Alle responds to: "An agent said no but left critique."
She continues: "I’m trying to understand what exactly it means."
The agent said “The pages feel a bit expository.”
I’m trying to understand what exactly this means and how to make adjustments. I know it might be about her tastes. I’m mostly interested in understanding what might be meant by this feedback.
Alle sez:
It is wonderful that the agent gave your feedback. That RARELY happens and you should take the comment as a sign that the agent invested emotionally in your work.
What the agent wrote, to my mind, means you didn't start where the story starts. You might have written a lot of backstory and/or description rather than dropping the reader into the critical action.
Which does not mean that you have to open the book in the middle of a shootout.
My current work, Crazy Medicine, has all sorts of shootouts. It’s a thriller about a young, female drug dealer. That said, the story starts months before any guns make the scene, when the main character meets the man who gets her thinking about dealing. Something about their meeting always twaaaaang’ed a hole in my heart.
It’s not romantic, it’s not action-packed. It is simply the beginning of the rest of her life.
Finding you story’s starting point
If you can’t find your story’s starting point, try reading through from the beginning. When your heart begins racing, try using that scene as your opener.
Don’t rip up everything you’ve written prior to that point. You now have a wealth of backstory. As you proceed with the revising, factor in only the backstory the reader needs. Only a few sentences of expositionper needed situation. No flashbacks.
Give your character an action
Try giving your character something to do that is not thinking, watching, or smoking. Give them an action which:
reflects their underlying motivation for the story
gives them a reason to grow, over the course of the narrative
evokes the ending
Chose two out of the above three — like building your own omelette at Denny’s! If you can layer them all in, more power to you.
Good luck with the agent search! Keep up the good work!