Nathan Bransford - The Forums

After seven rejections and one silence-means-no, I just got a request for a full! And I thought I was aiming WAY too high with this particular agent!

The chances that he'd actually ask to rep me are astronomical, but I couldn't care less - I'm absolutely psyched. And I can't seem to stop using exclamation points. YES!!!!!!

Thank you guys for all the great advice you've posted on this forum. You're all awesome!

Yay!! That is so great. Congrats!

See, and just two days ago you were talking about how low your expectations had sunk.

Congrats! Best of luck that you hear even better news after the full gets read!

(Great, now I've caught the exclamation point virus)

Awesome!! Awesome!! Awesome!!!

I'm telling ya', we've got some pretty talented people here on the forums. Yes-sir-ree ;-)

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

~JD

Congratulations!!!!

We would love to see the query that got this, if you care to share it!!!

Best of luck and wishes for a great response for the Full!

WOW THAT IS AMAZING! A THOUSAND CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!
keep us updated;D

Congrats!! That's wonderful wonderful news!!

Fantastic! Congratulations!

Grats and Good luck!

Thank you, everyone! And JustineDell, I hope you're including yourself in that statement - I'm sure you'll be getting many more full requests where the last two came from.

bcomet wrote:Congratulations!!!!

We would love to see the query that got this, if you care to share it!!!

Best of luck and wishes for a great response for the Full!

Sure, if you like! It's far from perfect, but that just goes to show you how subjective these things are.

***

Dear [Agent],

[Personalized bit], and I'm writing in the hopes that you might be interested in taking a look at my first novel, a 75,000-word urban fantasy written for the young adult market. The title is Grandmaster Draw, and I would describe it as a retelling of Alice in Wonderland set in the world of today's adolescents. It combines psychological realism with strong elements of fantasy, and might appeal to readers of authors such as Neil Gaiman.

Liam doesn’t want to believe he’s crazy - but when he starts seeing doors that no one else can, he’s resigned to it. The only thing he can do is hide it: he knows how to fade into the background, and he’s accepted his role as the listening ear for his loving, high-powered family. He’s confident that he’s prepared for anything… until the day he opens the door.

There, Liam meets Mary, a woman with a pretty face and rows of sharp teeth. Mary agrees to help Liam find his way home on one condition: that he return to her with a chessboard. He agrees without thinking. He doesn’t expect her to prove that she’s more real than he thought.

With his unwitting help, Mary challenges her rival to a game of chess. She casts Liam as the king to her queen, and to protect himself, he must play the game with her. It doesn’t take long for the boundary between the game and his well-ordered family life to break down.

Control is everything behind the doors. But in chess, the only thing the king controls is when the game ends.

While I have done a great deal of writing – and minored in Creative Writing at Brandeis University – this is my first completed longer work. I am ready to send a partial or full manuscript in your preferred format if you are interested in seeing more.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
[my name and contact info]

congratulations!
crossing fingers for you (i would like to read a book like that... sounds interesting! :)

And here it is... the rejection from the Big Time agent. He called my writing "natural, atmospheric, and evocative," and called me "very talented" twice, but in the end, it didn't come together for him. He invited me to send future work.

This is my first manuscript rejection, so it's pretty tough. But I couldn't have asked for a nicer e-mail.

That's encouraging. Don't let the rejection get you down, I'm sure the critique wasn't just lip service, why waste their time?

EDIT: I forgot to add: Don't EVER give up. I have to say your query sounds AWESOME. Your premise sounds AWESOME, it reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE and I bet your novel is great. It probably just didn't fit for this agent. I really don't think he would have taken the time to compliment your writing so specifically if he didn't really mean it.

Don't forget to visit my blog below if you want to laugh a little about the painfully tedious query process.

Matthew Rush wrote:That's encouraging. Don't let the rejection get you down, I'm sure the critique wasn't just lip service, why waste their time?

EDIT: I forgot to add: Don't EVER give up. I have to say your query sounds AWESOME. Your premise sounds AWESOME, it reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE and I bet your novel is great. It probably just didn't fit for this agent. I really don't think he would have taken the time to compliment your writing so specifically if he didn't really mean it.

ditto! (and I just finished reading neverwhere, and that is one serious compliment!)