Ready To Query!

I am ready to start the query process...finally! So I thought I'd share with you the query I will be using.  Here it is:

Dear Agent,


Emily has seen her dad knock her mom around enough to know she’s better off away from her parents, especially when they’re drunk. She seeks comfort by confiding in Nicky, the boy next door, who often speaks of finding a girl who shares his faith in God. Since she doubts the God he believes in, she lets him leave for college without revealing her love for him.

With Nicky gone, each day for Emily is another day of picking up broken beer bottles. But Emily wonders if the faith that comes so easily to Nicky can fill the void caused by his absence. She’s willing to try the faith thing, but crying out to God doesn’t save her when she’s forced to the floor by a family friend and her clothes are ripped off. So much for trusting in Him. When the blood and bruises aren’t enough to convince her parents she was raped, Emily aches for the comfort and love only Nicky can provide. Telling him she was raped won’t be easy. But telling him how she feels -- about him and about God -- will be harder.


SHARDS OF GLASS is a 90,000 word YA novel. Thank you for your consideration.


Sincerely,


Name & Contact info listed here

There it is! I'll probably start sending out small batches at a time.  If I don't get any requests, I'll revise the query and send out some more.  Feel free to leave a comment with what you think.

Writing Queries

Here it is the middle of January, and I am bummed by the fact that I have yet to start subbing my novel.  My original plan was to start querying agents last fall, but you all know that hasn't happened.  I'm still trying to polish my query.  And now I am forced to set a new goal, which is to start subbing by February.  *Crossing fingers*

Anyway, I admit I am no expert on writing queries, but I thought I'd share some helpful information that I've learned by writing my query and by critiquing others.

1. When writing your query, be sure to answer three questions: What does the protagonist want, what does he/she have to do to get it, and what happens if he/she fails?

2. Don't waste words with descriptions that don't add anything.  Example: life-threatening rattlesnake, poisonous brown recluse spider, expensive Tiffany's diamond, furry kitten, etc.  These things are understood and not necessary to be stated.

3. Queries are not summaries, so don't cram every event into the query. 

4. The average query should be no longer than 250 words. 

5. Ending the query with seemingly random information never works.  If the query revolves around John catching his father's killer, don't end with "John must catch the murderer.  If he doesn't, he'll never forgive his mother" unless you've established that, for example, John thinks his mother is responsible.

6. Your protagonist should be active, not passive.  What does he/she actually do?

7. Don't let the query process defeat you.  (Okay, that has nothing to do with putting your query together, but it's important too!) Writing queries is rarely easy, but keep trying until you have the perfect one.

Hmmm.  It's a short list.  I'm sure I have much more to learn!

Happy querying!

Query Got Ya Down?

Mine sure does! I'm back at it again; my third attempt did not turn out so well.  I wish I could snap my fingers (or tap the keyboard) and have a perfect query appear.  But that isn't going to happen.

I've gotten great feedback on each of my attempts, so I'm glad for that at least.  My biggest problem initially was keeping my query from reading like a synopsis.  Now I'm having a hard time narrowing down what to put in the query.  There's a lot going on in the story.  My MC (Emily) wants her friendship with her best friend (Nicky, a guy, not a girl) to become something more.  She also is dealing with alcoholic/abusive parents, and her not-so-great relationship with them becomes worse when their friend rapes her.  And on top of all that, she's trying to figure out her relationship with God.  She believes in God, but she has trouble believing Him to be a loving God considering everything she's been through.  How the heck do I narrow all that down? Plus, part of the story takes place when Emily is still a child.  Actually, it's a pretty good chunk.  And I really think I have to get that across in the query somehow.  But maybe I'm wrong.  I don't know.  When it comes to queries, I have a lot to learn still!

Eventually I'll have a workable query, and when I do, I'll post it to share.  And in case I don't get a chance to post in the next few days, HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! Come on 2012...bring on my dream agent!

Merry Christmas

Ah, just a few more days until Christmas.  Crazy isn't it? I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, but I'm pretty sure there will be no snow in our neck of the woods, unlike several other areas in the United States.  But I don't envy them.  My definition of a white Christmas is an inch or maybe even a few, but not a foot of snow.  That's a bit much considering the amount of people who have to travel in that.  So I guess I should be happy we'll have sunshine and no rain.

We won't be traveling much this weekend unless going forty miles counts.  My brother in law and his wife are hosting the celebration this year, so we'll be headed their way on Sunday.  Then my husband and I will travel to my mom's house for New Year's.  That's a four and a half hour drive (she lives just North of Chicago), but it's one I'm used to.  The weekend after that we'll be traveling to Tennessee to see my dad and step-mom.  Eight hours in the car.  I don't mind though; I enjoy road trips. 

After all the traveling is done, life should get back to normal.  As for a writing update, I have completed another draft of my query.  The jury is still out, but I'll hopefully get some good feedback over the next couple days. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving is just a few days away; I think I need a moment to catch my breath. 

At least my writing goal has been met.  I wanted to be finished with my novel by this time, and it is currently being reviewed by my beta.  I'm crossing my fingers in hopes of not having to correct too many things.  Over the weekend I wrote my query letter, also.  For my non-writing friends, the query letter is what is to sent to agents to get an agent's interest.  They are difficult to write because they need to be short and concise while summarizing the story well enough that the agent wants to know/read more.  My query is being reviewed now, too, and I'm sure I'll have a few more drafts before it is sent out to anybody.

That being said, I've got some down time since I'm waiting for feedback.  And I'm trying to enjoy it.  During the past week, I've done some reorganizing around my house because I can't stand clutter.  I finished reading one book before starting another one on Saturday.  I finished that one yesterday (Sunday).  I have many more books I'd like to read, but I'm not sure which one I want to start on next.  Plus I keep getting ideas for the next book I'm going to write, which has me excited about starting that project.  I need this break, though.  This is a busy time of the year, and I would like to enjoy it.  Especially the Christmas season; it's my favorite time of the year.

Hopefully I'll have a perfected query letter by January so I can start sending it out.  Now if I could just accomplish my goal of being published next year, I'd be all set.  We'll see how that goes! :)