2019-10-01_Writer_s_Digest

AGENT ROUNDUP

fi ction submission I’m paying more attention to where

the writer has placed pieces than how many followers

they have on social media.

HYDE: My pitching tips are the same for all fi ction.

Write the absolute best story you can, and don’t send

out a fi rst draft. Don’t send out a second either. Use

beta readers and read it out loud fi rst. Work on it until

you’ve taken it as far as you can on your own, and then

know that most agents will still want you to work on it

more. With fi ction it’s great if you have some previous

writing credits, even if a small journal, or if you have

taken writing courses or have an MFA and have started

making yourself part of the writing community, are a

good literary citizen. For the query itself, you want to

write in your voice and be engaging. Look at the jacket

copy of books that have made you want to read that

book and try looking at your pitch the same way. What

about you and this novel will make me want to read

this? Without being gimmicky or aggressive.

Do some research before you start submitting, fi nd-

ing the right agents to send to. Read! Know the market-

place without comparing your work to just the greats.

Follow agency guidelines for submissions. Be profes-

sional and patient.

JOHNSON: It really helps if the writer has read other liter-

ary fi ction and can give a sense of what other authors

have inspired them, or what books they see theirs as

being in conversation with. It can be hard to otherwise

give the fl avor of the voice in a brief plot description

(and for this reason I tend to jump straight to the pages

rather than read a longer synopsis for literary fi ction).

And of course, as fi ction tastes are so personal, it would

be advantageous for a writer to get a sense of what other

books an agent has represented before querying them.

Th e acknowledgments page of a novel you’ve admired is

a great place to start looking for an agent.

WARNOCK: As a matter of personal preference but by no

means a requirement for the genre, I tend to gravitate

toward literary authors who also write short stories. Not

only does it encourage more community involvement,

but a successful writer of short fi ction is training them-

selves to be able to deliver on those micro levels that

appeal so much to me. Th ey take great care with the lan-

guage and make each word pull considerable weight.

WHAT TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING WITH LITERARY

FICTION TODAY?

CAPRON: I try hard to veer away from discussing trends,

because writing to a trend is always a mistake. By the

time you’ve identifi ed the trend and have written a

manuscript, that trend is long past. Th at said, I think that

literary fi ction tied into good nonfi ction hooks (illumi-

nating a time or real-life history or issue) is working well

right now. But, for me, it truly comes down to identify-

ing that great narrative voice and compelling character.

I’m looking for a manuscript that will make me drop

everything to fi nish reading it. I’m looking for a reason

to say yes!

HWANG: One of the biggest trends I’m seeing today is

more genre-infl ected literary fi ction. I personally love

this sweet spot where high-concept meets literary execu-

tion; it truly feels like the best of both worlds and is the

kind of novel I love to read and work on.

HYDE: Trends in publishing are a bit of an illusion, espe-

cially with literary fi ction. It takes so long to get a book

to press that if you’re chasing a trend it will be over

before you’ve gotten your book out there. And most

agents and editors are looking for something new, not

something that has already been done.

JOHNSON: Maybe because our world is increasingly more

divided and dystopic (hello, Handmaid’s Tale), there

seems to be a little more open mindedness about magical

realism or even fantastical elements which, as in Melissa

Broder’s Th e Pisces or Jan Carson’s Th e Fire Starters or

Emma Glass’s Peach, let us look at a controversial or dif-

fi cult topic (sex, religion, politics, mental health) from a

safer, altered plane.

WARNOCK: It must be said, don’t write to a trend, and any-

thing you read in a magazine was written a few months

earlier. With that said, one of the rare positives about the

current climate is that publishers are looking for diverse

voices to contribute to the national discussion, and it’s

facilitating more mainstream attention for literary POC

and nonbinary authors, which I’m excited about. WD

Kara Gebhart Uhl (pleiadesbee.com) writes and edits from Fort

Thomas, Ky.

36 I WRITER’S DIGEST I October 2019