here is what the agent said in his rejection…