And I thought editing was hard. Writing a query letter, specifically the part of the query that describes the story, is enough to make me smash my head against the screen. I did that last night, actually. Twice. Thankfully my MacBook’s a sturdy machine.
There’s a lot of great resources out there to help writers along the way, but a lot of it’s conflicting. Loglines! No loglines! Reveal the ending! Don’t reveal the ending! Include a bio! Don’t include a bio!
And then there are helpful suggestions like my dad’s for a letter: “Yo bro’….what’s up with THIS??”
Love you, dad, but just no.
Slowly, I’m getting there, but it’s agonizing. I’ve re-written the damn thing ten times and probably have another ten ahead of me before I’ll be satisfied with it. The biggest problem right now, I think, is that I’m never going to know which one is best. And a lot rides on that letter, you know?
Back to head smashing.
Tricia Drammeh
What drives one agent crazy might be what another agent is looking for in a query letter. Nothing frightens an author more than the prospect of writing the dreaded query letter. Good luck!
Nicole Bross
Thanks! It’s soooo much pressure. I need to keep remembering that I don’t need to make everyone happy, just one person happy.
Michelle Proulx
After my fortieth rejection letter, I was seriously considering sending out a letter that started with, “Dude. This book is awesome. Why are you even reading this query letter? Go read the book. Right now. Dude.” But I didn’t have the guts to send it 🙁
Nicole Bross
You should have… just once!
Andrew J. Stillman
Query letters are the most intimidating things in the world. Seriously. I wish you the best!
fantasywritermom
I love that you are ahead of me by six months or so. That way, I’ll know what to expect when it is my turn! I haven’t even started to research how to get published– I find it interferes with my creative time and blocks me. It all seems so intimidating!
Nicole Bross
I didn’t start looking into it until I’d revised a couple times too, for the same reason. It felt too much like putting the cart before the horse. 😉