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Pitch to Abby Saul at MWW 2020 Agent Fest!

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Get to Know an Agent in Attendance: Abby Saul

Abby is one of eight literary agent coming to the 2020 MWW Agent Fest, March 13-14 at the Ball State Alumni Center, Muncie, Indiana.

Abby founded The Lark Group after a decade in publishing at John Wiley & Sons, Sourcebooks, and Browne & Miller Literary Associates. She’s worked with and edited bestselling and award-winning authors as well as major brands. At each publishing group she’s been a part of, Abby also has helped to establish ebook standards, led company-wide forums to explore new digital possibilities for books, and created and managed numerous digital initiatives.A zealous reader who loves her iPad and the ebooks on it, she still can’t resist the lure of a print book. Abby’s personal library of beloved titles runs the gamut from literary newbies and classics, to cozy mysteries, to sappy women’s fiction, to dark and twisted thrillers. She’s looking for great and engrossing adult commercial and literary fiction. A magna cum laude graduate of Wellesley College, Abby spends her weekends – when she’s not reading – cooking and hiking with her husband and son. Find her @BookySaul on Twitter.

Abby’s Wish List:

She is looking for adult fiction only in the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, women’s fiction (upmarket and commercial), historical fiction, and select literary fiction. (No science fiction or fantasy; no Jack Reacher-esque thrillers, ditto talking animals in mysteries. She does like works of fiction that are character-driven and smart.

MWW agent assistant Briana Rooke interviewed Abby about her life as an agent and about coming to MWW Agent Fest. Brianna is a senior English major at Ball State University. She also serves as an editorial assistant for Hope for Women magazine and a creative nonfiction editor for Ball State’s literary magazine The Broken Plate.

MWW: What are some do’s and don’t’s that you would recommend to authors who might be attending the festival for the first time?

AS: Do: listen, learn, and mingle. Events like this are incredible opportunities to realize you are not in this alone, and to start to demystify the “I’ve written a book, now what?!” feeling that often comes at the start of the publishing process. Connect with your fellow writers and the event faculty! Take it all in!

Don’t: believe everything you hear, and don’t be afraid. Publishing is a subjective business, and you’re going to hear some contradictory information. You’ll have to digest and figure out what makes sense for you and your path. And don’t be afraid to mingle – we’re all bookish people! When in doubt, ask your fellows about what they’re currently reading.

Do: be excited about your manuscript, if you’re pitching. If you aren’t, who will be?

Don’t: be so excited about your book that you pitch an agent in the line to the bathroom.

MWW: What are some elements that make stories stand out to you? What characteristics do you look for in fiction manuscripts?

AS: I have certain plot things that I always love – family secrets, locked rooms, dual timelines, exciting and tear-jerking finales, a sense of history and the book’s place in the larger scheme of life, etc – but the most important things, to me, are harder to define and they defy plot. These are characters who feel real, a world that I get lost in, and incredible, unputdownable writing. Those latter elements will make me fall for a book that doesn’t tick many of my “plot” boxes, and they can only come from honing your craft, getting more reads that you think your manuscript needs, and editing editing editing.

MWW: On the flip side, are there any elements that make you immediately dismiss a manuscript?

AS: Plot-wise, FBI or CIA agents running around while things blow up or killer POVs are not for me! I’ll also stop reading when a book is racist or sexist (and, oh boy, does that happen more often than you think!)

MWW: Your wish list states that you’re looking for “mystery, thriller, suspense, women’s fiction (upmarket and commercial), historical fiction, and select literary fiction.” What are some examples of the types of literary fiction that you are looking for?

AS: I’m looking for realistic and transportive literary fiction, grounded in the messy reality of human lives (past or present). Some examples of recent-ish literary projects I wish I had worked on:  The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai,  The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry,  The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman,  When All is Said by Anne Griffin,  A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

MWW: Finally, a fun question! It sounds like you have a diverse personal library…. What is your favorite book on your shelves?

AS: This is NOT a fun question! I have too many favorites to pick just one, and the list keeps growing as more incredible books get published every year. I would have to categorize by genre and subgenre (ie, favorite recent mystery v. favorite classic mystery v. favorite recent mystery, American-set v. favorite recent mystery, Scottish v. etc etc etc) and I would never finish. I will bypass succumbing to the panic this question induces by saying that I do like introducing people to some of the “forgotten” classic authors whom I adore (Ngaio Marsh, Barbara Pym, Josephine Tey, EF Benson, Nancy Mitford).

In addition to hearing pitches and critiquing query letters, Abby will present these sessions at the 2020 MWW Agent Fest:
  • “Please Read My Manuscript: Quick Tips for Query Questions”
  • “Finding, Working with, and Keeping an Agent”

Come and meet Abby!  

 

Register soon for the Early Bird Registration Cost! (Limited number of Query Letter Critiques available)

Book Review of NATHAN’S RUN by John Gilstrap

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[This post is the eighth in an eight-part series of Book Reviews of books by some of our 2017 Midwest Writers faculty. The MWW interns wrote the reviews as one of their assignments for the Ball State University class “Literary Citizenship in a Digital Age,” taught by MWW Director Jama Kehoe Bigger.]

“That’s why I’m gonna keep running.” A review of Nathan’s Run by John Gilstrap

Nathan’s Run
Author: John Gilstrap
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copyright 1996 by John Gilstrap
ISBN: 0060173858
Formant: Ebook
​Genre: Thriller

Nathan Bailey wants somebody that he can trust.  By the time he is twelve he has been orphaned and left in the care of an abusive uncle, who, after learning that he won’t be able to get his hands on Nathan’s inheritance, casts his nephew into the Kafka-esque world of the juvenile justice system. Within the walls of the Juvenile Detention Center’s ‘Crisis Unit’  Nathan kills a guard in self-defense, and, seeing no better option, runs.  He gets his bearings while hiding out in a house belonging to a family that is away from home.

The severe reality of his situation dawns on Nathan  when he hears grown-ups passing judgement on him, first on cable news, and then on a Nationally syndicated radio show hosted by a woman befittingly known as “The Bitch.” The youngster becomes the most famous fugitive in the country when he calls in to the radio program and iterates his side of the story.  Knowing that he can’t stay put forever, Nathan steals a car and keeps running.  The Nation is divided, half believe that Nathan is a cold-blooded killer, and half believe he is a victim of circumstance. The pressure is on for both Nathan (who is running towards the Canadian Border for his life) and for the police force trying to capture him (with their reputation on the line.)

The perspective of “Nathan’s Run” alternates between the young fugitive and the detective in charge of finding him, Warren Michaels, whose own tragic past makes the case difficult and personal.  Michaels is torn between his belief in Nathan’s innocence and his duty to apprehend him.
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“Nathan’s Run” was the first of many bestsellers by Author John Gilstrap, whose most recent publication is “Final Target (A Jonathan Grave Thriller)” which is the ninth book in the Jonathan Grave series.  Through a swift high-stakes plot, sparse fiery prose, and emotionally compelling characterization, Gilstrap has created a page-turner with a critical eye on the harsh, politicized treatment of criminals, especially young ones. Readers will find themselves emotionally invested: feeling the triumph of Nathan’s successes and cringing with defeat at each of his blunders,  hoping for a happy ending that seems more and more unlikely and far away.

By Charlie Cain

Book Review: Glued to THE GIRL BEFORE by Rena Olsen

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[This post is the second in an eight-part series of Book Reviews of books by some of our 2017 Midwest Writers faculty. The MWW interns wrote the reviews as one of their assignments for the Ball State University class “Literary Citizenship in a Digital Age,” taught by MWW Director Jama Kehoe Bigger.]

Glued. That’s the word I think of when I think about Rena Olsen’s The Girl Before. My eyes were glued to the pages – even after my head started to hurt from reading for so long. It’s everything all at once. Riveting. Troubling. Fascinating. Suspenseful. I found myself ready to turn to the next page as soon as I had started one – something that I’ve been lacking in novel reading for a while.

Olsen’s novel centers around a young woman named Clara who’s life is turned upside down when men in suits come into her house, separate her from her husband and daughters, and call her by the name “Diana” – a name she doesn’t recognize. She watches her husband get dragged away as he shouts at her, “Say nothing, baby, okay?” and “I love you, baby! Remember that!” As she waits in alone in a small room, she struggles between saying nothing and wanting to spill everything. She knows she’s done nothing wrong, but how will these people understand? Questions run circles in her brain. Will she see her husband again? Will she see her daughters again? As Olsen moves back and forth from past and present, readers slowly start to learn about who Clara is and where she comes from. At times the reader begs the question, is Clara the victim or villain?

The Girl Before moves back and forth with a Now and Then storyline, and it is written in first person. Allowing readers to slowly piece together Clara’s story, and better understand her decisions and experiences. Clara has been so sheltered that many times readers know more than she does about her own upbringing, and sometimes you don’t know whether to feel sympathetic or angry that she’s so naïve.

This book covers some disturbing content, making it all the more intriguing to read. The story focuses heavily on dialogue and the weight of verbal and non-verbal communication dynamics between characters. Much of the story is told through nonverbal expressions, and the way people say things to each other.

The only thing I had trouble with was how quickly the novel came to a conclusion. It felt rushed, considering what Clara had to go through. While reading, I had trouble believing certain scenarios and how they were resolved. However, after discovering that Olsen has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, it made sense how she was able to tap into the complexity of Clara’s thought processes so clearly – and I wouldn’t have been able to understand her decisions, and the decisions of other characters without this. This novel is so many things all at once, and it’s going to stick with you.

If you want to be enthralled by a story, pick this one up.

By Makayla Smart