Agent Rejection

Last week I received a rejection from an agent, Gina Panettieri, who took the time to write a critique of The Law of the Splintered Paddle. It was quite a thorough critique. It came out to two pages, single spaced. No agent, in my experience, has given such feedback. Most send a form rejection. Occasionally, they will give a short reason for the rejection, but none have given the kind of helpful information Ms. Panettieri gave. When I wrote to thank her for the critique, she wrote back with another page of helpful advice. She ended by saying that, if I choose to revise it, she would be willing to look at it again.

If? How could I not revise it with that kind of feedback?

The gist of her comments was that Ava does not have enough dents in her personality, given her history. I'm working on making her father's disappearance more critical to her life. Not that I didn't think it was, but the scars need to be more evident.

The story also needs to be shorter. So far, I've revised the first five chapters and cut out 2 pages. There's a long way to go.