(This question is part of a larger subseries called Perpetual WIPs: Agented Writers. For the remaining questions, see here.)
Is the manuscript that got your agent your “baby,” i.e. that ms to which you are attached above all other mss?
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It is my first (and currently only!) MS, so yes! Even if it wasn’t, though, I think I’d probably still answer yes. I’m not nearly as attached to any of the other ideas floating around in my head.
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It’s the manuscript I’m most proud of. Not sure if I’d call it my “baby” though lol.
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No, interestingly enough.
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It’s the ms I’m most proud of, the one that I worked the hardest on. The first ms I wrote years ago was my most personal. It revolved around my friends in college, but it was a mess plot-wise, and I gave up after a few drafts. With this ms, I stuck with it, and it worked!
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Nope, that one’s in a cozy little drawer somewhere, probably never to emerge. I think this one is objectively “better” though.
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Yes, it definitely felt like “the one” when I wrote it.
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YES
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It’s one of two that I’m attached to.
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Yes and no. I think it’s my best manuscript to date, but I have an earlier manuscript that I hope to revise at some point to catch up to my growth as a writer. I’d say that earlier manuscript is my “baby.”
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Not at all. It was the first ms I’d finished.
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No, but I saw that many agents were looking for more middle grade and receiving mostly YA, so I thought the odds would be more in my favor to submit a middle grade.
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It is, but I would never call my manuscript my baby. That creates a false illusion in my mind that my book is my “baby” and therefore needs protection to the point I’m being too defensive when edits are called for and usually needed. It is my most important focus, but I know rejections happen, revisions happen, and I don’t mind at all when they do.
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The Daily Dahlia 