Friday, May 1, 2009

Pitching

There's been lots of talk lately about pitching at RWA national. Whether to pitch, To whom to pitch, How to Pitch. And for me, what to pitch. I've been going on the assumption these past couple of months that I'll be pitching my sci fi. And perhaps I should.

But then, someone said at our crit group meeting the other night, "You have a finished manuscript." Oh yeah. I do. But I can't pitch *that*, can I? I queried it to a dozen or so agents, and it didn't get lost in all of their spam filters because I got *some* responses (mostly negative). Even one (later declined) request for a partial. But my contest scores on the beginning were less than encouraging. So no one will want it, right?

Well, here goes attempt #2. No, #3 at the intro. I started with a blank slate. A File->New, if you will. 3000 words later, I'm about half way through the action. I've tweaked the plotline a little--same basic setup, same meet between the H/H, but its a bit cleaner. I've got better characterization, better introspection, better dialogue, better voice. Saleable? Who knows. But definitely better.

And, I've got a chance to read it at our chapter's crit group--with a handful of published authors and several contest winners, and a minimum of at least 8 to 10 people giving feedback. Maybe I will pitch this thing after all.

And my sci fi.

1 comment:

Robin Bielman said...

Oh, I think you should pitch it! (And best of luck!) It sounds like you've really improved that beginning, and with a chance to get feedback from your crit group, I'd say you're in great shape!

Are you going to pitch it to an editor or an agent?