My query letter for Abigail’s Dragon obviously needs more work as I’ve now had three agents pass on it without actually reviewing it. Granted, the agent that I am hoping for is still reviewing Abigail’s Dragon, but I suspect as it is a new area I will need to polish it a bit and go more for the sexy marketing angle.
I am also afraid that because the novel is short [55k words] that it is turning off agents. Fantasy novels have become so bloated in recent years that many that don’t need to be swell up to 150k words or more. Take a look at the first Harry Potter book [65k words] to the fourth Harry Potter book [180k words] and then decide which book was better.
That said, there is a side quest for the main character that I edited out because I kept reading that first novels need to be fairly tight to build reader trust. If I added back the side-quest, it would easily add 15k words back into the novel and the end total would be about 70k words. I keep going back and forth on this one.
Cons:
• I want to be finished with it and start a new project.
• The story arc isn’t really part of the main plot.
• I’d have to extend the timeline in the plot just a bit, which isn’t a problem just requires spending more time reviewing
Pros:
• I liked the story elements of the side quest and what it shows about Abigail. I liked it so much, I planned on putting it into the sequel.
• It does show the reader more about mythical Seattle and gives Abigail a minor menace to defeat before she goes after the Big Bad.
• It would give one of the side characters a whole lot more meaning and dept.
I started editing “The Art of the Deal” for a requested rewrite.
This weekend, I am going to try to clear out some more projects so I can write more. I have a good three or four novels I want to write.
The Universes of Jason Andrew 