As a new agent, one of my biggest mistakes was signing clients because I believed in them. 

Americans love an underdog success story, especially when their success is attributed to passion. We love to tell the legends of famous books that found their way to bookstore shelves through the author’s relentless determination in the face of rejection until they found a single devotee on the other side of the table. The Lord of the Rings, Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Help. 

For years, my insatiable passion for books fueled little more than my own spending habits. Becoming an agent gave me a thrill of empowerment. Finally, I was ready to put the force of my conviction behind authors who just needed a wind in their sails to overcome what their business plan lacked. 

Suddenly, I had the midas touch. I could pick a project that no one else on “team gatekeeper” understood and use my sales superpowers to remove the scales from their eyes. 

And then a terrible thing happened. It worked. ​

(A guest column by literary agent (and author) Mike Nappa of Nappaland Literary.)


​To become a master at anything—basketball, rock-n-roll, fiction writing, even crime—takes about 10,000 hours of practice.[1] So, while you’re putting in (roughly) ten years of rehearsal toward your mastery of fiction, use these skill-builders help you:


PLOT SKILL BUILDERS:

1. Play with a Child
What you’ll learn: To plot with imagination.
 
In Anika’s play-world, she’s a magical queen—so obviously that corner lamp is trying to dethrone her! Anything is possible in Anika’s self-story, and everything acts according to her imaginative worldview.

A smart writer knows that Anika’s play-time is really uninhibited story plotting. Are you a smart writer? Then jump in and practice plotting with her! Make sound effects, crawl through swamps, turn yourself into a toad. Pay attention to plot decisions your child-mentor makes, and ask why. 
​
When you’re done, you’ll be exhausted—and ready to create something wonderful.