November 10, 2005

For those interested in my frustrating search for the magical agent for my book, here is my current working appeal letter. So far I have been told that it lacks the spark needed to get it past the personalized (we promise) form rejection letter.

Oh to have someone actually read something …

Dear Keeper of My Future:

The United Nations gambled recently on an idea. They believed that, given a certain level of excitement and adventure, people—young and old alike—would be willing to play an Internet game that was designed to reward their players for changing the world. Their product is called Food Force (viewable at http://food-force.com). And according to a young man I know who played the game for some two hours: “It ain’t war, but I didn’t know you guys did such cool stuff.”

What is amazing about this is not just that some 2 million people wanted to play the game. It is that their idea is “cashing in” on the premise that entertainment and adventure—normally associated with a “get away” from the ugly world—can team up with the substance of caring to create a Jack Ryan, Jason Bourne or perhaps even Jane Bond of the future—a character whose life style and plot gets its spin from making the world a better place to live.

My book, Balance of Empowerment, takes its place in this new genre of “thinking fiction” by showing that successful literature (and the movies that follow) can make a mark by inspiring heroes and heroines of advocacy. My protagonists actually gain their excitement and accomplish their missions by using such tried and true tools and techniques as community collaborations, cross-cultural connections, empathy, virtual networking, and a general sense of fairness and justice to reward the good while slam banging evil villains into their place.

Don’t get me wrong: there are steamy interplays between people who like, love and hate each other too; but the overall stories (read: series!) get to their ends and consequently the betterment of the world without just giving in to greed and selfishness.

The perfect outfit for super men and women (or boys and girls) who want to grow up to be good at heart and in deed.

There is absolutely no question but that when people work together they can do good things. We have a national history of social advocacy and humanitarian justice to prove that. The problem is that we never see anything that glorifies this, and we definitely never see any commercial models that reward a passion for betterment with the rewards of popular entertainment.

I know, I worked for 20 years as an executive administrator for nonprofit service and advocacy organizations, helping thousands of families and young people empower themselves, meet their basic needs, overcome their sadness and avoid the pain and hurt of self- and community destruction. In other words, I did what dedicated, caring people do all the time to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, mend the sick and motivate the dejected; I just did it together with others and an eye toward solving the causes of these folks’ problems in the first place.

My book has 25 chapters in 400 pages (I keep editing it so it varies from 390 to 410).

It is my first novel though I have published a few other items, ranging from technical materials (parts of the first “Take Our Daughters To Work Day” project) to academic pieces in the area of criminal justice (for saving young murderers) to a contributing piece about “When Loves Lasts Forever” (for long-term gay relationships)—who says I’m an idealist? Anyway, you can see more about this on my targeted website, that also includes editor-unencumbered pieces and samples of my creative work. (Go back to Epower Opinions.)

I’m looking for an agent to help me get my Advocates In Action concept together. I think it is a good prospect for a number of books and a movie or two and perhaps even an interactive game (or iPod thing of some kind), but more importantly it could be nothing more than a way to share the accomplishment of people who care and know that what they do is an adventure in impact.

With any luck, others too will use it to inspire different kinds of heroes and heroines for real life and virtual excuses for adventure.

If you want to actually read something other than a letter, let me know.

Allan Shore

(916) 730-2801

You can see a character and plot summary in more details on my master Web site, Everyday Advocacy, where I also beg for nonprofit and writing consulting work.