Jules

@jonathan — I agree, I found the twitter writing community really open and helpful. I follow a few writers who like me submit short stories and flash and everybody is always happy to promote each others work and give feedback, I also follow quite a few literary journal. I must be following the right people because I’ve never come across any kind o…[Read more]

@Jonathan Thanks for the site link, but http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com is only for US agents. I wish we had one just for UK agents.
I agree that the Twitter writing community is basically friendly, but I have to say there is a strong feminist element embedded there who take every opportunity to bash male authors. Yes, I get the impression that the…[Read more]

This is a very interesting thread. Of no direct interest to me, I’m not looking for an agent, but it’s heartwarming to see Den dwellers giving their knowledge so freely. Very generous. Give yourselves a pat on the back.

I find Twitter is an invaluable resource for at least finding agents and getting some idea of what they want. Hashtags such as #MSWL (manuscript wish list, web homed at http://www.manuscriptwishlist.com) can be helpful, as can various “pitching events” such as #Pitchwars, #SFFPIT, #DVPit, #PitMad and so on. It’s not hard to figure out how to use, and you…[Read more]

All, just wondering: in this thread there were 75 posts in the space of 10 days. Then nothing, and abruptly – the last post was on 7th.
Was there a system crash?

Anyway, maybe it can be resuscitated?

I’ve read the entire thread, and agree there’s a lot of useful stuff. Thanks to those who’ve put links in.

I’m in that submitting period, devising…[Read more]

Ditto and ditto.
(sounds like a literary agency)

Yes, I’d read more. The first section is intriguing and I’d want to find out how this fits into the overall story. Good writing, confident. Might be a bit overwritten in places – could be simplified on edit, perhaps.
Second section brings us back to reality nicely, well written. Without knowing the story it’s difficult to say if these sections…[Read more]

Such a generous thing to do.

This is absolutely fantastic. What a brilliant resource

Totally forgot to say – LOVE LOVE LOVE the image of the fly and the spider’s web. Him seeing himself as that fly is so sinister and foreshadowy and makes you really want to side with him in whatever dark shenanigans he is up to! 🙂

Just come to this after reading the first chapter (sorry, I mean’t to read a few days ago and got sidetracked). So this is the guy we meet in the woods? Ace! And I’m assuming we’ve seen a fair bit of him between then and now, so would have already encountered his OCD and the hints of military/prison/crime dribbled into the thoughts. I love the…[Read more]

In a word, yes, would totally read on!! 🙂

Elle has suggested leading with Laura’s PoV, and I do think it might work well that way, partly because we get to know her much better in that short piece of text than we get to know unnamed him. Also because her section is full of suggestions and hooks that I think set up the reader better in terms of…[Read more]