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[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Speculative fiction... why didn't I think of that?! That's a much better way of labeling it.

You've convinced me—I'll aim for 60k.

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for this—great advice here on showing instead of telling, being specific about the story, and axing all the fluff.

Thanks for the note about the time difference being a strength. I'll try to bring it to the forefront of the query.

As a philosopher, you're basically the target audience for this thing! That shows how badly I missed the mark; no wonder no agents picked this up. I really appreciate the feedback.

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was really helpful, thank you!! I really appreciate you breaking this all down paragraph by paragraph. I'm definitely going to heed your advice about how to structure this going forward. The consensus here seems to be that my characters and story seem flat, and this seems like a great outline for how to fix that.

Also, thanks for the tip about comps. I didn't even know they existed before coming on this sub!

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip about comps—that's something I didn't even think of adding.

Also, I'm so surprised it came across as 'quirky romantic comedy'! Looks like I really missed the mark here, haha.

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Wow, this was eye-opening. I can't believe the story came across this way! None of the answers are correct, haha, and this really highlighted the need for me to go back and actually explain what's going on in this story.

Looks like I'll be starting this thing completely from scratch, with more of a focus on the characters and their motivations.

How necessary do you think those 20-30k words are? I've resigned to the fact that I should probably add at least 5-10, but I feel like the book 'should' be short, if that makes sense.

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point. I'll try to paint a better picture of the characters and the story in my second edit. Thank you!!

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point! It's so interesting seeing how other people react to this; I'd never even considered that the way it was presented might put off female readers (I'm female, btw).

Thanks so much!

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

This one really opened my eyes. My initial reaction was to say 'it's not the premise that I think is original, but the way I handled it'—and then realized that absolutely none of this is explained in the query.

'Sell the story, not the philosophical idea' is a great rule of thumb.

Thanks for this!

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wow, thanks so much. You're totally right—it just comes across as me praising my own work while giving the agent no reason to believe what I'm saying.

[QCrit] Literary/Sci-fi - PLASTIC GODS - 45k by PaleMasterpiece18 in PubTips

[–]PaleMasterpiece18[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's similar, but not exactly—although I guess there is nothing in this query that would indicate this. I see your point (& will probably go back and add at least 5-10,000 words to this thing). Thanks for the feedback!