• Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.

    This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.

    Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…

    • Don't give offence
    • Don't take offence

    We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.

    You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box

First 3 chapters or 50 pages?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Susan

Susan

Basic
Joined
Oct 17, 2018
Location
Scotland
LitCoin
0
If an agent asks for ‘the first 3 chapters or 50 pages’, but doesn’t specify whether to send the higher or lower page count, which would you send?

My first 3 chapters take the story up to page 36. The first 51.5 pages takes the story to a scene break during chapter 5.
 
I'd just send the first three chapters. If she doesn't ask to read more, then she's not your agent. Agents want to see capable writing and a strong hook right away. If those aren't present in your first three chapters, they won't ask for a full. If only one of those things is present and the idea presented in the query is strong, they might ask for a full anyway. I think that's the lesson from popupsubmissions. If you haven't got a hook right off the bat, they aren't going to read further anyway. I wouldn't worry about sending exactly fifty pages. And if I felt like those twenty other pages are so good they need to be submitted, I'd have to ask myself if I was starting the story in the right place.
 
@Malaika makes excellent points. I'd probably just send the 3 chapters, myself, on the principle of less is more at this stage. Unless the chapters were very short.

But, to clarify a possible reason for sending more if the chapters are short. That they see you can sustain the standard over more of a rising arc.
 
It actually turned out to be 50.5 pages when I looked again. Weirdly, on my Mac it was 49, but longer in Windows. They specified ‘first three chapters or (roughly) 50 pages’ and at least 1.5 spaced (mine is double) so I think it should be fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Café Life Tag Cloud

agent author authors blog book books cafe calls for submissions character christmas competition conferences contest creative writing creativity editing fantasy fear fiction genre huddle inspiration life literature litopia motivation new new member novel novels philosophy poetry publishing questions reading review romance self-publishing shakespeare short story stories story submissions time winners words writer writers writing writing contests
Back
Top