Literary agent Colleen Lindsay has posted info on how to submit writing to her. She’s read 96 queries in 48 hours.
Some of the worst query letters I’m seeing are, surprisingly, from MFAs. They’re long and tedious and a little wind-baggy, telling me more about the writer’s background and education than they do about the book they’re hoping to get me to read. I wonder: do most MFA programs only focus on the craft and not the business of writing? Anyone?
I’ll venture: MFA programs spend a lot of time going on about pedigree. It’s how they reward their students, it’s how they laud their faculty, it’s how they judge their applicants. But education, no matter how important it is to educators, doesn’t seem to impress so much in the outside world. Liberating, actually, for those of us typing away in the ivory tower (by the way, we’re out of toner up here).
On another look-out-for-grad-students note, the (remorseful) Berkeley journalism student who was behind the wheel in the crash that killed David Halberstam has been sentenced to 5 days in jail and 200 hours of community service. (via). When I was asked to pick up one of the fabulous writers visiting Pitt from the airport — an honor, in these parts — I said, “What, in my little Honda?” but I was thinking, Yikes, who wants to drive a famous author around? Anything might go wrong.
I think people reading that post were confused about what I was saying. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that MFA programs should be avoided. I was simply asking whether or not MFA programs include any practical business advice for would-be writers, of if the simply focused on craft and theory.
Since I have never been part of an MFA program, I have no idea.
Just a clarification.