Miz Lina
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:59:15 +0000
Just found this tidbit on Query Shark:
NOW, I know this has been a hot topic every single time it's come up (frequently). The short answer is: It is possible for a 14, 16, 18 year old to get published. It has happened, as fans of the Eragon series like to repeat over and over (and over). It's all about your writing. It's all about your raw talent that, if you possess it in great quantities, should speak for itself. Right?
Yes and no.
Like the Shark says above, it's about the project first. Does the agent love it, have a passion for it, does s/he think s/he can sell it?
But if you're going to try to impress the agent with -gasp!- how young you are to have discovered your gift, surely you must be some prodigy and publishers will just fall over to get you so early in your career, that's really not the best strategy. Publishers want a great project, but they also want to be able to work with the author to make changes. They also want professionalism. And not to lump teenagers altogether in the same category, but they don't teach professionalism in high school (understatement of the year), and it's probably not something you're picking up whilst dealing with your parents and friends. This is why the whole raw talent vs. life experience debate is so silly. Publishing is a business. Business people, as a general rule, are going to want the people they deal with to have life experience.
I'm not saying you guys should give up your dreams of being published young and etc., I'm saying the exact opposite. Use your younger years to fully harness that creativity, that passion you have for writing, because the "real world" (s**t jobs, s**t bosses, s**t relationships, bills, adulthood) is going to do everything it can to take that from you. You need to get a good grip on that s**t. Don't skip steps. Work on your writing now; you don't have to publish it just because you finished it. Start another project. Try new things with your writing. Find your voice, your angle, what themes it is that you find yourself revisiting over and over. Master it now, worry about the publishing later. This is the best advice I can give you.
Note: Query Shark is a query critique blog run by Janet Reid, a ferocious and fantastic NYC literary agent. The woman knows what she's talking about, and if you're not following Query Shark, you should be. Read through it now for the writing advice, later for the querying advice.
Quote:
I always hate to see a query writer put their age in a query. I particularly hate it when the query writer is young. Nothing good comes of this. Agents aren't looking for "young"; they're looking for good projects.
Your project needs to stand on its own. And, it's possible if not likely that a good project will be summarily rejected because of your age. There are many published novelists who are young of course. The one I am most familiar with (Kody Keplinger) did not include her age in her query.
I'm almost 100% certain to reject a project if the querier is this young (you're 16 or 17 I assume.) I don't want to inflict my sharkly self on kids. I know you don't think of yourself as a kid, but I do. There's time enough for you to be brutalized by the real world. College for starters.
So, don't give me the chance to not fall in love with your work by leading with your age.
This applies only to kids who are nearly adults-16 and 17.
If you're under 16, do tell me. I don't form reject anyone under 16. I reject them, but always with encouragement.
Your project needs to stand on its own. And, it's possible if not likely that a good project will be summarily rejected because of your age. There are many published novelists who are young of course. The one I am most familiar with (Kody Keplinger) did not include her age in her query.
I'm almost 100% certain to reject a project if the querier is this young (you're 16 or 17 I assume.) I don't want to inflict my sharkly self on kids. I know you don't think of yourself as a kid, but I do. There's time enough for you to be brutalized by the real world. College for starters.
So, don't give me the chance to not fall in love with your work by leading with your age.
This applies only to kids who are nearly adults-16 and 17.
If you're under 16, do tell me. I don't form reject anyone under 16. I reject them, but always with encouragement.
NOW, I know this has been a hot topic every single time it's come up (frequently). The short answer is: It is possible for a 14, 16, 18 year old to get published. It has happened, as fans of the Eragon series like to repeat over and over (and over). It's all about your writing. It's all about your raw talent that, if you possess it in great quantities, should speak for itself. Right?
Yes and no.
Like the Shark says above, it's about the project first. Does the agent love it, have a passion for it, does s/he think s/he can sell it?
But if you're going to try to impress the agent with -gasp!- how young you are to have discovered your gift, surely you must be some prodigy and publishers will just fall over to get you so early in your career, that's really not the best strategy. Publishers want a great project, but they also want to be able to work with the author to make changes. They also want professionalism. And not to lump teenagers altogether in the same category, but they don't teach professionalism in high school (understatement of the year), and it's probably not something you're picking up whilst dealing with your parents and friends. This is why the whole raw talent vs. life experience debate is so silly. Publishing is a business. Business people, as a general rule, are going to want the people they deal with to have life experience.
I'm not saying you guys should give up your dreams of being published young and etc., I'm saying the exact opposite. Use your younger years to fully harness that creativity, that passion you have for writing, because the "real world" (s**t jobs, s**t bosses, s**t relationships, bills, adulthood) is going to do everything it can to take that from you. You need to get a good grip on that s**t. Don't skip steps. Work on your writing now; you don't have to publish it just because you finished it. Start another project. Try new things with your writing. Find your voice, your angle, what themes it is that you find yourself revisiting over and over. Master it now, worry about the publishing later. This is the best advice I can give you.
Note: Query Shark is a query critique blog run by Janet Reid, a ferocious and fantastic NYC literary agent. The woman knows what she's talking about, and if you're not following Query Shark, you should be. Read through it now for the writing advice, later for the querying advice.