Hi. I'm the on-forum friend Steph is referring to, so let me give this a shot.
Truth be told, I don't have any great insights on either novels or screenplays. I write stage plays, and my efforts to get a literary agent for myself as a playwright haven't gotten me very far. What I can say is this: I've found, as a playwright, that an important part of the process, which I'll admit is probably easiest of all for a playwright, is setting up opportunities for myself both to be a member of an artistic community and to test-market my work. I say it's probably easiest for a playwright because the main thing I do is belong to a theatre group, and when I've written a new play, I call up a bunch of actors to do an informal sit-down reading of it, and I invite an audience. When it comes to novels, it's probably harder to get people to read your novels and give you feedback than it is to get people to attend a play reading. As for screenplays, there are group forums for screenwriters, but I don't know where to find them because I'm in a whole other realm.
The thing is, getting a literary agent is not easy. Paradoxically, the literary agent will help market you, but first you have to market yourself to the literary agent. That comes of having some kind of track record, or of having work that will just knock the agent's socks off. For a track record, you might submit short stories around if you have any. For the screenwriting, why not see if you can hook up with independent filmmakers to get your screenplays done? Actually, when it comes to screenplays, I think I'd be most inclined to suggest networking with indie production groups, going for a production before going for an agent.
Good luck, and you're welcome to E-mail me if you'd like to talk further.
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Hey Qjakal, looks like we're neighbors, by the way. I'm in the city.
