Where to Jump In?

So I’ve been looking for a new agent. When sending a manuscript out the first chapter has to jump out and hook that agent in the cheek, drag her (usually it’s a her) kicking and screaming into the boat of my story where hopefully we’ll both sail off into the happily ever after of a long and productive relationship that includes the words best and seller smooshed together.

Agents don’t want a new client unless the manuscript is extraordinary because selling books is tougher than ever with the compeition from self published authors, Amazon and heavily discounted backlist e-books. An agent won’t represent a book they like or find amusing. They have to love it. 

Where to start that first chapter is crucial. My manuscript, Fifty Acts of Kindness is about a selfish, career obsessed woman forced to live with her mother, a self help author who runs a nudist colony. It used to start with the main character getting fired. I thought that was where the story should have begun. But when I wasn’t a getting a great reaction from agents, I took a second look at the first chapter. Maybe seeing her get fired and why she got fired made her seem too mean and unsympathetic. She screams at a pregnant woman, berating her for making some pretty terrible mistakes but still, it’s the first time we meet her. And she’s a bitch. 

So I lopped off the first three chapters. Now the book starts with her on the train platform as she comes home. She hasn’t told her mother she’s arrived. She doesn’t know that her mother is running a nudist colony and she doesn’t know how her mother will react. I have to layer in all in the information from the first three chapters into the rest of the book.

Will it work? I haven’t finished the re-write. My kids are home for the summer and writing time is limited. But I’m plugging away. So stay tuned for details.