Happy Hooker Crap-O-Meter
Yes, I'm one of the many who is fascinated with the HHCoM. Not only by Miss Snark's comments but also by the comments of the snarklings. This is an educational process that most writers would pay good money for.
How many writers haven't toiled over that all-important query letter only to have no freaking idea if they'd gotten the hook right? Even if the agent accepts sample pages, that hook is still important. And for agents that don't want sample pages or synopsis, it is crucial. You've got a manuscript of about 80,000 words and you have less than a page to get an agent interested enough to want to read a few pages. That's pressure. That makes actually writing the manuscript seem easy.
So, did I subject myself to Miss Snark and the Snarklings? Of course! I sent my entry off with eager glee. Where else could I get so many informed opinions as to whether I'm doing it right? And for free!
So, Miss Snark didn't hate mine. She didn't say it sucked. There were parts of it she didn't think worked and parts that she liked. Her comment didn't say whether she will request pages. I had several comments that were pretty much all positive.
That was good. A writer works in a vacuum most of the time, so to haul out your work and show it to others is always a little scary. I mean, what if you're the only one who doesn't htink your baby is ugly? But when you get the compliments, the "I'd like to read more of this", it's great. It makes me want to neglect the housework even longer and write more.
But first I need to work on the hook. I need to get it just right because it's going in the mail to agents in January.