Oh my god the bloody board ate a huge and complex and detailed post, requesting information.

I want some C4.

(slamming head against the keyboard)

I just wrote a whole new chapter section. Chapter one, now complete.

Two to go, and then we can pitch to Ruth...

How much of a novel do I need to have written to send it to an agent? And, how "perfect" does it have to be? To clarify, I tend to write one part, and then focus obsessively on getting it perfect instead of going on to write the rest. At what point do I say, good enough, and get on with it?

Oy. Loaded question, Zen.

Here's the thing: an agent will generally take a partial, once you query them about their willingness to look at all and assuming they say yes. Each agent has their own guidelines. But if you try and buck the rules, and ignore the guidelines, agents will hate you.

My agent, Jennifer Jackson, lists her guidelines at her website; she, for instance, doesn't handle nonfiction at all. Some searching will get you a list of the agents who are likely to rep the kind of book you're writing.

As an unpublished writer, you need to have a complete manuscript before you submit to an editor or an agent, because a lot of people start books and never finish them. (I was one of those people myself until 2003!) They're not going to take on anyone who hasn't proved she can finish a book. And you want to have it as polished as you can make it just because the competition is so tough at all levels.

I'm not agented yet myself, but I've been studying up on the process obsessively of late.

ETA--you'd never submit the whole novel to the agent right off. It's either a query letter or query plus synopsis and partial, depending on that agency's preference. But you want to be sure you have the whole novel, because if they call and ask for the full and you don't have it ready to send out, you're screwed.

Susan, true, I forget that. If you haven't published before, you'd best have it done before querying, because they want to make damned sure you'll finish it.

Good advice, thanks. That's rather what I thought.

Speaking of, someone slap me and tell me to go write and not play on the internet anymore until I've produced at least six pages today. Because I told that editor when I sent my partial that it was a complete manuscript (it is), in the middle of an edit (also true), and that I'd be through with the edit by 12/31 (not gonna be true unless I get off my ass but quickly).

I've got grave doubts now that Lucy will ever be a marketable manuscript. But I can damn well sacrifice most of my playtime for the next three weeks to make sure I don't get myself on the Signet/NAL blacklist as a ditzy writer who doesn't do what she says she'll do, just in case the editor does request the full next month.

Susan, it's a laudable idea, but if she does ask for the entire thing next month? You've got a few week's leeway with it. Asking for a full doesn't mean they expect it by Fed Ex the next day.

Yeah, but I figure I'd need that leeway to give it one last edit. For now I'm just trying to get to the end. Also, the sooner I finish, the sooner I can get back to Anna, which I'm aching to do.

t really disappearing for now