Yes, it breaks your heart. How could it not? When one of the best literary agents in the whole world (who represents four Pulitzer Prize winners for the love of God) asks to read your complete novel, and wants the right to respond first in case the other literary agents you'd send a query letter to, decides to represent you. It all seems so possible. But it's not, not with this agent. Anyway, here is the rejection letter I got ten minutes ago. I'll get over this in a day or so, but right now I have to say, it hurts. It fucking hurts. Here it is:
Thanks so much for sharing BLANK with me. I've now had the chance to read a fair portion of the manuscript, and I'm confident that it's not for me. I think you've got an ambitious concept here that is vastly appealing and you pitched it quite well, but for me, the writing left me feeling at once both raw and disconnected from these characters. It's very tough to pull off an ensemble piece, and it may also be that when it comes to this kind of speculative, or if you want to call it "post apocalyptic" fiction, I'm predisposed to be an unusually harsh judge. But whatever the root of my reasoning is, the narrative just didn't reach me. I do appreciate your thinking of me with this submission, and I hope that your other agent prospect has had a more enthusiastic response.
Warmest wishes for the New Year,
Molly Friedrich
Dear Jackson,
Thanks so much for sharing BLANK with me. I've now had the chance to read a fair portion of the manuscript, and I'm confident that it's not for me. I think you've got an ambitious concept here that is vastly appealing and you pitched it quite well, but for me, the writing left me feeling at once both raw and disconnected from these characters. It's very tough to pull off an ensemble piece, and it may also be that when it comes to this kind of speculative, or if you want to call it "post apocalyptic" fiction, I'm predisposed to be an unusually harsh judge. But whatever the root of my reasoning is, the narrative just didn't reach me. I do appreciate your thinking of me with this submission, and I hope that your other agent prospect has had a more enthusiastic response.
Warmest wishes for the New Year,
Molly Friedrich
Post-apocalyptic? Speculative Fiction? What? Did I send her a copy of Minority Report by accident? Molly Friedrich is a fabulous, fabulous + smart agent. She has an impressive client list. She knows what she likes + she knows how to sell the novels she loves. But the reality is that BLANK is none of those things--neither post-apocalyptic nor speculative. It just appears that way for the first 30 pages or so. But then again, "Magnolia," seems like a real downer for the first hour too.