Pre-Planning Your Novel and Getting an Agent

You won't believe it and I don't either. An agent -- a real agent with a good reputation and a nice roster of clients -- once contacted me after reading one of my short stories to find out if I had representation and, if not, did I have a novel he could see?

And this is even more unbelievable: I never wrote him back!

Oh, I always meant to. I composed many letters in my head, clever little things that usually involved my offer to sleep with him if he would hang around until I got around to starting and finishing my novel. I tried a few real letters, but none of them could overcome the fact that No, thanks for asking, but I do not have a novel.

My mother raised me better than this. At the very least, I could have written him back to say I have never been so flattered, overwhelmed and encouraged in my whole life and of course I'd be glad to sleep with him for that alone. Actually, that's not exactly what my mother would want me to say, but you get the idea. Common courtesy would have dictated that I write this genius, this most brilliant of all agents, back to say a mere "thank you" and "can I send you one if I ever write it?" But no.

For my excuse, I was having a bit of post-partum depression and he probably wouldn't have wanted to sleep with me anyway.

So why am I telling you all this? If you want to know how to blow-off an agent, ask me. If you want some encouragement on getting an agent, visit David McMahon's authorblog. Today's post (or maybe it's tomorrow's -- he's in Australia) touches on that question as well as a question I asked him a while ago about how he pre-plans his novels. I think you'll find it interesting reading. Penguin Books is putting out his next novel, which is due on Halloween.