Short takes from DFW Con II: who’s the best agent for you?

As usual, this year's DFW Writers Conference was packed with classes and panels about finding/keeping literary agents. We could grill them at panel discussions, listen to what they like/hate about query letters, what they really look for when they read our pages and more. What I went for was the lecture about how to find, not just an agent, but RIGHT agent. The speaker was Nikki Terpilowski whose agency represents my favorite genres, but her tips could apply to agents of all genres.

Realize, Terpilowski said, that the best agent for one writer will not be the best for all writers. “It’s like a marriage (because) you’re working very closely together.” 

Her five commandments for finding that best agent:

1.     Write a really good book!

2.     Know your genre

3.     Know appropriate word counts for that genre

4.     Provide relevant "comp titles"

5.     Write a good query letter.

image: geralt from Pixabay

The first profile we see at the online dating site may not signal a sure-fire Mr./Ms. Right. Terpilowski's point could equally apply to finding literary agents -- put your best stuff first.

“Write a really good book! You have to learn your craft. Your first book is a practice book. Your second book may even be a practice one. You have to go through the process. Don’t feel that you wasted the time.”

Terpilowski was equally adamant about the “know your genre” commandment. “Don’t email an agent and say, ‘I don’t know what genre this is – you figure it out.’ (If) you think you’ve written a mystery and it’s a thriller, you’re going to waste your time sending it to the wrong agent.”

And for all the multi-genre, crossover books out there, Terpilowski's advice is "Pick one... Pigeonholing, in general, is not a good thing, but in writing, it is." (Although she was OK with adding that a multi-genre story "has elements of" one of the minor genres it includes.)

Writers still uncertain about the genre they've written in may find it helpful to browse bookstore shelves or even Amazon listings to see where the books they like to read – the ones that will probably most resemble what they've written – are shelved, whether physically or digitally.

Her third commandment, appropriate word count, “will be simple once you’ve done numbers 1 and 2.”

(Information about appropriate word counts for genres is readily available online, although I have found one article particularly helpful.)

The fourth commandment is to provide list titles of books equivalent to ours. Bookshelf or online browsing will help. Terpilowski warned that these titles should be current – no older than the last five years, although she was willing to relax a bit on the importance of comp titles when presented with a firm genre declaration. And for those still uncertain, say the writer with the genre-bending book, a simple “my influences are” statement is acceptable.

So, we've done all things – at least through commandment #4. Now to find places where agents congregate and do the fine-tuning needed for a query letter.

Terpilowski likes Publisher’s Marketplace, which lists sales by agent names. (A stripped-down version, Publisher’s Lunch, is free to subscribers.) Other sources are Manuscript Wishlist and Query Tracker, both free. And of course, the agent’s website.

“I don’t think stalking on social media is a good thing, but you can use research on social media to do your detective work. You can also use your research to remove agents from your list (because) you want to find somebody you feel comfortable to work with.”

And to follow the fifth commandment -- knowing how to write a query letter. If uncertain, "there are five billion titles on the internet about how to write a query letter. . . and have your query letter critiqued!"

Short takes from DFW Writers Con I: guns for writers

I confess, characters in my stories use armament I know nothing about. Sure, I've dropped in the occasional medieval weaponry, and have lately become obsessed with ceramic knives, but guns – not so much. Having no illusions that a long-ago college riflery class qualified me to write about modern weapons, I signed up for the limited space "Introduction to Firearms" workshop offered at this year's Dallas-Fort Worth Writers Conference (DFW Con).

Among the things I love about DFW Con are the special interest classes – chances to hear from such experts as public prosecutors, autopsy surgeons, and crime scene technicians. My choice this year included a chance to handle real, even if unloaded, guns available from the Hurst, Texas, police department, including the Kimber 1911 on our instructor, Hurst PD Sgt. Adam Hooton's belt, a rifle, revolver, and other handguns. (Hooton apologized for the absence of the department's submachine guns. Seems they were out of the armory for repairs on the day of the writing conference.)

image: Pixabay

Perhaps I should add a disclaimer – not all Texans are heavily armed and I, for one, am not advocating the unlimited carrying of firearms. But as a thriller writer, many of my characters are people of less than sterling character, and a good portion of the rest are more likely to shoot holes in their own purses or pants than in human beings. The least I can do is leave them to make their own terrible mistakes with guns instead of compounding those mistakes on my pages.

By the way, I’ll have to stop referring to firearms generically as “guns,” according to our DFWW Conference “minder,” thriller writer (and former police officer and Secret Service agent) Larry Enmon. “It’s a pistol, a revolver, a shotgun, and so on,” he said, repeating a hilarious but too sexist-raunchy to print here slogan designed to teach police recruits the distinction.

Hooton reviewed us on the four rules of gun (sorry, Larry) safety:

1.  All firearms are always loaded
2.  Never let your muzzle cover anything you’re not willing to destroy
3.  Keep your finger off the trigger until the sights are on the target and you’re ready to fire
4.  Be aware of your target and what’s beyond

Then it was time to get our hands on the weaponry. HPD’s modern SWAT rifle looked short and slender compared to my dad’s old .22, but surprisingly heavy in my grip, although Enmon pronounced it “light” as he showed me how to brace my left arm to support it.

The revolver was almost too broad for my hands to fit around it, as well as, again, surprisingly heavy. Probably too big and heavy to fit into my heroine’s stocking garter (spoiler alert for work in progress). This time a fellow writer chimed in with a solution: try a derringer. I’d thought of these as the single-shot weapons of shady 19^th-century cardsharps, but they're still being manufactured, now in handy two-shot versions.

Once our practical classwork was done, it was time to bombard Sgt. Hooton with oddball questions only writers can think of:

Q. How often do firearms change?

A. Although optics such as range finders change every six months, the basic patterns of most firearms are reasonably stable. The basic revolver pattern, for instance, has not changed since its invention in the 19^th century.

Q. What’s the world’s most popular deadly weapon?

A. The AK-47, also known as the “spray and pray” for its power, if not accuracy. (Again, still in the same basic format as the original post-World War II Soviet Kalashnikov iteration.)

Q. Do suppressors (don’t call them silencers!) suppress muzzle flash as well as sound?

A. Not entirely. They don’t completely suppress either noise or muzzle flash. In a pitch-black situation, Hooton said, muzzle flash will still be visible. 

Q. Do car doors stop bullets (as seen in the movies)?

A. Definitely not. Considering that the body of an unarmored vehicle is mostly empty space, do not count on one to protect your characters (or yourself) from bullets. In fact, police refer to squad cars as "purple heart boxes."

Q. On a less-lethal note, how long does taser fire incapacitate a victim/suspect?

A. Count on five-seconds of incapacitation. After that – good luck!

Need more information about firearms and how they work? Class leaders recommended the Blue Book of Gun Values. Although intended as a pricing guide, the Blue Book provides information about weapons, including historic ones. Available online or check your local library. The DFW Writers Conference class also included in-depths videos about how guns work, but as with everything else, videos are widely available on YouTube.

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Next: While waiting to hear back from agents who requested pages of my current opus, I’ll share a few tips about finding the best agent, courtesy of DFW Con’s classes.