TRANSCRIPT: Our Q&A with Literary Agent Stephanie Lee

Hi, Gang! This is Stephanie Lee, from the West Coast office of Manus &Associates Literary Agency. I will be logging in tomorrow Wednesday,August 24th, to chat with you and answer any questions you may have about the agency, myself, and publishing in general.

I'll do my bestto help you figure out this mysterious business, and if I don't knowthe answer, I'll just make something up :). I kid.I look forward to typing to you soon!

QUESTION

hi Ms. Lee or can I call you Stephanie?

Thanks for being here to answer questions. Mine is about writingin different POV's.

I write chick lit and it's interesting that, agents I've talked tosay "no, no, no" to having several characters, in one novel, all in first-person or a novel where one character is in first-person and the others in third. Yet, these kinds of chick lit are publishedall the time. Like in She, Myself and I, Josie Brown's True HollywoodLies, etc.

So, I'm wondering, are some agents just not aware that publishers are buying this?

Would you represent a writer who writes in different POV's? (I'm writing my protagonist in first-person and the rest, in third.) Do you have any suggestions, or any books I can look at to make sure I'm doing it right? Or would you say, don't do this and just stick

Your input, very much appreciated.

STEPHANIE

(Yes, Stephanie is fine :). I feel like I'm getting in trouble if someone calls me "Ms. Lee.")

I think we also have to chalk up this kind of question to the subjectivity of the business: some people will like multi POV's, and some people won't.

Multi POV's are a little different (especiallyfor chick-lit) and sometimes "different" can equal "bad"or "difficult to sell." When you break the rules, you have to break them well, or everything just appears broken.

Personally, I think that multiple first person POVs can be tough to fall in love with. Will all the voices be believable? Will it sound like the author is trying TOO hard to make them sound different? Will they sound too much the same? Will they each have their owncomplete character arcs? Is there going to be a point to having the different POVs? I think it can work, but again, you have to be able to pull it off extremely well.

Regarding one first person POV and the rest third person...well, honestly, I personally find that difficult to jive with. I might be a traditionalist in the sense that I like the fluidity of one kind of POV, either all 3rd, or all 1st, or all 2nd, etc.

I haven't read your manuscript, so it's hard to say really, but I have read manuscripts before with a similar structure, and I really wanted everything to be one or the other. However, another agent or editor might feel completely differently.

Subjectivity! My usual advice to writers is to write what you want to write, because that will be your best work.

But off-hand, my gut wants totell you to pick a perspective and stick to it ;). You could always send me a query and a sample so that I can give you my opinion in a more specific context, but those are my thoughts in general.

Thanks so much!

For more of our SHALLA Q&A with Literary Agent Stephanie Lee:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShalladeGuzman/

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