Writing Query Letters

Writing a good query letter is a necessary evil in the writing business. It's not enough to write a novel (hopefully, a good novel), you have to also be able to condense that novel into a couple of sentences, a paragraph at most, and you have to write those few lines in such a way as to peak the interest of very busy agents and/or editors so that they want to read more of your work. Thousands of hours, months, years even of your time spent hunched over a computer composing and editing your novel--and its fate typically rests in those few sentences and perhaps at most 30 seconds of an agent's/editor's time.

Talk about pressure, eh?

You know, it might just be easier to write a query letter first, and then write the book to match it afterwards...(though I don't recommend submitting any query letter without having written and polished your book--and no, I honestly did not learn that from first-hand experience).

I wonder how many good books have never been published because an author has difficulties writing a good query letter. I know some people will say, "If you can't write a good query letter, then you obviously can't write a good novel..."

"I disagree."

"You would, you're not very good at writing query letters."

"Wow. You're being harsh tonight."

"Get used to it. You need thick skin to be a writer."

"I know, but writing a novel and writing a query letter are two very different beasts."

"No, no, no! They both are made up of words. Words are your tools. Either you know how to use them properly or not."

"But, for me, when I write a novel, I am creating a new world, new people, revealing their story, their problems, the words I use are put together in such a way as to evoke feelings, to entertain, and a query letter..."

"Yeah?"

"A query letter is all about selling that book and me. It's a sales pitch. It's an entirely different style of writing."

"So?"

"Well, it's not that I'm incapable of writing creatively--I'm just not certain that I'm very talented at selling myself."

"That's too bad. You'll probably continue to fail until you overcome that problem and learn how to write in that style too."

"Yeah..."

So, that's the bottom line, I think. There's more to writing than just writing. You have to be able to sell yourself too. You need to be able to put that artistic hat aside and wear the salesman (salesperson) hat equally well. Because if you cannot be that multi-faceted writer, agents and editors will pass you by and spend their limited time on writers who can.

Additional writing goal: become a better salesman...write better queries.

Take care all -

Writing

I'm definitely not the first writer to debate the - to blog or not to blog - issue and I won't be the last. On one hand, blogging is writing, but on the other, these words don't get me any closer to 'the end' on my current work-in-progress. To justify the time I spend here, and not on my current writing project (or with my family) I feel the need to use this blog (in part) as a motivational tool. By declaring my writing goals here for any and all to see, I hope to be reminded in the months and years to come of them, and to push myself onward to achieve these goals.

In the past four years or so, I have finished two and a half novels. I have also written a handful of poems, and at least a half-dozen short stories. Prior to 2004, I began many novels but rarely finished any of them because 1) life intruded on my writing time, 2) I hadn't done any plotting up front and I didn't know how to finish the novel, or 3) I'd lose interest in the story and start up something new only to repeat that cycle midway through the next project.

In regards to those numbered issues:
1) As of 2004, I promised myself that I wouldn't accept that excuse any more and for the most part I've kept that promise. Certainly, there have been events in my life that have been difficult and I have taken brief periods of time away from writing, but I've always returned and have pushed ever onward toward 'the end'. I have realized that if I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, I first had to take writing seriously. To that end, I feel like I have succeeded (and hope to continue to succeed in the years to come).

2) Some writers write without plots. For now, I'm not one of them. At least, not yet. Perhaps never. I like having an idea where I'm going. I don't need a detailed plot written in stone, but I at least need to have an end destination in mind. I look at it like taking a driving trip across the country. The map is spread out before me and I have a handful of pushpins. I know where I'm starting. I figure out roughly where I'd like to go and then I start picking out places along the way I'd like to visit. I may not know the EXACT road I'll follow to get from one location to the next, that's all part of the fun of discovery, but at least I don't get stuck heading in the wrong direction. So far, it's worked for me.

3) I try to work on only one project at a time--or at least one novel at a time. I might occasionally dabble with a short story, poem or even lately a picture book idea while working on a novel, but I simply cannot write two different novels at the same time. I can edit one novel while writing another, but as of right now, I'll refrain from attempting the crazy stunt of composing two (or more) novels simultaneously.

My goals:

1) To finish the first draft of my third novel (a still untitled future fantasy) by the end of the year. Currently, I have 45k words done with a final goal of 90k in mind.

2) To continue submitting my second novel - The Legend and the Dark (a stand-alone fantasy novel about a man seeking revenge and redemption) to agents. I'll talk about this book and the submitting process for it in later blog entries.

3) To read/revise my first novel - The Rush of Betrayal (the first book of a planned trilogy about a man framed for regicide and his fight to regain everything he's lost). I'll talk about this book in later blog entries too.

4) To continue submitting my short stories (all primarily fantasy shorts ranging from 1500-5000 words) to magazines.

5) To explore an idea for a picture book further and to finish that manuscript by the end of the year.

My children beckon-I must go. :)

Take care all -

Welcome

Hi. Welcome to The Ink-Competent Writer. The pen may indeed be mightier than the sword, but it seems that technology trumps them both. Typing on a wireless keyboard and using Word 2007 has generally replaced the ink pen and legal pad-or in my case the Mead 5-star, 5 subject, college ruled notebook. And while I still love to write with my trusty Pilot G-2 07 'black' with its cushioned finger-grip and silky glide across the page, I've grown accustomed to the ease of composing on my computer. Not that the actual writing of a novel or short story is 'easy'--far from it--but at least it's easier to hit that backspace and correct an error, or press the 'delete' button than it is to break out the old-fashioned white-out (or if you were a perfectionist, you insisted on rewriting that entire page....sometimes twice....three times even if you were having an especially bad spelling day...).

Anyway, before I ramble on much longer about the past, let me simply say, I am an aspiring author and this will be (in part) my record of the journey, the challenge really, to turn the 'aspiring' into 'published'. Since the age of seven, when I first began writing stories (mostly about dogs rescuing the world from alien invaders), I've wanted to be an author. Over the years, I've walked into libraries and local bookstores and savored their smell (strange, I know, but other writers and readers will understand--hopefully) and thought, I want to be a part of this world. I've walked up and down the aisles, searching for new adventures to explore, and thought, I really want to be a part of this world. Silly it may be, but at times I've even found the spot on the shelves where my books would sit, if they existed, and imaged them there. Blame the creative mind, I suppose, but hopefully someday, with a lot of work and determination (and perhaps just a little bit of luck), I won't have to use my imagination for that anymore.

I am the Ink-Competent Writer - welcome to my world.