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Looking for an agent can be a really overwhelming process.

When I was first looking for an agent, that there wasn’t enough information out there online.

Now it seems like there’s almost too much information—but it’s scattered around. So I thought I’d run a post with at least some of the information in the same spot.

Below I’ve listed websites that can help you narrow down your agent search, helpful posts on writing query letters, popular agent blogs, and agents on Twitter.

Good luck!

Some links to get you started:
An agent on how to write a query
How to know if you’re ready to query
Should you query a first novel?
Common mistakes in querying and a suggested template
8 tips on querying from the Queryfest workshop at RWA
The difference between querying an editor and querying an agent
How *not* to query
Querying—where to start, tips for writing a query letter
Are you ready to query? A checklist
Motif in query letters
Theme in query letters
6 tips for querying
How long is too long to search for an agent?
Debunking querying myths
How to Ensure 75% of Agents Will Request Your Material (Writer’s Digest)

More Help in Finding an Agent:

Unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there who take advantage of aspiring writers. I’d recommend researching agents on Agent Query and checking the ones you find against Preditors and Editors and Writers Beware to make sure there aren’t any complaints against the agency.

Agent Query—A searchable database of agents.
Association of Authors’ Representatives—Helpful way to vet your agent.
Query Tracker—Helps you track your queries and has a blog with useful tips.

Some of the Best Agent Blogs
Nathan Bransford
Curtis Brown

Lucienne Diver
The Knight Agency

Jessica Faust
BookEnds

Rachelle Gardner
WordServe Literary Agency

Mary Kole
Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Chip MacGregor
MacGregor Literary

Kristin Nelson
Nelson Literary Agency

Janet Reid, and here
FinePrint Literary Management

Also check out Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents blog

Literary Agents on Twitter (from the AgentQuery site)

@ColleenLindsay / Colleen Lindsay
@ChrisRichman / Chris Richman
@EpsteinLiterary/ Kate Epstein
@BookEndsJessica / Jessica Faust
@BookEndsKim / Kim Lionetti
@michellebrower/ Michelle Brower
@hroot / holly root
@KnightAgency / The Knight Agency
@ellenp / ellen papus
@literaticat / jennifer laughran
@cbfine / Celeste Fine
@ByrdLeavell3 / Byrd Leavell
@mattwagner/ Matt Wagner
@jasonashlock / Jason Allen Ashlock
@chipmacgregor
@JanetKGrant / Janet Kobobel Grant
@tomwillkens / Tom Willkens
@jodimeadows / Jodi Meadows (agent assistant)
@foundrymedia
@thecroceagency / The Croce Agency
@DanielLiterary / Greg Daniel
@laurieabkemeier / Laurie Abkemeier
@TracyMarchini (agent assistant)
@rgradinger/Rebecca Gradinger
@dianafox/ Diana Fox
@jennyrae / Jenny Rae Rappaport
@NathanBransford / Nathan Bransford
@Janet_Reid/Janet Reid
@MichaelBourret / Michael Bourret
@DeidreKnight
@cjlitagency / Johnson Literary
@carenjla / Caren Estesen
@elanaroth / Elana Roth
@ElaineSpencer / Elaine Spencer
@BostonBookGirl / Lauren E. MacLeod
@DaphneUn / Kate Schafer Testerman
@KellyMortimer / Kelly Mortimer
@barrygoldblatt / Barry Goldblatt
@jennybent / Jenny Bent
@twliterary / ted weinstein
@wendylawton / Wendy Lawton
@MarleneStringer / Marlene Stringer
@dsvetcov / Danielle Svetcov
@craigkayser / Craig Kayser
@movabletypenyc / Meredith Dawson
@melflashman / melissa flashman
@scottwaxman
@JeffeyG / Jeff Gerecke
@kate_mckean
@jdystel / Jane Dystel
@MiriamGoderich / Miriam Goderich
@jeffreymoores / Jeffrey Moores (has now become a literary consultant)
@JillCorcoran / Jill Corcoran
@mikalroy / Michael Stearns
@Bookfan / Kae Tienstra
@LucienneDiver / Lucienne Diver
@StrothmanAgency / Strothman Agency
@madamepsychosis / Kristen O’Toole (agent assistant)
@skagency / Stuart Krichevsky
@RachelleGardner / Rachelle Gardner
@dbartoli / Diane Bartoli
@JuliaLordLit / Julia
@KHM126 / Kirsten Manges
@hoffmanlit/ Scott Hoffman
@NepheleTempest / Nephele Tempest
@Ginger_Clark/ Ginger Clark
@KAndersonbird / Kathleen Anderson
@FoundryLiterary / Foundry Literary
@jessregel / Jessica Regel
@Emmanuelle15 / Emmanuelle Alspaugh
@AliceTasman/ Alice Tasman
@michellelit / Michelle Andelman
@FolioLiterary / Folio Literary
@WolfsonLiterary/Michelle Wolfson
@MarkMcVeigh / Mark McVeigh
@4writers/Jennifer DeChiara
@daniellechiotti/ Danielle Chiotti
@LukemanLiterary/ Noah Lukeman
@Katelynn Lacopo/KatelynnLacop (literary assistant)
@agentgame/ anonymous agent assistant

Usually, when I think about plots, I’m thinking about conflict.

But I keep running into the term “inciting incidents.” It’s usually a scriptwriting term but I’ve been hearing it more and more in regards to fiction.

Actually, I really like it. It reminds me that there really is a pivotal event in each book that jump starts the plot. It’s the whole reason there’s a story to begin with.

What happens that takes our character out of a boring, ordinary day into an adventure?

In my books, the inciting incident is always a murder.

That’s followed by an inciting reason for my amateur sleuth to get involved. Because if you were an older lady with a comfortable life, why would you choose to get mixed up with a murder investigation? So for my stories, there’s not only the main inciting incident, there’s also an inciting reason for my protagonist to get involved with it.

The inciting incident isn’t always something that’s as shocking or unnatural as a murdered body. It could be an everyday problem that propels the protagonist in a new direction. The protagonist decides to move to the South of France and take up cooking lessons. The inciting incident—a painful divorce. Or it could be any number of things that represent the final straw to the protagonist and makes them act.

If the problem is something the character could put off acting on, then maybe the ante needs to be upped. The problem needs to be intensified. It should be an overwhelming issue for the protagonist that has to be addressed—they need to drop everything for it. It’s the whole point of the story.

When I’m reading a book, I’m ( if reading a modern book and not a classic) looking for the inciting incident to show up pretty quickly. Most publishers want the inciting incident early in the book.

As a writer, though, I do need to have some set up before my murder. If I drop a body on page 1 (which I could do), I still have some work ahead of me. Who are the characters who could have murdered this person? Who is the victim and why should the reader care that they’re dead? All of those things have to be addressed, too. And flashbacks aren’t ideal. So usually I put off the inciting incident just long enough for the reader to get to know the suspects and victim and form an opinion of them.

How strong is your book’s inciting incident? How much set up do you have before introducing it?

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that I spend a good deal of my time on auto-pilot.

Any rote kind of activity in my life—laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen counter—it’s sort of committed to muscle memory. Sometimes, when I’m done with it, I don’t even have any memory of having done it and I have to check myself (this is what happens when you write books in your head while you do housework.)

Unfortunately, I was apparently on auto pilot a couple of days ago when I went to the grocery store.

Going to the store is another activity that sometimes doesn’t require a lot of thought. It does if I’m going for special ingredients, but there are some trips that are just to replace staples from the pantry—and I don’t even need a list for those trips. I need milk, bread, fresh fruit, sandwich meat…you know.

So yesterday, I show up at the store and I’m apparently not even really there. I load up my cart, pulling things off the shelves, then go to the checkout line—and I have no money with me.

No money. That’s right. I’d gone to the lake with my sister and had changed my pocketbook and put my money and debit card into a beach bag.

So I left my cart at the store, told the cashier I’d forgotten my money (yes, she looked a little worried about me) and drove home for the debit card and cash. And then drove back to the store, got the fully-loaded cart and checked out.

You’d have thought forgetting to bring money to the store would have been enough to shake me out of auto pilot for the rest of the day. But then when I was unloading the groceries I apparently resumed it—and left the milk in the trunk.

There are certain things that I do when I write a book that put me on auto pilot. The story is never on auto pilot (that would be a bad thing), but the way I just keep on going, plowing through to the end, staying in the writing zone is me just doing what I always do…following the usual path. If I’ve really gotten into the groove of a plot, I feel like I’m almost just the typist, putting the story on the page. The characters tell me their bits of dialogue, I watch them as they lie to my sleuth, and the story just unfolds on the screen.

If I run into a plot wrinkle, I’d rather just keep on going and iron it out during revisions. Again, I’m just plowing through to the finish line.

But there are some problems that are big enough that I stop immediately to fix. Because if I just keep to my usual auto pilot plan for quickly working through to the end of the first draft, these problems will balloon and be more of a pain to fix later.

These are problems I pay attention to as I’m writing that can pull me out of my auto pilot zone:

The protagonist seems to be coming off as unlikeable. Or flat.

The character seems to have changed—a lot. With no reasonable explanation.

The plot is unfocused…and not in an easily-fixed way.

The main characters’ behavior doesn’t seem to have any motivation.

Now I still like to keep on plowing ahead. If I shake up my routine too much then it messes me up. But what I like to do with these major problems is to immediately make the change to the rest of the manuscript from that point on. I mark the point where I straightened out the character or plot issues in the margin of the manuscript with a Track Changes comment…then I can fix the earlier part of the story during revisions.

Do you ever find yourself on auto pilot with your writing routines? What shakes you out of it?

I’d posted last week on my need for a little downtime to fire up my creativity.

I think a lot of us are in the same boat, juggling family and job responsibilities while trying to write at the same time.

And don’t even get us started on social media and internet distractions, right?

Funnily enough, an article with some suggestions for handling this problem was posted on Wow—Women on Writing a couple of days ago—and I was quoted in the article! So apparently I’ve forgotten some of my own advice. :) The author of the article had written to me in early June and interviewed me for the story. One of the things I mentioned doing was getting out of the house and away from the distractions of home.

For a psychological standpoint, the author interviewed Dr. Shelley Carson, an adjunct at Harvard who wrote a book on creativity.

She explained that while distractions (especially of the online variety) can cause stress and prevent creativity, that writers and other creative people are actually naturally attracted to distractions because:

highly creative people are biologically rewarded when they discover something new. It may be subtle, but it is enough to encourage us to seek out novelty.

I also found it interesting that Dr. Carson mentioned that creatives are “mentally disinhibited:”

In short, our ability to make connections where others may not is part of what makes us good writers.

I’ve always thought it was interesting to hear writers’ observations. It’s because we can have the same exact experience as other people, but get insights that others don’t.

What I take from these different statements about being creative?

That I should get out more. :)

Lately, I’ve been out only while taking the children somewhere, or while running brief errands. Other than that, I’ve been spending more time at home trying to catch up.

Instead, it sounds like I should be returning to my familiar writing haunts—discovering new people (which is a “good” form of distraction for writers), getting new ideas, and making those connections that we “mentally disinhibited” are supposed to be making.

So I think I may divide up my writing time this week—spend half of it at home and half at either the coffeehouse or the library.

Have you needed to change up your writing routine a little lately? Do you usually write at home or while you’re out?

Hope y’all have a great Monday.  I’m in a couple of different places today, so hope you can pop by and say hi at one of them, if you have a second.

First up, I’m interviewed by the incomparable Jean Henry Mead on Mysterious Writers.  Jean covered a variety of topics from why I choose to write senior sleuths to how I got my agent.

It’s also my post day for the Inkspot blog, the group blog for Midnight Ink authors.  Today I’m talking about my experience with the first outline (really a synopsis), that I’d ever written.

Thanks, everyone!