The Journey to Acquiring a Literary Agent
- michelleernst8
- Nov 21, 2024
- 2 min read
By Bruce Luck
A delightful thing occurred this summer. I became agented! It happened after this summer’s Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (WIFYR), after years attending this amazing writing conference.
My first WIFYR was in 2008. I thought my writing amazing, only to be shown—in the kindest of ways—it was not.
A lot of writers attend Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers, and Carol Lynch Williams brings in brilliant faculty and guests willing to share their expertise. The afternoons, like traditional writing conferences, are filled with speakers and breakout sessions. It’s the morning sessions that set WIFYR apart from most other conferences and make it better.
For five intense mornings, you surround yourself with other authors who also want to learn to write. The workshops are taught by experienced writers who are published. Most often the focus is on critique of everyone’s work. Being critiqued and learning to critique are a must if you want to become a stronger writer.
It has taken a few WIFYRs for the numerous bits of writing wisdom and savvy to percolate into my work. Character development, story structure, economy of word, how to show not tell, and a thousand other slivers of insight have been consumed through the years. Hearing about craft spoken from so many angles has made me a better writer.
WIFYR is community. After a few visits, you see people you’ve critiqued with before. It can be like a family reunion, meeting up with writing friends once a year, inquiring about their characters and how their stories are coming along. If you’re a writer, these are your people.
Steven Fraser, a literary agent of the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, has graced our conference before. I’ve queried to him previously. Perhaps I’m slower than others, but it took me this long to learn how to write well enough for Steven to offer representation.
I speak for our writing community when I say thanks, Carol, for 25 years of WIFYR, for wanting us all to be better authors.
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