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1/10 I've been trying to digest some detailed feedback I got for one of my novels recently. I've kept it mostly away from public forum, too, because I'm not sure I'm ready for external takes on how to handle it. But here's a thread, anyway, for those interested.
2/ The feedback was from an agent, one of my favourite agents, who had requested my full manuscript. He read it and said it's brilliant. He told me my writing is of quality and that it's the kind of wild book he'd read all day long. But not the kind he'd represent.
3/ He went on to say he didn't think *any* agents in SFF would take it. That it is a strange and niche concern that would only sell to a small audience, and that I should grind my work in something more everyday to hit the jackpot. Wise words from an industry stalwart.
4/ Thing is, I don't think my novel is *that* strange. I think it's imaginative and nebulous, by design. It's the kind of thing I love to read, works unbound by the usual conventions. They are the works I get most excited about from other writers, from my heroes in SFF.
5/ I get that I'm niche. I've had that in a lot of feedback. But I look at other published works that are also described as niche, writers who I have been compared to, compare myself to. And they seem to be selling fine. Not blockbusters, ok, but more than enough for my ambition.
6/ I just...can't really process. I'm, apparently, a great writer with a cracking story. That's all I want to be. I'm not concerned with seeking a sweeping, million-strong audience. I'm small potatoes, seeking readers who might react to my work how I've react to other niche books
7/ But that means I'm locked out of the opportunity to prove myself. And I could tone myself down. I could write an SFF novel more grounded in the conventions of the market. But it feels like that'd be going against my reason to be writing in the first place.
8/ I know some people will shrug and think "So what? Toe the line and get an agent, or stick to your naive guns and fail." And I get that. I think it's probably true, and I certainly trust the agent's words. He's a magnificent egg and I'm lucky he took time to recognise me.
9/ It's just...I dunno. It's turned me off writing in a genre I love. A genre that seems busy elsewhere trying to shut the doors on new ways too. And I'm nowhere near as important as the current struggle to shake off the restrictions that the genre is rooted in, of course not.
10/ Anyway, the whole thing took the wind out of my sails & sunk my confidence in a corner pocket. I've started working on something new, something outside of SFF. That's still going to be my genre of choice to read in, but I feel a bit excluded. Wonder what else is out there?