NOVELTINA LITERARY AND CRITICAL AGENCY

Mudlark Cottage, The Harbour, Shrimphaven

Dear Sharon Gillespie,

Thank you for your novel, which I have read with great interest, and I believe I can now put my finger on a few of the major problems in Passing Out that have caused you to get such a poor response from agents and editors – and full marks for perseverance, Sharon, I don’t think you’ve missed a single one out!

Now, in your synopsis you describe Passing Out as a sort of historical timeslip, paranormal thriller with a love story, a bit of crime, and a slight fantasy element. But not limiting the number of genres is a huge drawback to selling your novel, because how could they market it? What on earth as?

Regarding the timeslip element, it does not so much slip in and out of different historical ages (and, indeed, worlds) as shoot in and out like a well-greased piston – which brings me to the next major consideration: there is an awful lot of very graphically described sex, isn’t there? I mean, absolutely everyone (and everything, in chapter eight!) is at it, and almost none of it seems relevant to the plot at all. Do remember that when describing sex scenes less is more, because after the first few explicit (and, frankly, rather stomach-churning) descriptions, the reader does get quickly bored with it and will start flicking onwards in the hope of some kind of plot. And readers who actively prefer graphic sex scenes to plot tend to stick to books by specialist publishers such as Red Hot Candy.

This brings me to historical accuracy. If your characters are in well-documented eras, then anachronisms like Henry V’s en suite garderobe with flushing toilet stand out like a sore thumb, and will only work if you are describing a parallel universe where such oddities are perfectly acceptable.

I have gone into all these points in much greater detail in my critique, but you certainly have a fertile imagination and great sticking-power, Sharon, and those are both strong assets in a novelist!

Best wishes for your success,

Tina Devino

Twenty-Four

Dished

Having caught up with my manuscript assessments, I only had to pop them back into the post with their critiques, and then next day I set off for my speaking engagement at the Mallard Rise Writers’ Week.

I hadn’t told anyone other than Mel the mouse-sitter where I was going because, frankly, it would be good to leave all my recent traumas behind for a couple of days, even if I had to take my freshly re-broken heart with me together with the diamond one.

But I was looking forward to hearing Hereward Brunswick give his talk on ‘Research from Life’ the following day, because I was hoping it would be the uncensored bits and therefore very entertaining.