Yanno - Copyright Miss Snark

I may, from time to time, use the word 'Yanno'. It's an ironic version of Tony Blair's 'Yenno'.

I didn't invent it, Miss Snark may have. Miss Snark is a literary agent whose blog provides snarky advice to aspiring writers. I am a fan of Miss Snark. There, I've said it.

Best. Week. Ever.

What a week it turned out to be.

About two weeks ago I received an email from my agent, Peter. Could I come to London to meet some publishers?

I hadn't let my hopes get up. I didn't realise that Peter had only recently gone out with it - he'd been waiting for the right moment.

So when Peter began with all the phone calls, I didn't take it too seriously. I was deeply into my new project - working title - 'Realm of the Jaguar'.

Monday rolled around. I met Peter at his club and we chatted for half-an-hour, mostly about a certain press story involving him and a well-loved celebrity, which had caused Peter to be chased by paparazzi.

Then I started to meet publishers. One in particular had some excellent ideas about how to improve the book. Peter sat by and said very little. Later he told me that I'd been a tad too business-like. "It's not a business meeting," he said.

We jumped into a taxi and drove to yet another publisher, where I had one of the major surprises of my life. As we sat down with the editor, I was presented with a suede-covered box, on which a sticker decorated with Mayan glyphs pronounced something about a prophecy from a codex... Inside was another sheet, continuing the story...

(I'm honestly too embarrassed to write the contents of those sheets, but in short, it said that in 2008 they would like to launch my book.)

There was a marketing proposal stuck onto papyrus, and a separate sheet (folded concertina-fashion, like a Mayan codex!) with the 'Offer', which I passed straight to my agent. Everything was gift-wrapped and tied with a bow. There was a box of Maya Gold chocolates on the table, I realised. I frankly could hardly believe my eyes. It was one of those situations where there's a two-second gap between perception and reaction. "Wow," I said, nodding, struggling to comprehend what I was seeing. I was banking on 'wow' being the appropriate reaction, but I wasn't exactly sure.

Then I met the rest of the team. They told me how much they liked my book, asked me some questions about what inspired it and where the story was going...

Well, I used to tell anyone (who'd listen) anything I could about my books, but for the past year I haven't. Guess I've realised that unless you've read and love a book, it's no fun to hear about one. And sometimes even then...yanno. So to suddenly have a crowd of people being so fascinated, was pretty overwhelming. As we left their office, I had the sense of being slowly disconnected from reality. What the hell is going on? I thought.

Back at Peter's club, we met even more publishers. One carried a large aluminium tube decorated with stickers made up in black and red, with the book title in a logo. This 'offer' came gift-wrapped with six bars of Maya Gold chocolate, toys that tied-in with the book and the financial and marketing proposal printed on glossy, "Joshua Files" logo-headed paper. They'd actually knocked up a logo! More enthusiastic chat about the book, favourite films and TV shows, writers, influences, things in the story pipeline, plans for how to sell and launch the book.

I simply didn't know this kind of thing happened. "I need to take a moment," I told Peter after they'd left. "This is a little overwhelming."I wasn't kidding. I worried that I might actually burst into tears...I was having a pretty unprecedented experience. The last time I remember feeling anything close to it was when I was interviewed for a place at Oxford and my soon-to-be-tutor put me out of my misery and told me that he would be offering me a place.

Peter was sympathetic. When I told him that it was beyond my wildest dreams, he said, "This is just the beginning."

So...that's how it begins. Who knew?

Mr. Agent Back In Touch

Mr. Agent has been very busy doing deals for his clients, yay him!

Finally, he emailed me to suggest we arrange a catch-up session. I was planning to be in London anyway for a thing at the Oratory so we decided to meet yesterday.

First good news - he loved the sample of the new novel I'm writing. Not the plot-less character story - I've shelved that until I think up a cure. This is another story; essentially an escape-and-chase story. Gosh I love those, so I thought I'd try to write one. Working title is 'Jaguar's Realm'. After a week of so drafting a trial plot, I started to write. It was fun - I didn't have to wring out every page, as with the coming-of-age character story!

We discussed Mr. Agent's criticisms. There were many! It's back to the plotting for me.

Second good news. "We're starting to see some interest from publishers in 'The Joshua Files'. No offers, but interest."

Now you're talking, pal.

Writing - the progress

No word from Mr. Agent since we talked about the manuscript of my third novel, (fourth if you count Blake's 7 fan fiction...), which I sent him sometime in May.

I'm not going to post anything about the new novel yet. Pretty sure my friends and family are fed up with hearing about my unpublishable novels.

So, let's wait until the jury's back with a verdict before I bore you again.I've been working on some new ideas. Got 20,000 words into a coming-of-age novel for older teens, before realising that there was no proper plot. I wanted to see if I could write a story with no gadgets, chases, mystery, no adventure at all in fact, just characters and relationships. Crumbs, it was hard work.

Then my kind friend Alison read it and said politely "The writing is good...the sentences are good...but there doesn't seem to be a story". Yikes - she was right. I was concentrating so hard on, yanno, the characters and the descriptions, that I forgot to put in a hardcore structured story! So it's back to the drawing board.

And what's with the book?

I finished the manuscript for novel #3, which has the working title "The Invisible City", series title will be "The Joshua Files".

I was relieved to find that Mr Agent loved it. He sent me an email saying 'This is REALLY good' and then we spoke by phone, wherein he said lots of very nice things and then perhaps sensing the dangers of praising an author too much, he stopped saying, "I could go on but I'd start burbling".

Still doesn't mean there'll be a book deal, even if there is doesn't mean the book will sell.But I'd say this is as good as result I could hope for up to this stage. I'm happy with the draft, he's happy. Could be a lot worse!

I Have An Agent!

Following a friendly meeting at his London club, Mr. Agent and I have come to an understanding. If I totally rewrite 'Todd Garcia, Boy Archaeologist', or more accurately, write a different novel around the same central concept, then he'll represent my writing.

We discussed the manifold failings of 'Todd Garcia'. He agreed - even from reading only the partial - with the conclusions of Ms Agent.

However, he saw something in my writing. 'What', I asked him. 'Hmm, dunno' he replied cheerfully. 'But there's something there.'

It was a strange and slightly unnerving experience. Before yesterday, I had a manuscript, but no agent. Now I have an agent but no manuscript. Mr Agent seemed totally confident in my ability to write a publishable novel, one he'd enjoy selling.

I wasn't sure he was right though. That is, until I had to wake up in the middle of the night to comfort Lilia. After I'd got her back to sleep, I started to get some ideas. I grabbed a piece of discarded paper from one of my manuscripts and used one of Lilia's pencils to jot down some of these new concepts. By morning I was convinced that I have the makings of an even better adventure novel.

It's a cracker - starts with a mysterious death in a plane crash, somewhere above the jungle of Southern Mexico.

R.I.P 'Todd Garcia, Boy Archaeologist'. You were a good lad, did your job - attracted an agent.

Major Agent Wants To Read Whole Mss

So, I've been tossing ideas back and forth with the guy (I'll call him Mr Agent) who represents another Oxford-educated biochemist. I don't seem to have suggested any changes to the mss which have utterly grabbed his attention, but on the other hand we're still talking. Even better, I'd managed to persuade him to meet me face-to-face.

Meanwhile, I actually had a request for a full manuscript, made in quite the loveliest email I've been sent about my writing, from a major agent in children's publishing, in fact the very one whose interview I read on a Website. Since I'm talking to Mr. Agent, I didn't feel like bringing Ms. Agent in, in case I'd be wasting her time.

And then she phoned me...Yep. She actually did. Had I received the email? Could I send the script?

So we talked. I told her I was meeting with Mr Agent. Ms Agent then said 'Email me the script, I'll print it out, read it in the next few days and get back to you before you meet with him'.

Very, very weird feeling, having 'interest', having agents call me...

A New Player In The Field

Here's something interesting.

I realised, looking at my spreadsheet of agents, that I don't really know anything about any of them. They are just names - I don't know much about what they like to read or anything.

I did find an interview on a Website with one agent at an agency I submitted to, and she sounds very nice and I get the sense that 'Todd Garcia, Boy Archaeologist' might be something that would appeal to her, but of course, I don't know that she'd read it. It's a big agency after all, and their rules say you just send material to 'Submissions'.

So anyway. I thought - I'll spend a day really searching hard for an agent who I can be pretty sure will enjoy the story. I did. I turned up a guy who I later realised was actually the first agent I ever submitted anything to (he was the first agent to be sent 'VIP'). His agency has changed names since then. I notice that it happened round about when I sent him the submission which he ignored. Maybe there was too much going on?

I found him via a press release he'd posted on the Rights Noticeboard at The Bookseller. It was a terrifically well-written press release, oozing enthusiasm for his client's book. Damn, I thought, this is the guy I need to represent my writing. When I saw his agency profile at Publisher's Marketplace I was even more convinced.

But he has track record as a Submission Ignorer. So, I had to grab his attention in an email subject line, or he'd probably delete the email again. More research, this time into his authors, revealed an intriguing link between one of his successful children's authors and myself - we both read biochemistry at Oxford. So I wrote him: Would you like to represent another Oxford biochemist?

Guess what...he responded the next day, read the submission within half an hour and wrote back: "I won't offer to represent this as it stands, but I'd be happy to talk to you about it."

So, we are going to talk tomorrow. I've no idea what he's going to suggest but it beats the formal rejection hands down...