Thanks for all the replies. Now that I've had a bit of time to lick my wounds, I'm going to try my next round of agents without the paragraph and see what happens.
Rejection Dilemma
- Thread starter gothicangel
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I was wondering the same thing, especially because I have a couple of friends who have won contracts with agents, and both of them went through some pretty serious revisions (in one case, an entire subplot and character were deleted) before the agent was ready to start submitting.
If an agent is really jazzed about your book, they're not going to let a weak opening paragraph dissuade them.
But if you've only just started submitting, and you've already gotten this many nibbles, it might be worth doing some more. Agents aren't a hive mind, and no novel is going to thrill each and every one of them. There may be some out there that are looking for historical novels in the style of the authors you admire.
Make a copy of your manuscript (really, you should already have done that), take the offending paragraph out. see how it reads.
And don't succumb to the "Golden Word" syndrome.
caw
And don't succumb to the "Golden Word" syndrome.
caw
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Right decision. Just go ahead with the "second-try submission" to other publishers. This way you can check whether that paragraph is actually the thing that keeps publishers away from going further with your work. Good luck!
My cynical response to crit that covers only the first paragraph or even first sentence of a piece -- that's all the critter read.
Your cynicism level may vary.
As others have said, it could be worth it to make the change and then see what you think. It might also be instructive to send out some samples without the first paragraph, to see if those samples fare better. *
Once you're under contract, you can choose the hills you mean to die on and plant bigger artillery on them.
* Oh, and hey! I see you're psychic and took my advice before I even gave it!
Your cynicism level may vary.
As others have said, it could be worth it to make the change and then see what you think. It might also be instructive to send out some samples without the first paragraph, to see if those samples fare better. *
Once you're under contract, you can choose the hills you mean to die on and plant bigger artillery on them.
* Oh, and hey! I see you're psychic and took my advice before I even gave it!
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