Ask an Agent - with Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn, from the Bent Agency

Are you looking for a query critique from those in the know? Or do you have a question you've always wanted to ask an agent? Each month, agents Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency will be offering just that.

This month they answer some questions sent to us by our readers.

If you've passed on a full, would you be prepared to see the manuscript again after a major revision (i.e. after receiving an editorial report)?

If I’ve given a personal response with some editorial concerns, AND you’ve gone away and done significant revisions (and by that, I don’t mean bouncing it back to me three weeks later), then I will consider another look. However, it’s worth remembering that I can only look at something for the first time once — if that makes sense.

If I decline a project after reading the full manuscript, I always make it clear in my letter if I’d be interested in seeing it again if it’s revised. If I don’t explicitly say so, it’s not a good use of your time and energy to re-query me.

Yes, it’s hard to be objective on a project you’ve already discounted — so ask yourself whether it might just be better to query me with a new project that might better suit my tastes.

Is it worth mentioning future ideas in covering letters or should you focus solely on your current project?

There’s no need. If, after I read your submission, I want to know what else you’ve got cooking, I’ll ask!

I’m not a fan of submissions loaded up with a list of other ideas, either. To me, it makes the author look unfocused, especially if they are querying a funny 7+, but also writing a heartbreaking YA romance. I just want to know about your best project and why it might be suitable for me. But if your book is the first in a series, you can put, ‘this book can standalone, but has series potential.’

I want to know about your best project and why it might be suitable for me.

Have you ever offered representation purely based on an idea and sample pages, or do you always need to see the full manuscript?

I always want to see a full manuscript, even if the pitch and opening chapters are fantastic. I need to know that your project has a solid ending.

Right, I always want to read the full manuscript before offering representation, too. I’ve contacted authors whose books I’ve loved as I was reading, saying something like ‘I’m up to chapter 10 and love this. Let me know if you have other interest. Perhaps we can set up a call?’ Both times this has resulted in offers of representation, but I did finish the books before talking to the authors!

Would errors in the covering letter put you off a manuscript even if the sample chapters were well-written?

We’ve all sent an email then had our stomach drop as we’ve notice a typo. I’m not going to hold a little mistake against you. But if your cover letter is littered with mistakes and your manuscript is very clean, I would find that a little odd.

Same here — lots of errors do give me pause, but the odd typo doesn’t bother me, no.

Have you noticed any increase in interest from publishers for graphic novels or comic books for children? My experience is that the general public are much more receptive and enthusiastic in conversation about this kind of book but are they buying and reading them?

Molly and I certainly noticed publishers at the Bologna and London Book Fairs talking more about illustrations in fiction to get boys reading – transitioning the Wimpy Kid generation into older books. Personally, I would love to see more illustrated fiction in my submissions.

Me too, and I’d love to see more UK publishers expanding their range of graphic novels, as many American publishers have.

Are there any genres that you are sick of seeing on the slush pile eg. Dystopian? And are there any genres/themes you would like to see more of?

I'd like to see more contemporary YA romance, mysteries and thrillers.

Personally I love a good dystopian world, but publishers have had their fill of them and are looking for other genres. Editors at the recent rights fairs were all talking about wanting contemporary fiction – books based in current reality. Based on what publishers are keen on right now, I’d like to see more contemporary YA romance, and more YA and 9+/11+ mysteries and thrillers – and in fact, I’d really like to see more 9+ and 11+ fiction in general. I get a great many high fantasy submissions, and I’ve admitted elsewhere to ‘fantasy fatigue’ – so a fantasy project has to be truly exceptional for me to take an interest in it.

It’s hard to just dismiss a whole genre off-hand, but I need a break from dystopian unless it’s a very different spin on the genre. I’m also wavering on sci-fi and high fantasy – I’m really into contemporary and historical at the moment. Like Molly, I’d also love to see more 9+ and 11+ especially books for boys, adventures, mysteries and weepies. Author/illustrators writing for 9+ would get immediate attention in my inbox. For YA, I’d like more thrillers that keep me turning the pages late into the night, and a contemporary romance that speaks to the teenage girl inside of me. I’d also love a 5+ series that is different enough to stand out in that busy market.

I'd love to see more 9+ and 11+ books for boys, adventures, mysteries and weepies.

If you are ready to start submitting to agents, but would like some feedback on your query from Gemma and Molly, then email your query to writers@britishscbwi.org. Submissions will be posted anonymously. Alternatively, if you have a question you would like to put to our agents, email us at the above address, or post them in the comments below. Molly and Gemma will be returning to critique your queries and answer your questions on the 5th June.

---

@gemma_cooper 

@mollykh.

Gemma Cooper and  Molly Ker Hawn represent authors of books for children and young adults. For more information about Gemma and Molly see The Bent Agency website and blog. 



Undiscovered Stories

by Rosemary Bird-Hawkins

Humans are a story telling species. We fill our lives with stories and it is perhaps the writer’s gift to be able to discover where they are hidden and let them out to the light. As writers our memories may be the most important tool at our disposal. Not memories of times or places, not memories of fact, but memories of feelings, of senses, of atmosphere; whatever can help release these sensations can be invaluable to starting stories.

Discovered Stories

 'Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.'

Roald Dahl

Writers are often asked where their inspiration comes from and it’s hard to answer because who really knows? Ideas can be triggered by one obvious thing, or they build over time drip fed by the stimuli and distractions of the world we live in and the lives we lead.

Philip Pullman’s dæmons were inspired by paintings: Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine; Holbein’s A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling; and Tiepolo’s A Young Woman with a Macaw. His trilogy is not about any of those paintings, but they triggered something in him, they found a way to permeate into his imagination and then morph into an idea that wove into a story.



Numerous children’s stories spiral out from a central image, a creative touchstone that leads readers into the story world. An adventure begins in the back of a wardrobe, or a painting hanging on a wall; wish on a fifty pence piece and your wishes come true, turn a key in a cupboard and bring a plastic Indian to life. Defeat a hungry god with a leaf symbolising all the ‘days that could have been’. Draw characters out of their books and into your world. Your inspiration pieces might well become the focus of your story, or a motif for a character.

There are stories all around us...

We just have to look. Stories can be sparked from the simplest of things; a painting, a stone, a toy left behind...

Lady in the Shallows by Phil Bird

A lady steps across the shallows of a sea. She is outlandish, extraordinary. She holds her hands to her face. Is she crying? Who is she? Where is she going? What has happened to her?

A broken necklace is found on a mountain path. Its beads are black as night and silver as dawn. The clasp is broken as though it has been pulled apart, wrenched from someone’s neck. What is its story? Why does it lie there? Was it broken off in anger, in grief, was it stolen, or torn off to be left as a clue? Who wore it? Where are they now? Do they know it is missing?


Could the two connect? Is there a story here?

Story Starters

In my last feature, I told you a little about the creative writing courses that I run for children. I mentioned the need for collecting ideas and inspiration and I think these are a great way for any writer to re-energise their writing and discover new stories.

Postcards

I have a stash of postcards that I keep around me because they offer so many possible stories; I couldn’t write them all, but I love the idea that they are there, waiting to be told. Try it yourself:

• Collect together any interesting cards, pictures, posters and lay them all out.
• Take a few moments to look at them and then pick up one that you feel most drawn to.
• Place the card in the middle of blank sheet of paper and write down all the words/phrases which the postcard makes you think about, these could be factual or abstract.
• Think of the image on the postcard as a moment in a story, a snapshot of a scene. Begin to write, describing the scene by trying to convey some of those elements that call out to you.
• Now write what happens next, OR what had happened just before it.

Story objects

Lay out interesting objects (fans, boxes, jewellery, random odds and ends that you’ve stockpiled over the years).

• Take a few moments to pick things up, try things on, smell things, listen.
• Choose the object that you are most drawn to.
• Find somewhere to write and, as before, write down key words/phrases that drew you to the object, and then write a description of the object trying to get this sense across.
• Now answer the following questions:

                What is the object, or what could it be?
                Someone else used to own it – who?
                Why don’t they have it anymore?
                Where has it come from?
                Why would it be important in a story?

• Write a scene which has your item being used in it.

The ideas which are conjured up can often be surprising!

Virtual inspiration

There’s no need to limit yourself to the physical. Sites such as Pinterest are a great way to browse for inspiration and create your own virtual pin board full of potential story starters. Images, ideas, photos, quotes, art, can all be shared; rippling out through an online collection of creative influence. See what connections you can make and what stories you could tell.

So to leave you with some prompts, take a look at the images throughout this feature, and choose which item you are most drawn to. See if you can discover a story lurking within it.

---

Rosemary Bird-Hawkins has an MA in Writing for Children from Winchester University and has been running creative workshops for children for ten years. She has worked for various publishers as well as freelancing as an editor. Rosie writes fantasy and dystopian fiction for children and hopes one day to be published. Until then she continues to seek out more stories, while encouraging others to explore their writing abilities. For more information on story prompts or her children's workshops, you can visit her blog.