Writing About Lives

One of the most thrilling experiences I had at Columbia was interning at a literary agency two days a week. I opened a lot of mail, made a lot of copies and read a LOT of submissions. The biggest mistake nonfiction writers make is attempting to pitch a collection of essays as if they are a single memoir with a through line. Fiction writers want to sell short stories as novels. Seems really tempting to us coming out of MFA programs, but the agents and the publishing houses are interested in complete cohesive manuscripts – not patchwork quilts.