What can I say? I have the late summer blahs.
I’m ready for a submission that really stirs my emotions. My feelings tend to manifest in physical reactions. I’ve cried during every single episode of Friday Night Lights when Coach Taylor’s wife had some sort of meaningful lecture for her daughter. I’ve been known to snort with laughter at just about anything Dwight says on The Office. And my heart pounds hard in my chest during reality-show competitions. I know. Pathetic.
But it’s not just TV that gets to me this way. I recently finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I was sitting in my in-laws’ living room reading the last pages and bawling like a baby. Normally I wouldn’t have chosen that specific place to put my emotions on display like that, but I also couldn’t put the book down. It was wonderful. I have a few friends who think I read too many “depressing” books. But I love a good cry. I want to feel invested in the books I read.
Unfortunately, I’m having trouble finding that kind of emotional connection in my submissions lately. Can you help me? I’m really longing for a 5-Kleenex kind of read, but I’d be happy to see something that makes me laugh out loud or turn the pages breathlessly. I’m gravitating toward women’s fiction more than ever, but if you have any book that you think can snap me out of my apathy, please send it my way. Give it your best shot! I’m off to Costco to stock up on those tissues!
Kim
23 comments:
I'm afraid the only book I've got now that's the type of thing BookEnds handles is a WIP. But when it's done I'll send it your way.
As for right now, I hope you find that great submission!
You'll probably get a whole slew of them from your blog readers now. (Well, one can only hope, at least.)
Dwight Swain, in his wonderful how-to book TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER says that stirring the emtion of the reader is the most important thing in fiction. All fiction should do this. If it doesn't, how can it sell?
Sorry I don't have a book for you, but when I want to cry I watch Tender Mercies, Witness (just about every scene in both of those gets me blubbering) or if I'm in a hurry, the the end of Miss Congeniality where they give her the (SOB!!) award. Every. Stupid. Time.
Yeah, I do have that book--it's mine; however, you'll have to wait until Jacky has reviewed it and requested the full...and then see if she will let you read it when she's done. :-)
Yes, it's that good.
Nancy
I don't have any tear jerker recommendations, but now that you mention The Office, I can't get the Dwight Schrute-isms out of my head.
I did not become a Lackawanna County volunteer sheriff's deputy to make friends. And by the way, I haven't.
-Dwight Schrute
I think I already submitted mine to Jessica a year ago. I'll have to wait until you've forgotten about it so I can submit it again! :)
Oh heavens, Nancy, I have a ditto of your post. "Yeah, I do have that book--it's mine; however, you'll have to wait until Jacky has reviewed it and requested the full...and then see if she will let you read it when she's done. :-)
Yes, it's that good."
There's two for you, Kim, if you can get them away from Jacky.
Christina
LOL...I love this! Jessica, I've got one published that took me two boxes of tissues to finish! Camille's Dawn, a story where my hero is able to spend a single night with his deceased wife, then has to choose to follow her into death or grab on to life. I had no idea when I started the story (it's a novella in Kensington's Wild Nights anthology) if Ulrich would choose life or death, and the ending had me sobbing so hard I could barely type...and feeling SO embarrassed to be crying over my own damned story! I don't think you've even read this one!
Sorry, Kim, but my page-turner is destined for Jessica, lol. 8^) I'm pitching it to her next month at Colorado Gold in Denver.
There's only a couple of books I've read that have drawn a tear from my eye, one which had me soaking more than a few tissues. It's an older book called MOTHERS by Olivia Goldreich (1992). If you're a mother, you can't help but fall apart when you read this one.
I have something that might scare you silly but its not polished up yet. Soooon....
And again there's the chihuahua book...you just don't know what a dog that small faces in day to day life until you've walked in her paws...
:)
Would that I could make an agent cry, my work would be complete.
Nancy and Christina-- "It's that good."
That kind of confidence in your work is exactly what you need to make it in this business. I predict you will both go far.
Let's hope the agents love it! But of course, they will. :-)
I'm sure you'e already read it, Kim, but The Notebook made me sob like crazy! You could always ask Jessica to pass the full she has of my romance over and read the "Death" scene. It made me cry while writing it! Or I could always send you another paranormal romance I wrote, it's a bit of an anti-hero romance, but it made my hhard-hearted critique group member cry (like a Hallmark commerical, or so she says!) LOL.
I like a good cry in a book, but I still want it to end well. I'm a sucker for happy endings!
Oh, I just thought, watch Moulin Rogue if you haven't already!
And sorry for any topos, my computer for some reason isn't letting me see what I'm typiing!
I'm with you. I love books that rip my heart out. RIP! I'm trying to think of some recs ... These are all very different sorts of books, and I bet you've read them all:
KILLING ME SOFTLY, Nicci French
THE BELL JAR, Sylvia Plath
BELOVED, Toni Morrison
I'd love to hear anyone's recommendations too. I've got THE LOVELY BONES, ODD THOMAS and WE WERE THE MULVANEYS here in a to-be-read stack, but no time for reading at present!
Well, nothing I'm working on right now is at that "good cry" point.
But the first recent book that comes to my mind is Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. I bawled straight through the last 100 pages.
And the first movie I'd suggest is Terms of Endearment. Gets me every darn time.
Nicholas Spark's The Wedding had me sobbing in the dining room for a day and a half and nobody noticed all the sniffling.
Since apparently you haven't gotten anything good in the mail lately, I can only hope you haven't opened my submission yet.
THE ALPHABET SISTERS by Monica McInerney is a great book to read if you're in the mood for a good cry - especially the last 60 pages. Hope you get a decent discount for bulk tissues - you'll need it if you read this book!
Kim - Jessica has my partial - have her request the full ms and I'll send a box of tissues with! And yes, you'll need them!
I have one. I sent it to you about a year and a half ago. You didn't reply, so I sent it to Jessica a year ago. She didn't reply, either. Guess y'all didn't like it. :-(
Thanks for helping me out with the waterworks, everyone! Look forward to seeing what you have for me.
Travis -- You're still on the TBR pile, which has shrunk enormously by the way. I love our interns! I'll let you know soon if you cured my dry eyes.
Southern Writer -- I'm truly perplexed. I know that both Jessica and I have gotten quite caught up with our reading, so I'm not sure what could have happened. Did you e-mail, submit a query, a partial? Include an SASE? If you're not completely fed up with us, please e-mail me at klionetti@bookends-inc.com and let me know who you are and the details of your submission. I'll try to track it down. And if it's not here, I'd still love to consider it. I hope to hear from you. Now I really want to get to the bottom of it!
I make people laugh, not cry.
Sorry can't help there.
Chris Redding
-----'Can you help me? I’m really longing for a 5-Kleenex kind of read, but I’d be happy to see something that makes me laugh out loud or turn the pages breathlessly. I’m gravitating toward women’s fiction more than ever'-------
Hi, Kim..........I'm pitching to you in October in Bellevue, WA. Hold that thought, okay?
Hope my thank you made it through your spam filter.
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