"A New Wrinkle" in the Game of Queries

I missed this original posting on Janet Reid's blog - and maybe you did too...

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-new-wrinkle-in-query-game-rules-of.html

She also did a post listing FAQs here:

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2012/08/chum-bucket-query-experiment-faq.html

Basically, she says if you send your query between 7pm and 8pm on Saturday night (New York time) she will send you a personal response with her thoughts. Don't forget to put "Chum Bucket" in your subject line... so be prepared if her response sounds a little like her Query Shark alter-ego...

She also says this offer is good through the end of August, which means there are 3 more Saturdays this offer will be valid.

You have to have a finished manuscript, ready to go out the door if she requests it.

Are you ready? Polish that query. You have 3 days to hit the next Saturday time slot.

Go.

A to Z Blogfest: The Letter Q

The Letter Q

Q is for Query in any writer's alphabet, even those who pose puppies with their letters. Queries - sometimes it feels easier to write a whole novel than the four paragraphs needed to Query an agent, but it's necessary in this business. As I work with new writers, editing their work, I can gauge how "serious" they are about the submission process by whether they've heard of the word. No, really. Some of them haven't, which is okay because their work isn't "there yet" either.

I follow Query Shark to try to avoid the pitfalls of being "that" Query. If you haven't been there, the premise is that literary agent Janey Reid accepts the Queries of brave souls and rips them to shreds to show you what you've done wrong. I also find Matthew MacNish's Quintessentialy Questionable Query Experiment blog to be helpful (and pretty funny now for A to Z fest, if you haven't been there yet, go check it out!)

But I'm also in the process of Querying right now, and am going to share my own Query here. Questions, comments and suggestions are all welcome!

Query:

Dear Agent of My Dreams,

The nightmares started after the tornado devastated the Maguire’s Oklahoma farm, leaving fifteen-year-old Shea an orphan. But the bad dreams have nothing to do with twisters – it’s the ocean that haunts him. When the grandmother he’s never met arrives to take him back to Cape Cod, he needs to confront his fears and figure out what really goes on under the waves.

Kae belongs to an undersea world hidden from drylanders. A servant to the Princess, she knows the upcoming royal marriage is the only way to end the bloody war that has raged for decades. Only two things stand in the way of a lasting peace between the rival clans: the ambitions of the foreign Regent, and the rumors of a bastard child. She knows he makes her heart race, but could Shea also be the son of the Princess?

SON OF A MERMAID is a 60,000-word YA adventure set on Cape Cod and in the depths of Nantucket Sound.

I’m the editor of CapeWomenOnline magazine, living on the shores of Cape Cod with my husband, three kids and two big dogs. My publishing credits include two small press romantic suspense novels, Unfolding the Shadows and Perfect Strangers, and numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

The first ten pages follow within this email as suggested in the guidelines on your agency website (or whatever your website suggests, I'll do it!) Thanks for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

So Glad that Monday is Over...

The week didn't start out so well, and I'm left feeling like a bad mom and a bad writer. Bad all around.

The agent that had requested my full ... got back to me with a rejection. "...While there was much about your story that I liked and admired..." yada yada yada.... "not the best representative for your work"...yada yada yada... "I know another agent will feel differently."

Bummer.

Okay, that's not the bad mom part. And actually, I'm still pretty conflicted about whether I should feel bad about this or not.

Adam Sandler is filming a movie this summer on Cape Cod. My kids are so excited and made me take them to sign up to be extras. Fine. July and August. Fine. The casting agent talked me into adding "And Boston" to their call sheets. They've already called twice for my son to go up north of Boston 3 days this week. He's still in school. He still has finals to do. He has a field trip today.

I said no.

The second woman who called from California tried to argue with me, and promised they would have a tutor on the set since it's a school day and all.

I still said no. I told her school gets out on June 22.

Besides the fact that my husband is traveling this week and I have 2 other kids with activities and bus pickups... The Girl Scout Bridging ceremony is tonight. The High School spring sports awards ceremony is tonight for my older son's first Varsity letter. My daughter has band rehearsal tomorrow night that she can't miss because the concert is less than 2 weeks away. My dad's 70th birthday is today...

None of that matters to my son, of course.

One of his friend's has a mom who is taking her kid out of school tomorrow to drive up there and be in the scene. My son is so upset with me that his friend gets to go and he doesn't. I tried to tell him it's not like Adam Sandler is going to be there, they're shooting the flashback scenes and will have a "younger" version of Adam on set.

Watch now, I'll be wrong and his friend will come back with movie star stories.

What would you have done? Let him get out of school and take him to the movie shoot? Rearrange your life for a Hollywood schedule?

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty depressed over the rejection letter, but I can always send out more queries. What do I do about disappointing my child?

Catching Up

I've been MIA lately because Spring finally arrived on Cape Cod. My yard was in pitiful shape after a long winter and longer soggy non-Spring. But the blooms have been beautiful...

I've been edging beds, spreading mulch, clearing dead leaves, mowing and weed-whacking, trimming bushes and dead tree branches, replacing broken fences... you name it, I've been doing it. More like re-landscaping than yard work.

And while I work outside, my mind keeps turning over story details so that by next week, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to sit down and crank on the WIP I was stuck in the middle of.

Do you ever find that when you're stuck on a plot point, or stuck on where a story is going, it's better to put it down completely and focus on something else entirely? I tried banging my head against it, but it was like a brick wall that I couldn't break through. Now I'm feeling re-energized by my time away from the story, and eager to get back and just plow through it, like I'm doing with my yard.

What works best for you when you get "stuck" ?



Query Update on MERMAID BLOOD:

Queries sent: 6, as of last week (I told you I was going to be selective)
Form rejections: 1
Requests for more: 1 request for a full manuscript (that came the same day!) (*quiet yea*)

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my posted query. I guess I need to refine Shea's goals more - the antagonists goals are clear: world domination. What does Shea want? answers? family? to belong? I have several more names on my "selective" list that I've already researched, so maybe I'll send some more queries out next week in addition to writing.

Have a great weekend!

Query-Go-Round, Round 2

Okay, I'm smack dab in the midst of the query process. Again. Trying to be philosophical about it all and believe the rejection letters that say, "it's not you, it's me." It's a lot like dating, I guess. Everyone is looking for that special someone who has that something that completes them. Or, at least, completes their list.

Do you use the Query Tracker website? It's a great site and a great tool. I have to admit I'm more of a lurker there myself. I did sign up, so I can access the whole 9 yards of information available, but I have yet to comment. I love their blog, and in the past have rushed to query every new agent they mentioned, whether they were totally appropriate or not.

I'm trying very hard to use restraint this time. Do all the background research possible and then some. Read the comments that others have posted about the agents I'm considering. Yes, that's right - the simple fact is that we as writers should be considering those agents just as much as they are considering us.

Agenting - like Dating - is a two-way street.

If I send queries to every Tom, Dick, Jane, and Harry, I may have some awkward dating moments. Or a whole lotta rejection letters piling into in my inbox. I want to make sure they are the right match for me and my book before I go extending them an invitation to read my work.

So that takes time. And research. My husband thinks it's a numbers game. Send out enough letters and you'll get a certain percentage of interest in your work. I tried that approach, and I'm not sure it's worth the price of rejection. Because if an agent isn't interested in your genre, they aren't going to be suddenly won over by your query. Even if they are a YA agent, there are so many permutations and forms that YA can take...

It's easy enough to research online and see what an agent likes or doesn't like. It just takes time.

There's another great website called The Write Attitude which has a ton of inspirational quotes from great writers - all saying the same thing. Don't give up. Keep writing. Keep working on your craft. All published authors have one thing in common: they didn't give up.

Okay, so - stepping off my soapbox - I had previously posted my query for comments, and received a few great suggestions. Everyone's favorite seemed to be Mooderino's - until another bloggy friend posted that you should never - ever - open a query with a question. She cited Nathan Bransford on that and I went to read his many blog postings on the subject of queries. Oh boy. So much to consider.

But onward and upward. I liked Moody's suggestion, but I've tweaked it a bit to get rid of the question. I'm till not sure it's quite "there" yet, but I'm willing to send it out and try. The new (improved?) query reads:

Dear (Agent-of-my-Dreams),

No one suspects a farmboy from Oklahoma has mermaid blood coursing through his veins, least of all fifteen-year-old Shea Maguire. He doesn’t remember the mom who abandoned him, and doesn’t believe in mermaids. But while he enjoys life with his dad on the farm, he feels out-of-step with the other freshmen at Plainville High School… like there’s something more out there.

After a deadly tornado flattens his home, Shea moves to Cape Cod and meets a mysterious girl who promises to help him find the truth. He finds it hard to believe his strange birthmark means he’s the one who’s supposed to save the undersea kingdoms from war, especially since he doesn’t know how to swim.

Prince Demyan, self-proclaimed ruler of the Southern Ocean, will stop at nothing to avenge his father’s death. Only rumors of a drylander boy stand between him and the ultimate power he craves… and really, how hard could it be to kill a rumor?

MERMAID BLOOD is a 64,000-word YA novel. My previous writing experience includes two small-press romantic suspense novels for adults and membership in RWA, as well as reporting for local newspapers. I have a BA in English literature from Colgate University, and live on Cape Cod year round with my husband, children, and big stubborn dogs. I currently work as the Editor for CapeWomenOnline.com magazine, an online magazine featuring the creative artists, writers and businesswomen who live and work on the Cape.

I’ve included the first fifteen pages in the body of this email, as suggested in your submission guidelines. A full manuscript is available upon request. Thanks so much for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

After Helen's comment, I revised the query to include the closing paragraphs - I'm not sure what the third one she mentions is supposed to be? Can anyone help me out? And where I say "Inlcuded the first 15 pages as per..." that's from the last query I sent out, and those were the specific guidelines that were listed for that specific agent. Obviously, I'd tailor that to the submission requirements of each agent...

Okay, questions? comments? suggestions? Where are you on the Query-Go-Round?

Feeling a little Wednesday...

Cape Cod Weather Today: Sunny at the moment, going up to the 60s, but thunderstorms are predicted for later. Hard to believe the weatherman these days...

I spent most of yesterday obsessing over the missing Air France plane. I scrolled through the online stories on all the various news outlets, looking for concrete information. There was a whole lot of "we really don't know."

This is not the t.v. series LOST. This is not a blockbuster movie. This is real life. Planes are not supposed to disappear off the radar and leave no trace.

Why was I so obsessed? I told myself it's research for Book 2 of the mermaid series, where a plane does go down and strand the main characters on an island to await rescue. I wanted to research the various things that are known about what makes a modern plane crash, and how you go about surviving the crash.

But I kept coming back to the fact that this Air France plane went MISSING and there was NO INFORMATION for hours. Days. Maybe when Amelia Ehrhart when down that was normal, given the lack of sophisticated radar and imaging and satellites... how does it happen in 2009?

Or maybe I was subconsciously obsessing because my husband flies around in an airplane on business all the time. He's in Phoenix now, and then off to the other coast for the rest of the week. Air travel is safer than driving, but...how does a plane go missing? He didn't seem as concerned about the whole thing - but maybe that's self-preservation. Fear is paralyzing.

Today fear is paralyzing my writing efforts. Now that I'm done obsessing over the plane wreck (maybe because they have started to find debris) I'm trying to work on Book 2, and having a hard time with it. Book 1 hasn't yet hooked an agent. Is it the height of hubris for me to be working on the second book in the series if there may never be a series? Or should I trust in the Universe and keep going?

I've sent 4 new queries on the revised manuscript since participating in the Secret Agent contest over at "Miss Snark's First Victim" blog. I've already received my first rejection back. Three to go. I need to research a few more agents and send more queries to better my odds.

Research and query? Or write fresh fiction? At least I have the choice. Ah, The Joys of being a writer...