Dear O'Abby: What does this mean?

 Dear O'Abby,

I've been querying a novel and most of the rejections I've received have been pretty generic, even from agents who requested partials or fulls.  Then yesterday, I got a rejection from an agent who had requested a full that said this:

"I love how you’re able to bring such dark, troubling subject matter to life in ways that are humorous or sad, and sometimes both. I’m really impressed by your ability to write fleshed-out, realistic characters. They feel like people rather than caricatures, from the protagonists to minor supporting characters, and your dialogue-writing skills are also spot-on!"

Which obviously had me really excited!  But then she went on to say: 

"I am afraid I will not offer representation. This was a very tough decision as I read this with great excitement, loved the writing and the voice and the story."

What does that mean?  If she loved so much about the book, why did she reject it?

Yours,

Baffled

Dear Baffled,

There are any number of reasons why she may have decided against it, even though she loved it.  Maybe she'd already representing a book with similar themes.  Or someone else in her agency is.  Maybe your book is too like other books already in the market.  Or, it's possible this agent doesn't know any editors who are looking for a book like yours. It's possible that she did like it a lot, but knew there was a lot more work needing to be done to get it ready to submit, and she doesn't have the time to put in to guide you through that.  

But you can't speculate as to why she rejected it if she didn't give you any specific reasons in her email.  You can just spend a few minutes basking in that praise of your writing and move on.  And make sure you keep a note of who this is, because if this book doesn't get you an agent, you will want to query this one with your next book!

My advice would be to keep querying.  You're obviously getting requests, and this agent clearly liked your book a lot, even if she didn't want to represent it.  Not everyone gets feedback like this on their book, so enjoy it and take some confidence from it.  And then send out another batch of queries.

Good luck!  And do let us know how you go in the query trenches.  We'd love to hear your good news when it comes.

X O'Abby

Week 8 – The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Welcome to 2023!  On Mondays this year, let’s discuss and have fun with books. No I’m not writing book reviews. But this website is for writers, and writers like books right? So let’s have FUN with books!

Week 8 – The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Les Trois Mousquetaires, the original title, was written in 1844. It is a historical novel set in France in 1625-1628, and recounts the adventures of d'Artagnan (a character based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan) when he travels to Paris, hoping to join the Musketeers. He is befriended by Athos, Porthos, and Aramis [the three musketeers] and joins them in various adventures.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Musketeers

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Three-Musketeers

The novel is based on a real person, Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, sieur d’Artagnan.

https://historytheinterestingbits.com/2016/12/30/the-real-dartagnan/

The Three Musketeers is the first of three novels by Dumas that make up the D’Artagnan Romances.  The second was published in 1845 as Twenty Years After, and the third in 1847 as The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, which includes a section known as “The Man in the Iron Mask”.

It has been adapted for stage and film on multiple occasions

https://bookriot.com/three-musketeers-adaptations/

From the 1921 film

My favorite is the 1993 Disney version

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108333/

Dictionary.com
(1844) A novel by the French author Alexandre Dumas, set in seventeenth-century France. The Three Musketeers are comrades of the central character, D'Artagnan, a man younger than they, who becomes a musketeer after performing many daring deeds. The motto of the Three Musketeers is “All for one and one for all.”

Vocabulary.com
Before World War I, a musketeer was a member of the infantry who carried a specific type of weapon called a musket. Today, you're probably most likely to find this word referring to the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas called "The Three Musketeers." If you guessed the book is about three soldiers who carry muskets, you're right! It's also not unusual for adults to describe a group of three close pals as "the three musketeers."

Musket

 

Flash Fiction Friday

It's Flash Fiction Friday! For this week's contest, go to HuffPost's Weird News page and write a short piece based on a headline! 

Catching my eye this week is

This has all kinds of potential. Horror, Action Adventure, Magical Realism, Lit Fic. Take your Pick

Read all about it here.

Or feel free to choose any of the many lovely offerings.

Length: 2000 words
Deadline: Sunday, February 19th , 2023, 2am Central Standard Time

Leave your entry in the comments, please. As always, the winner will get bragging rights!