Okay, wait-- he wrote three chapters out of ten that he then didn't work on for nearly a year?

Yes, exactly.

I don't know a lot about publishing, but I'm pretty sure that your agent is not just one opinion.

I'm sorry, Allyson. The conversation had to happen to go forward. I hope he sees things differently after time passes.

And you know, this book might not find a publisher, anyway. I'll just be happier with the end product when it's done my way, even if I self-publish it.

Would you like me to answer that question? Seriously, I'm making the offer. He doesn't have to like me, and I can be completely honest and tell him why. I'll do it, just say the word.

You are the grownup here, and that sucks sometimes. You're also in the right, and he's wrong. And seriously immature. I'm sorry he's not taking it well, but he's shown a complete lack of responsibility for the investment he supposedly made--and should have made and didn't. I'm sorry you're in the middle of this particular part of his growing up. You're marvelous and I love you and I'm sorry.

I'm a greedy backstabber who would never have gotten this far without him.

Oh, fuck a BUNCH of that noise. He drops out for a year, and you're riding HIS coattails? Where'd I put my cluebat?

Sorry you're going through this, Allyson.

But the appropriate response to a massive rewrite is never "(Agent Kate) is just one opinion, why do we have to make changes?"

Oh, educating someone on the basics of publishing is never fun. But you know, she's your agent, not his. Kate's not going to send it out unless it she's happy with it. So he can stick to his righteous guns and have a manuscript that sits and gathers dust or he can put on his big boy panties and understand that publishing isn't easy or fair and it most assuredly doesn't cater to tender feelings and whimsies.

Not that I have strong feelings on the subject or anything.

I'm a greedy backstabber who would never have gotten this far without him.

Um. I. Uh. He knows you already had, like, an agent and a published book before you started working with him, right?

Also, I find it interesting that those are almost the exact same words my ex-writing partner used with me.

It sounds like he just wants to take credit without putting in the work. I'm new to this but I'm finding out that to a great extent pumping out that initial text is the easy part because just telling a story can be fun, rolling up your sleeves and doing the rewrite is the work.

It's like software, something I do know about, there's a lot of really crappy software out there because getting it 80% done is fun since you are making it work. It's the 20% of making it work really well that is a lot of sweat that isn't very fun. But it's the difference between software that you can barely give away and software people are willing to buy.

He knows you already had, like, an agent and a published book before you started working with him, right?

My thoughts exactly. I am playing the world's smallest violin for him.

He knows you already had, like, an agent and a published book before you started working with him, right?

Exactly. Allyson, I am so sorry the conversation went badly. But it sounds like he had a fantasy of what Being A Writer was like, and is lashing out because reality didn't match that.