Mixed Feelings on Writer's Conference Experience

First off, what an exhausting day it was!  I crammed in 14 hours of learning and attempting to sell myself (well, my ideas and my writing).  By the end of the day, I was beyond beat.  I was mentally and emotionally drained.

I thought I was going in more prepared than I had been previously and in some ways that is true because this time I went with four completed manuscripts to pitch, whereas before (when I went a decade ago) I had ideas but few completed works.  However, my idea to create a pitch page (which had my contact information, a photo, and four paragraphs offering blurbs to describe each of my four young adult novels) was a disappointment.  I had spent so much money making copies of these (and of the first chapters of each novel) in the hopes of passing them out to potential editors and agents.  I had scoured the faculty listing for ones interested in young adult manuscripts and checked off ten individuals I might approach.

Alas, when I arrived at the conference, I discovered that a single-day attendee was only allowed to sign up for one slot with a faculty member.  Plus, the Tyndale House editor who deals with young adult manuscripts was out sick for the day - sigh.  So I signed up with an agent I know doesn't accept unsolicited queries.  Then I noticed that there were loads of openings, since most people had signed up earlier in the conference and gotten these little meetings out of the way.  A sign indicated that after Wednesday, I could sign up for another one if there was room.  I probably broke the rules, but I signed on with four individuals, even missing the first half of one of my classes in order to meet with these individuals and pitch my manuscripts.

Most of the agents and editors looked over the sheet but didn't wish to take it or even take any of the chapter samples I offered.  I got the general impression that they didn't wish to be inundated with four different ideas at one time.  They all seemed to want me to select one which I feel most passionate about (as if you could choose one of your children that you think stands out above the others).  I found myself really discouraged that I had put the time and effort into preparing something to pass out, which they obviously didn't want to see or take.

Some of the meetings went very well and others, well ... I'll get to that in a minute.  The first meeting, with the excellent agent whose blog I've followed for writing and publishing advice, was a bit disappointing, but she was very kind.  She explained that stories told in letters and journals don't appeal to her and that she probably wasn't a good fit for any of the ideas I was pitching.  But, she did say they were sound ideas and had potential, just not with her.

The second and third individuals were both very positive and encouraging.  The second one kept my pitch paragraph sheet and even accepted each of the four first chapters I had to offer.  She asked me to send the first three chapters and a synopsis for each one.  The third editor also requested the first 3 chapters (saying she really liked my "voice" and my ideas), in addition to a synopsis and a book proposal.  The third editor even sent me to linger near a different editor (she was convinced he might be interested, as well) until he had an opening.  I seized the moment just before lunch to check in with him and he expressed an interest in my Dream-catcher and the Frog-Kisser manuscript.  He even grew quite animated as he envisioned how the novel would end and different plot development ideas (which didn't exactly coincide with how my novel actually goes - an example of where an editor has a different vision for your manuscript than you do).  Still, he also requested the first 50 pages, along with a synopsis and a book proposal.

As I talked with these three editors, I was both excited and overwhelmed.  It was a great feeling to hear their enthusiasm for my ideas.  But, I've only had experience writing one synopsis, and I believe I did that one incorrectly because I found something on-line which said you list chapter-by-chapter what happens in the book (a model more for a non-fiction book - fiction is generally a one to three page condensed version of what all happens in the novel).  Moreover, I've never written a book proposal and that is most daunting of all.  I will definitely be buying Michael Hyatt's book on writing book proposals.  I think it was tremendously overwhelming because even though I've come a long way from where I was a decade ago, it was clear that I still have so far to go and am still quite green about this whole exhausting process.

My two afternoon classes were both very informative and enjoyable.  The first one, taught by the agent mentioned earlier, talked about building a platform by using Google to find readers for your book.  The second class, taught by the agent who requested my Dream-Catcher and the Frog-Kisser manuscript several months ago, moved me to tears.  She was trying to encourage writers to change lives by writing books with powerful messages.  She read aloud from several examples (this is where the tears came in) and I was deeply moved and challenged.  I thought to myself, "if only I could write a novel with the depth of meaning held in these examples." (One of the examples was The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson and another was Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers.)  I loved the agent's encouragement to "write what God wants you to write" and "you can blatantly preach in your stories, but you cannot be preachy."

I left those classes feeling super-charged and, still, a little bit intimidated.  Then, I approached the fourth editor for a pitch session.  This editor was from a very conservative university publishing house.  I should have realized that it wouldn't be a good fit before scheduling it, but it did say YA on the sign-up sheet and I thought I'd give it a shot. 

This was the most demoralizing experience I've ever had at a writer's conference.  She was negative and demeaning through the whole ten minute encounter.  After reading the very first paragraph, she turned and said, "You obviously didn't read our guidelines, or you would have known that we don't handle any manuscripts with time travel or elements of magic."  My bad and entirely warranted.  Then, she picked apart my novel about a young girl who finds forgiveness for her father through a correspondence with an elderly aunt.  It was the way she said things that felt so wounding.  "Do you remember, from your English classes, the diagram of plot development?  You have to have an action that propels the story upward towards the moment of climax.  All you have here is a character with an emotional response."  Finally, she looked at my If Bones Could Speak blurb and shot it down with "There's a girlfriend in this!  Our readers won't tolerate any form of boy-girl attachment in their novels.  These are home-schooling families who don't want to introduce their teenagers to that element or idea."

It certainly would have been nice if she could have found one encouraging thing to say to me during our interaction.  Instead, I left feeling like I had just been attacked by a pit bull.  I went to dinner and considered just abandoning the evening session and the critique group.  Thankfully, I plugged on.

The key-note speaker, Bob Hostetler, got up and expressed exactly what I was feeling.  The highs and lows of emotion, the exhaustion, the feeling of "Who am I kidding?  I'll never make it."  But, he charged us with three things: read, pray, and write.  He acknowledged that writing is hard and will test you in tremendous ways, but in the end, if you can't help but write, then it is entirely worth it.  I picked myself up out of the doldrums and renewed my pledge to do whatever God wants with the talent and ideas He has given me.

The critique session was encouraging, as well.  The other five or six people in the group were very positive in their comments and suggestions.  I was able to read samples from two of my books.  I was thrilled when I heard them comment that I nailed the voice on the main character in Dream-Catcher and the Frog-Kisser.  They loved the title, but wondered if it shouldn't have a "The" at the beginning.  I'm not sure how I feel about that suggestion.  Still, I appreciated their input and they even taught me how to eliminate the pesky extra space which keeps showing up after each paragraph in my Word documents.

So, I came away with a great deal of learning, some encouragements, and some discouragements.  The positives outweighed the negatives, but I still felt overwhelmed.  It was a good, but hard, experience.  Now, I have to follow up on the requests and learn a thing or two about writing synopses and book proposals.