Well, I received extensive advice from one of the agents that I had submitted my novella to. To start with, she suggested that I organize my story into a manuscript format. I had no idea what she meant and with much patience she sent me an example of what my story should look like. After I followed her advice and sent it to her once more, she gave me some positive feedback. My little novella is not quite ready and needs some polishing and she offered me some pointers.
Upon hearing that, I was crestfallen. No, I was downright angry. For an hour I stewed and came to the realization that she was absolutely right. I re-read her e-mail several times and noticed that she had complemented my novella and encouraged me to do some revisions. For the most part, it shouldn’t be too difficult. My main concern is the “showing” versus “telling.” I detest flowery, useless description that has little or no information and doesn’t pertain to the plot at all. I prefer to be to the point. Despite my concerns about this, I am willing to give it a try. What do I have to lose? I suppose I fear that no matter how many revisions that I do that it will never been good enough.
Well, I guess if I have come this far, I can eventually reach my goal. So, I am going to do some more revisions and maybe by the beginning of next year it will be ready.
It's good that someone was nice enough to point you in the right direction. Without the knowledge of this info, I'll be many writers get rejections. If more agents actually give reasons why they may not want to represent our work, then maybe we could have a chance. I'm glad you have one and I know you'll kick butt! :)
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