Eight rejections later...
I don't get it. I have been rejected by people who say they want exactly what I have sent them. Still the same old email comes through. 'It's not right for us.' (but it's what they say they are looking for?!)
I believe I'm getting rejected solely by my first 3 chapters. You literally cannot tell what is in store by the first three chapters. These agents are too quick to reject. Too triggerhappy to shoot you down. But I will not change my chapters, they have purpose, so what if they are not exciting enough. Character developement is important. I will continue to plough through, I just wonder, why.
Why reject something so quickly without finding out more.
Action is overrated and derivative. By the stress of agents and publishers breathing down our necks that something HAS to be exciting immediately, there has been so many books that start with a chase scene it is almost a cliche.
My story doesn't start happy either. But then, who's going to want to read a happy book? Not I.
It is sad to think that these people are depriving the world of future art. I am firstly a reader and do wonder, if I have been turned down for my own work that I love, then, surely, we must be missing out on so much more. It's a shame.
What do you do if you are being rejected constantly? What's next? And what if it keeps happening? I cannot improve my story. It is well written and exactly how I want it. I just feel someone else's personal opinion is getting in the way of my ambition.
p.s. I have to agree with Lorraine: your OP shows poor writing style:
"I believe I'm getting rejected solely by my first 3 chapters." No, you're being rejected by agents. You might be getting rejected solely on the basis of [your] first 3 chapters.. or getting rejected solely because of [your] first 3 chapters
"You literally cannot tell what is in store by the first three chapters." Lorraine has dealt with this.
I imagine that you wrote this OP in anger (and in haste?) and that affected your choice of words. I imagine that you spend more time correcting your love child, the novel. But take Lorraine's advice: get it edited by an impartial person with experience... Or post it here on "shredded worms".
Lorraine, if you were reversing a fire engine, you'd win any argument.
And if you put on the siren before reversing, they'd be legally OBLIGED to get out of the way. It's a win-.win situation. Go for it!
Posted that before my computer could throw all my work in the bin again... I continue:
"I believe I'm getting rejected solely by my first 3 chapters. You literally cannot tell what is in store by the first three chapters."
a) Perhaps you're being rejected just because of your covering letter. Maybe you sound angry. You sound angry in this Q&A. (Not blaming here, please put down that golf club!) Maybe they have had hassles with angry clients in the past. Who knows. Maybe you don't sound angry. But there might be something in your CL that puts them off.
b) I'm going to jump into the deep end here. You can tell SOMETHING of what's in store by the 1st 3 chapters. e.g. (to return to my last post) You can tell if the writer has a crappy style of writing. That's not likely to suddenly improve in Ch.4... or Ch.44.
You can tell (sometimes) if the subject is of no interest.
You can tell (or pretty accurately guess) (sometimes) that "This has been done before".
Some time back, there was a young member of this forum who wanted to write a romance story between a male vampire and his non-vampire gf "because that's the kind of book my friend likes". (By this time, the fad of "Twilight" clones was definitely on the wane.) I'm sure that - if our fellow member ever managed to finish her book - her friend loved it. But I wouldn't bet on an agent reading past page 2.
c) If your writing style was something to die for, but the first 3 chapters "weren't what the agent was looking for", I'm sure that they would tell you that:
e.g. "This is reallly great stuff, BUT I feel that you've started 3 days too early. Try cutting this intro out, hmm? [nod to Paul Garside and Lorraine :) ] Send me chapters 4-6 asap."
or maybe "You write like an angel, but I feel that this isn't your genre [alternative: we don't deal with this genre]. Please send us 3 chapters about a romance between a vampire and a non-vampire. I really think that we could go somewhere with that."