AFN #137 Happy Thursday Halloween!

On meeting agents, NaNoWriMo, and the triumph of the Dodgers

PUBLISHING QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Hi Jennifer! Long time query-writer, first time google-form-filler-outer. I've read a few pieces of advice in your substack about querying where you mention meeting agents. How and where should this happen? Should I be going to literary conventions to meet agents? This idea causes my anxiety to shoot through the roof and, also, some of the invites I see to the conventions feel sort of scammy. My question, are conventions necessary and are the chances of finding an agent with general querying so remote that it's not worth it? I'll hang up and listen...

Let it never be said that I am a shill for the writers conference industrial complex. Last week I talked about some of the good things you can get out of a good conference, and things to look for when electing which one (or whether) to attend. This writer has a point, though: not everyone looks at three expensive days in a cold conference center and thinks “that’s my idea of a great time!”

Up front: you do not need to attend a conference or meet an agent in person to find representation. The chances of finding an agent with general querying are actually probably about the same as meeting agents in person and pitching them that way—the odds are astronomically high either way. Unfortunately, that’s just math! One of my colleagues reopened to queries and had over seven hundred after three weeks. There are a lot of people writing out there, folks!

The best way to find an agent is to 1) write a good book 2) that reaches the right agent. The first is pretty hard, and is entirely in your hands; the second is something that I’ve tried to lay out the process for in this newsletter and with the podcast. The odds are going to be high either way, and meeting an agent won’t necessarily move the needle.

Meeting an agent in person, whether through a pitch event or as a fellow attendee at a barcon, is really a chance to vibe check. Do you like them? Do you like what they have to say about the way they work? Do they give off a weird energy that you don’t think you’d enjoy working with? This data could be helpful to gather—or it could be useless. All the stars could align and you could sign with them and it still might not work out for whatever reasons.

Concentrate on what you can control—write as good a book as you can, and try and strengthen your personal networks where you can, so that you have a group of writers around you who can help you elevate your work. Beyond personal help and support, this network could help you meet agents when others in your circle secure representation and can then refer you on to their agents in turn—it might not work out, but hey, it might!

ON NANOWRIMO

You may have noticed that I haven’t said anything about National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, this year, and that I haven’t announced any kind of special programming the way I have in the past. I don’t even know if my buddy Becca and I have talked about NaNo this year. (Full disclosure: we’ve mostly been texting about fanfiction.)

I could say something about bangs and whimpers, but folks, things do not look good for the parent organization behind NaNoWriMo. The fun little writing challenge—write 50,000 words in a month—is involved in accusations of grooming on its barely-moderated forums amidst an active outcry for their shilling for generative AI companies.

But back to those accusations of grooming, which allegedly have now involved the FBI. The organization behind NaNo has always billed the forums as a safe space, with numerous community moderators and content checks. Shit hit the fan earlier this year when a group of users on the forum for teens came forward with accusations against one of the moderators, who had apparently been behaving inappropriately with the teens for years. The teens had brought forward their evidence to leadership at NaNo, who ignored it. And then the teens roped in the FBI. NaNo’s response has, as you could guess, been lackluster.

Now, I don’t think I need to tell you that’s not good! Grooming is bad! That alone would—should—be enough to end NaNo as a going venture. That most of the outcry has been reserved for NaNo’s partnership with Generative AI companies is disheartening—a colossal case of point-missing.

At this point, numerous writers have asked that their pep talks be removed from the NaNo websites or have asked to step down from the Writer’s Board. I’m sure NaNo will continue along, limping towards irrelevance and eventual bankruptcy as long as there is a get-a-robot-to-write-“your”-novel company willing to sponsor them.

I won’t be participating this year. I’ve deleted my account, with its decade plus of failed attempts to write fifty thousand words in a month, and my history of participation in the forums. I’m sad that NaNo as an organization is something I can no longer support or participate in and still feel good about myself. And I’ll miss it. I’ll miss the heady early days of “Yeah, I can totally keep this up during the most stressful month of the year.”

Will I try and figure out some other creative challenge for myself? Maybe, I don’t know. I’ve got enough to be getting on with. Goodbye, NaNoWriMo. You did this to yourself.

WHAT I’M READING

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett, for my Discworld book club. I’m also rereading Arkady Martine’s A Desolation Called Peace after re-reading A Memory Called Empire earlier in the week—look, I had an urge for some linguistically complicated world building, what can I tell you! One thing that I’m noticing upon rereading is that Martine does a thing I normally dislike a lot in fanfiction—there is a lot of italics to emphasize what I should find important, rather than letting me decide for myself. Turns out I don’t like it in published work either! Once or twice is okay, but it is happening multiple times a page, and it’s kind of driving me bonkers. The books still slap overall, though.

THIS WEEK IN HOCKEY

Congratulations to the L.A. Dodgers on their triumph over my enemies, the New York Yankees! “But Jennifer, you live in New York,” you may be asking—"what’s wrong with the Yankees?” Plainly: I hate them, and I find much of their fanbase boorish and distasteful. Just look at the idiots who tried to steal Mookie Betts’ glove during Game 4 of this series—jabroni fools from the tristate area who think they’re entitled to something just because it’s close enough to reach out and take. “Jennifer,” you may say again, “Does this have anything to do about the Astros cheating scandal?” To which I say: Kind of! And also, I don’t care. Anything that makes the Yankees Big Mad is OK in my book. Also, I love Shohei Ohtani.

Elsewhere, Alex Ovechkin is only trailing Wayne Gretzky’s goal record by 37 goals—this man is my age. He’s on track for a 40+ goal season. He has been with the Capitals for twenty years—that’s over 40% of the time the franchise has even existed! As the You Can’t Do that hosts put it, the lych that has haunted 40% of the Oilers’ time in existence is working overtime, causing wunderkind Connor McDavid to exit the game against the Blue Jackets after an awkward injury against the boards and only 37 seconds of ice time. And the Blues’ goalie Jordan Binnington, not a man known for intelligence or *checks notes* being good in net, tried to put Sabres captain Brady Tkachuk in a headlock, and then tried to fight Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark on his way to the penalty box. The Blues lost 8-1.

PATRIOTIC HOUSEKEEPING

This is the part where I first reiterate that this is a personal newsletter, and that my views are my own, and second, where I ask all my United States-based readers to go out and vote on Tuesday. Specifically, for the Harris/Walz ticket. The alternative is unthinkable. The damage that the Trump administration wrought—on access to abortion care, on governmental regulations that keep airplane doors from popping off or food from killing you—is incalculable, and another term under his “leadership” is unacceptable. And if you’re someone who says things like “you survived the Trump administration, it can’t be that bad,” may I remind you that millions died of COVID, and hundreds of thousands of women’s lives are threatened because of the destruction of Roe V. Wade. Tuesday matters. Your vote matters. Please use it well.

REGULAR HOUSEKEEPING

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I am closed to queries, reopening 11/4/2024.

My first novel, Marrying In, is available for purchase on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, and is coming soon to iBooks. If you’ve read it, consider leaving a review—that helps me and the book in the long run!

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This newsletter is a personal project, and the sentiments and opinions expressed here are my own and not those of my employer.