manuscriptacademy.bsky.social
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We are too!! I will find a way to that castle even if I have to swim!
(I don’t think we have to swim.)
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Oh! It's more that "Here are two edits, both are good, which one do you like better?"
I'm not sure I understand, but no one found out who was the "losing" agent in each round--the first bit was anonymous, and then we just shared and revealed the winning agent. It felt supportive and kind.
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It was an apples-to-apples demonstration of how two agents could see one query differently (they often do!).
It was also a way to show the author that the audience may prefer one version of the query to another—useful data for them.
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It doesn’t feel dark! It’s actually very celebratory—we did an edit, showed each version anonymously, let the audience vote, then showed a cameo of further edits from the agent. The mood was joyful and uplifted. I’m sorry to worry you!
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Send a note to [email protected]. Thank you!
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I love that! What a nice project!
And just a few hours after I sent you that message, my friend gave me a card she got in New Orleans, and I was delighted.
Real paper makes people happy.
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This is all very relatable. I suspect most writers feel this way sometimes.
I hope the algorithm sends this to the right writer so they see this, relate, and feel less alone.
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I still send them! A lot of my friends do. Amazing card stores here.
Plus, people are often so happy!
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(NOT saying I want to go back to paper mail! But I remember having the luxury of sending people thoughtful handwritten rejections, not realizing how rare that would soon become.)
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And I really do think that if we all had a pre-2008 amount of time—when the query piles were still a bit slowed down by having to physically mail, and expectations were a little different, and everything felt less frantically paced, many more writers would get more thoughtful rejections.
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Ah! Yes, I’ve read about that happening with cPTSD.
However. Perhaps—I don’t know if this is possible, but perhaps—you could tell yourself that you’re going to interpret rejections more harshly than they’re meant, so you can manually tell yourself it’s two notches kinder and more hopeful? :)
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I know this is much easier said than done, but please try to be kinder to you and your work. This amount of thought from them is a huge compliment, and hopeful sign.
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I suppose not in so many words, but they are saying the world is great, they liked the beginning (and thus writing). If you wanted to really overthink—and I think this is the only overthinking direction that might be useful—you could decide if there’s a change after the first ten pages.
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I can see how it would feel that way, no matter what they say.
But this is actually super hopeful. They’re telling you not to give up.
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Kaitlin this is amazing! Congratulations!!!!
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Right! It’s really really tough to have a response rate that fast, because (at least for me) you have to block off an hour a day, every day, to keep up.
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It sounds like you did a great job on world building, and if they say they like the beginning, that implies good writing too! The rest is just a “just didn’t fall in love” which could be anything amorphous.
A very hopeful rejection!
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I like it! And I like the idea of is dissecting these almost the way women do texts in a group chat. 😃
First of all, please take any nice thing, or anything that is personalized even if it’s a negative, as a compliment! We usually type one sentence if in our head we have a paragraph of thought.
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All sped up with a lot of coffee, a commute that makes the sidewalks feel like an eight-lane highway, constant interruptions (but this is modern life!) and a wish for enough quiet to focus to give each piece the attention and nuance absorption it deserves.
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I really wish we could ethically take writers into our inboxes so you can see what it's like in there! It's somewhere between that scene in Miracle on 34th Street when the bags of mail end up on the judge's desk, a shaken snow globe, and that game show where people try to grab money in a whirlwind.
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Thank you Susie!
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It IS a big step—and validation you’ve done something right! Usually it goes form rejections, personalized rejections, requests, some partial rejections, more requests, interest.
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The writers were so great! It’s a brave thing, coming down to our (cute! Like a 60s game show) set to weigh in on which agent’s edits work better for the piece.
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I’m so glad to hear it! We love Kelly.
Please keep in touch—we love good news!
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I'm so happy for you! Please keep us updated--we love good news!
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Many thanks to agent Savannah Brooks, KT Literary, @sblitagent.bsky.social who filmed this for us! It's part of her larger upcoming #MSWL video (coming soon!)
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So glad you liked it! We love Liv!