The velvet hammer, part deux

The search for a literary agent goes on. Here’s my box score so far: 45 queries dispatched; 6 requests for partials (up to 100 pages of the manuscript) received; 1 request for a full manuscript (which I now believe wasn’t a serious request–but that’s another story).

At least some of the rejections I’ve received have been cloaked in honey (see The Velvet Hammer). So was the most recent one. And I suppose I should take solace in the fact that no one yet has told me not to quit my day job. (Lordy, I wish I had a day job. My shift starts at 4 a.m.)

Anyhow, back to The velvet hammer, part deux. Earlier this week I got another “close- but-no-cigar” turn down. The agent said things such as “very nice writing” and “the language in the descriptive passages really impressed me.” Then she went on to say she thought EYEWALL needed an over-the-top evil character to really make the story go.

Now while I appreciate the agent’s critique, I’m not sure I agree. Well, on second thought, I do agree. It’s just that my over-the-top bad guy (gal, in this case) is a category 5 hurricane named Janet. Janet stirs up all kinds of nastiness: forcing a Hurricane Hunter plane to crash-land; inundating an unprepared coastal community in a storm tide; and loosing a hungry alligator that’s eyeing a baby nestled in the arms of its dead mother. All of that seems over-the-top evil enough to me.

I could be wrong, of course, and maybe the storm-as-character concept doesn’t work. But as I recall, the movie “Twister” didn’t have a human villain, nor did “The Perfect Storm.”

I’ll stand by Janet as my arch reprobate.

Photo: Me at my real job
Except for a handful of best-selling authors, all writers need a real job.  This is me at mine–at work at The Weather Channel.  (Photo courtesy of Heather Tesch.)