Anyone who's followed my blog for a while will know that I attend Swanwick Writers' Summer School. The school has an account on Twitter, @swanwickwriters, and once a month hosts a live chat with someone involved in writing professionally. This month it was agent John Jarrold, of the John Jarrold Literary Agency, which represents writers in the genre of sci fi, fantasy, and horror.
The first question posed to John was whether The Hobbit and Game of Thrones had impacted the number of epic fantasy submissions that John receives. At firs I was surprised by the answer that no, actually it had remained at the same 70% fantasy, 30% sci fi for years. Then on reflection, I thought, well GoT has been going for a while now, and we had the Lord of the Rings movies before that. The avalanche, if there has been one, started much further up the mountain.
The number of submissions received has changed, if not the proportion the genres are appearing. There are a lot more submissions now than a few years ago, and John looks at them all. The type of genre stories the agency receives has changed as well. John reports that "The basic post-Tolkien fantasy has disappeared, as has the clunking SF" and that characters are often "first class". Perhaps the exposure to more mainstream fantasy and sci fi, and their apparently growing popularity, are leading to greater sophistication in the genre.
A stray comment about a writer's voice led to the question of if this was something that came naturally or could be nurtured. John's response was that some writers, like Hannu Rajaniemi, have a voice very early on. Writers should read voraciously, and write, but also "look at the books [they're] reading as more than just stories." However writer's should bear in mind that voice is a very subjective thing - what grabs one reader (or agent) won't necessarily grab another.
There were also brief discussions of magical rules, what gets a submission filed in the bin, and also the growing trend for alternative history settings such as steampunk. It was surprising to learn that there are some UK publishers who don't like steampunk. Given its increasing popularity I'd have thought that traditional publishers would welcome it, although perhaps they view it as a fad and best avoided. John also opined on the difference computer sales algorithms have made to authors (and agents), and whether having to promote is a help or hinderance.
Throughout the chat, I couldn't think of a single question to ask (I'm a long way off needing an agent) but it was interesting to read along. If you want to read the live chat in full, search on Twitter for #AskSwanwick.
The first question posed to John was whether The Hobbit and Game of Thrones had impacted the number of epic fantasy submissions that John receives. At firs I was surprised by the answer that no, actually it had remained at the same 70% fantasy, 30% sci fi for years. Then on reflection, I thought, well GoT has been going for a while now, and we had the Lord of the Rings movies before that. The avalanche, if there has been one, started much further up the mountain.
The number of submissions received has changed, if not the proportion the genres are appearing. There are a lot more submissions now than a few years ago, and John looks at them all. The type of genre stories the agency receives has changed as well. John reports that "The basic post-Tolkien fantasy has disappeared, as has the clunking SF" and that characters are often "first class". Perhaps the exposure to more mainstream fantasy and sci fi, and their apparently growing popularity, are leading to greater sophistication in the genre.
A stray comment about a writer's voice led to the question of if this was something that came naturally or could be nurtured. John's response was that some writers, like Hannu Rajaniemi, have a voice very early on. Writers should read voraciously, and write, but also "look at the books [they're] reading as more than just stories." However writer's should bear in mind that voice is a very subjective thing - what grabs one reader (or agent) won't necessarily grab another.
There were also brief discussions of magical rules, what gets a submission filed in the bin, and also the growing trend for alternative history settings such as steampunk. It was surprising to learn that there are some UK publishers who don't like steampunk. Given its increasing popularity I'd have thought that traditional publishers would welcome it, although perhaps they view it as a fad and best avoided. John also opined on the difference computer sales algorithms have made to authors (and agents), and whether having to promote is a help or hinderance.
Throughout the chat, I couldn't think of a single question to ask (I'm a long way off needing an agent) but it was interesting to read along. If you want to read the live chat in full, search on Twitter for #AskSwanwick.
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