So apparently the chest cold from the black abyss has sapped my creative energy in addition to my physical energy. It has been over a week now since I first started sniffling and I'm still hacking like a sixty year old woman who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I am actually longing to go home as we speak, but unfortunately, I sapped my sick leave account in the height of this mess. So onward I trudge....
Anyhoo, I shall be brief, but I thought to share a post from super-former-agent-extraordinaire Nathan Bransford. He has been doing a great series this week on how he writes and I have found it extremely informative. Today he shared his query letter, the one that got him representation for his JACOB WONDERBAR Series. It is very interesting in that it breaks many rules that are commonly bandied about on various internet writing forums and blogs. But it really is a great letter and it has inspired me to incorporate some of the elements into my own query letter (that is finished even though there is still work to be done...sigh).
For those of you who have written query letters--did you stick to the tried and true formula or did go out on the limb? If you haven't written a letter yet--have you got something in mind already?
I have queried agents. I followed the advice of querying ten agents, waiting and continuing in batches of ten. This was good advice because as I went through the process, I rewrote better and better queries. Writing a query letter was painful at first. My last batch got interest and resulted in feedback for which I will always be grateful. I no longer fear queries and look forward to getting back to it once my revisions are done. Now I understand queries and how to use them as a barometer for my own writing. If I can't get it in 250 words, then I'm not ready. That's just my experience. How about others?
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline! I was definitely a "stick to the tried and true" querier. But that's just me--not necessarily right, but I'm not a risk taker.
ReplyDeleteRebecca--totally true on the barometer comment! I've started writing the query first--so I can tell if my idea is solid or just a ramble :)
I totally agree with you, Rebecca. I think 5 or 10 will be my magic number. I don't want to blow my chances on a query letter that could be fixed, etc. I've only drummed up 35 agents to query, so 5 will most likely be my number.
ReplyDelete