Raven's name: Preparation of a manuscript for agent submission

Abstract

The goal of this capstone was to transition the rough draft of a previously-written novella to a form suitable for submission to agents and publications, to complete the preparatory research to determine which agents and markets are best for the work, and to prepare a submission materials packet. As the original novella length would be difficult to market, my initial question was to determine the best length for the story: whether it needed to be expanded to a novel or cut down to short story length. Very early in the process I realized cutting the manuscript down to a length acceptable for submission to short story markets (17,500 words, maximum) was not the best version of the story I want to tell, and after consulting with my primary advisor, I chose to stop pursuing that angle. I began several versions of flash fiction pieces before I made this decision, but instead of refining them to be stand-alone pieces for submission on their own, I will be including rewrites of those scenes as part of the novel manuscript.