#how to write a query

[scifrey]

Lots of talk happening on Social Media lately about Trade Pub vs. Indie Pub vs. Selfpub (not that one is better than the other, just the advantages or disadvantages of whichever route you pick.)

So, I thought I'd share this again.

This is how a book goes from a manuscript to a published product, regardless of which type of publishing you do.

Note that if you have an agent or publisher, everything from "Submissions" downward, you will have support teams for (editors, proofreaders, marketing teams). Unless it's Indie/Small Press, in which case, much like querying, the submissions process is on you.

But if you selfpub, you have to do that all on your own (unless, like me, you hire cover artists, proofreaders, typesetters, etc.)

I've got some more information about Pitch Packages for Query/Submissions here, and lots more articles about the business and craft of writing here.

[jamiesfootball]

Six Sentence Sunday (and one emoji)

[Jamie]: Really? Did we have to make a new chat just for this?

[Isaac]: No, Dani's got the the right idea. We're dealing with a legend. We may need to coordinate our behaviour appropriately to make sure we don't scare him off to a different team

[Jan]: Which means until otherwise noted, you do not have the signal Jamie

[Jamie]: 🖕

[ehlnofay]

8, 10, 14, 16, 21, 25 for skyrim

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about answered here :)

worst part of fanon more morrowind-relevant but. same difference. I don't love that foul murder seems to be taken so much as gospel... it's objectively (according to me, the arbiter of objectivity) more interesting to let that whole situation stay nebulous and uncertain, but people go so hard on the one interpretation that it takes all the fun out of it. this can probably be extrapolated to a lot of other lore things tbh

that one thing you see in fics all the time themes of fate determinism and personhood. this one isn't even complaining (sorry I know the whole point of this is to be a hater !!! but I don't read fics with things in them I don't like lol) I think it's sick as hell. tes lends itself well to these kinds of ruminations. love that. love to see the way people discuss them

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) people talk about the thalmor like. a lot. parts of fandom seem very stuck on the idea of them and also a handful of thalmor characters in skyrim. I don't get it. (yes this is blatantly hypocritical. rules for thee and not for me etc etc <3)

part of canon you think is overhyped less this part being overhyped and more others being underhyped, but i think it's a shame that the first council gets such a great deal of attention where other old-ass lore is largely ignored. there's not nearly as much content for like. pelinal or smth. there should be

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing answered here!

[birlwrites]

one of the things that i've accomplished due to the low barrier to entry in writing fanfiction is writing novel-length stories as a matter of course. like, i used to think of writing a book as this massive, monumental task - and in some ways, it is! but in other ways, it's still just a story. and it feels much more approachable to me now that i've done it multiple times, posting chapter by chapter because that's something you can do really easily with fanfiction. i didn't go into it believing i could do it - i found out that i could by just giving it a try and seeing what resulted.

there's also a certain wild creativity you can find on ao3, the result of people just doing whatever they feel like doing - sometimes it results in incoherence, sometimes in incomprehensibility, sometimes it falls flat, but there's so much variety in storytelling forms, if you look for it. people will deep-dive into anything. 'marketability' is laughably far from being a concern. what is a story, anyway? people will strip the idea down to its bare bones and rebuild it in infinite ways if they have the space. that space doesn't exist in barnes & noble.

i'm a firm believer that you should read the types of stories you want to write, and that you should also read broadly, because that's how you avoid getting stuck recycling the same handful of ideas over and over. i think the same thing applies to writing. write what you want to write - but also, experiment. try other things, even if they seem silly or impractical or irrelevant, even if you don't think they will work. even if you don't think you can make them work.

if you don't feel like you have creative freedom, then you'll fall back on the tried-and-true. you'll recycle. it won't feel like your voice, because it's been filtered through layers upon layers of 'acceptable' and 'marketable' and 'reasonable' and 'broadly appealing.' the only way to understand your own creative limits is by testing them, constantly. you can't truly believe that you can write whatever you want until you prove it to yourself.

and even if your voice turns out to be acceptable and marketable and reasonable and broadly appealing after all - if you try all sorts of things and find out that's where your creativity flows best - you still know it's yours. you still know you're writing the truest possible expression of your own creative abilities. you owe it to yourself to find out what it feels like to write unfettered.

write something weird.

[bookwyrminspiration]

hello you are the god of canon and i've been confused about this for a long time so i am turning to you as my last desperate hope to understand.

remember in everblaze, there was a leak? i'm not talking about the black swan leak, i'm talking about the leak that was leaking classified council information, like fintan's healing. sophie thought it was bronte at one point? well i'm pretty sure we never found out who that actually was.

tiergan says he suspects that the thirty missing dwarves are behind it right before the healing (somewhere in chapter 34 iirc) and sophie agrees and says yeah that makes sense, but it's never actually confirmed. then the story moves on as if that has been solved, so either i'm stupid and i'm not picking up what shannon's putting down (that the thirty missing dwarves are responsible for the leak) or i'm missing something? are we supposed to assume that tiergan was correct and that the thirty missing dwarves are the leak? if so, i'm pretty sure that's never actually explicitly stated, it was just a theory.

i'm pretty sure we're also supposed to assume that the thirty missing dwarves are the dwarves that fled to the neverseen (even though that's also never explicitly stated iirc), so that checks out. but then, the question becomes, why the heck do the neverseen care if random classified secrets are released to the general public? it doesn't make any sense. i get the neverseen wanting to know those secrets for themselves, but what interest would they have in the public knowing those secrets? if the thirty missing dwarves are the dwarves that fled to the neverseen and they're responsible for the leak, then it's like. okay, but why?

like when sophie thought the leak was bronte, she was able to sort of reason it out like "okay, maybe he's leaking these secrets to get the public riled up against the healing because he doesn't support it" or something like that. so it gives bronte a proper motivation (it wasn't him, but using this as an example).

so i guess the questions are:

are the thirty missing dwarves confirmed to be neverseen dwarves?

are the thirty missing dwarves confirmed to be the source of the council leak?

if they are the source of the leak, why would the neverseen care if the general public knew about fintan's healing and those other secrets?

thanks in advance i know this is long

Hi! You're totally fine and not at all stupid--it's quite nebulous.

Off the top of my head, I don't think we've revisited the council leak's source since that conversation. So unless and until Shannon circles back around to reveal Noland or Clarette or someone was up to nefarious deeds, I do think we're supposed to believe the dwarves are the source.

The dwarves also are working with the Neverseen, as seen in the battle of Mount Everest (p. 560) and much later in Legacy. I can't recall a line where the number thirty specifically comes up again? But as it doesn't seem they knew there were any dwarves with the Neverseen (p. 275, 570--not definitive, but it seems the general intention) prior, I don't think it matters we don't get the specific number

As for why they leaked secrets, I think it perhaps has something to do with Mr. Forkle's later theory about destabilizing everyone and swooping in to take over. The healing was highly divisive, and it shook people's trust even before it went wrong. Cluing everyone in to how much the council obscures diminishes their power and influence--makes the Lost Cities that much easier to conquer.

But again, a lot of this is off my memory--and I might be missing some details. If someone's got a stronger understanding of this conflict specifically, please do share!

[amtrak12]

Me: rolls my eyes and judges fic writers who talk about how they can't control the characters, the characters control them, and then laugh it off like it's a good and valid way to write

Also me while writing my own fic: Oh shit... did you really just think that, [character]? Daaammmn..... I've never considered that for you before, but it makes so much sense. I love it!

[thatlonelycactus]

Sometimes I wonder if English teachers can tell if someone writes fan fiction because like-

[rynli]

Was going through my novel again last night and it slaps actually

[unfxllenone]

❄️ (blehh)

EVEN HAT GUY? (just kidding she will pelt him back its fine)

Realistically, there is no winning against him -- not in this game of flurries and ice. An untiring puppet built for battle does not a weak snowbrawler make. Granted, it's not that serious! She can take the snowball to the face and be done with it, or drop a comment that's a carbon copy of his to end this in a huff: Since when did you participate in something so childish? comes to mind.

... But she's having fun, unfortunately, and, ever the optimist, Lumine believes she can find a silver lining despite the loss that she will surely wind up with.

Her acting skills come into play, donning an expression of confusion as she points out a tree. The branches are spindly, though some sections hold snow. Hat Guy doesn't seem to grasp what she's gesturing at (which is the point, considering nothing's there), and all it takes is a claim of Maybe only I can see it..? (because something requiring her magic sight or touch or whatever else is part and parcel of her journey) before she's clambering up the tree in a careful, practiced manner, managing surprisingly well despite the ice that covers the branches. She pretends to be inspecting something on the thin showing of bark very closely before her gaze drops to the ground below, and she gestures as though something has fallen, urgently requiring him to grab it. He's not foolish enough to walk beneath the branches she's on (smart, even if they weren't locked in a winter wonderland's combat), but he is still foolish enough to walk beneath the tree, and that is all it takes for her to play it to her advantage.

A jump has her latching onto another branch nearby; it creaks with her weight, but the only part of it that falls are the lumps of snow once caught between forked branches.

Satisfyingly, right onto his head. Hat.

She snorts.

Vindication is surely due, and she knows there's only so much leverage the tree can give her -- but even so, the smug grin she gives him surely conveys she's pleased with the outcome regardless.

[smol-blue-bird]

it's absolutely astonishing how useless Google has become

[ninjaaa-go]

please, I’m begging you, just give me clear and thorough instructions. please

[prosebushpatch]

fully aware that a night of sleep might be enough for me to realize it's garbage and still majorly lacking BUT I JUST WROTE A QUERY DRAFT FOR MY MERMAID STORY AND I THINK IM FINALLY ONTO SOMETHING. IT ONLY TOOK, WHAT, 5 YEARS TO FIGURE OUT QUERIES?!?!?!

[bookwyrminspiration]

Do you like babel. I have the book but I haven’t started yet

oh I adore babel. I talk about it so much and am constantly reccing it to people--in fact, I did so just yesterday after quoting it in class discussion!

With a complex, diverse main cast and a heavy focus on language--as an art, as a field of study, as a tool of oppression by colonial empires--it creates such a captivating world and worldview. Following the 4 main characters throughout their college schooling and seeing them try to reconcile and come to terms with their circumstances and their losses and their supposed helplessness is such an emotional journey, and its one many can see themselves in.

You'll find a lot of people who've lost/struggle with their heritage language(s) echoing the characters' sentiments and experiences, though the relations can and do go beyond that.

I'm trying not to spoil anything, but if you'd like a more official summary/sales pitch or would like to talk about it more I am always delighted to discuss babel :)

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

did i panic when the very kind community manager at the coworking space asked me what my book was about?? yes, yes i did. HOWEVER. the space itself is. promising. so. We Shall See.

[melbatron5000]

How to write a query letter:

All right, here's some practical advice on finding an agent from an indie author. (I do love some irony.)

I decided to go indie after hearing several horror stories from trad-published authors. Zero editing of their book before being published; having an editor get super excited about their work and buy it only to have that editor leave and and the new one be really unexcited about their work; having a publisher be super excited about their work only for the publisher to go under before they can actually go to print and their rights to their book be part of the IP that gets swallowed up in the bankruptcy, etc.

But when I first started writing, trad publishing was the only viable way to go. So I busted my ass trying to get my books published. I came very close to breaking in, and then decided to back out and go indie when that became realistic.

Here's a version of the template I created to write up a good query letter. This is what got me notes back and requests to see more. I hope it helps someone.

Firstly, of course you're terrible at describing your own work. Doing that sucks and is hard! Every writer HATES it. You're not alone.

Describe your story in three bits, try to make them as short as possible:

1. Who is your main character, what do they do, what makes them cool? "Jeremiah is a party-loving bullfrog who believes in peace."

2. What happens to fuck their life up? "When his best friend drinks all his wine, what's a bullfrog to do?"

3. What's at stake/how will our hero cope? Avoid asking questions here, don't say things like "can love and joy prevail?" Obviously it will, or there's no story. Say something more factual, like, "Jeremiah wants to get mad, but his motto has always been joy to the world." Give more of an idea how the character approaches the problem and the conflict involved rather than asking if the problem will be resolved.

3. Continued. That's how you write a book description to hook a new reader, but editors aren't new readers. Give away the end in a query letter. "Through the power of joy to the world, Jeremiah will see his way to bringing joy to you and me." And DON'T GET CUTE and think "oh, if I give away the end, they won't be hooked!" This is NOT a reader, this is an EDITOR. Show them you know how to stick the landing. Tell them the end.

Secondly, a query should open with who you are, why you wanted to write this story, what the story is about, and thank them for their time. Close it. Done. One page. I cannot stress how important this is: ONE PAGE.

So to try and clarify how the whole thingy should look:

Paragraph one: Dear Mr./Mrs./Mme. Smith (FIND OUT THE CORRECT NAME. You can ABSOLUTELY phone the secretary and ask. DO IT!) Hello, I'm Sunny Jim, and I love bullfrogs and hippies. I've been writing since I was a wee lil chitlin telling yarns to amuse my grandmammy. (If you've been published before, or have a degree, mention it here. If not, don't say shit. Zip it!) Please find attached/enclosed the first three pages (or however many this particular publisher/agent wants FIND OUT HOW MANY PAGES THEY WANT!! Call those secretaries!! Don't trust the website, who updates that shit anyway?? Not the agent or editor, that's who!) of my novel, Joy to the World.

Paragraph two: I decided to write a story about bullfrogs when I had a wild acid trip and the frogs told me to love all mankind, even when they piss me off.

Paragraph three: Jeremiah is a party-loving bullfrog who believes in peace. When his best friend drinks all his wine, what's a bullfrog to do? Jeremiah wants to get mad, but his motto has always been joy to the world. With the help of the love from the fishes in the deep blue sea, he sees his way clear to bringing joy to you and me.

Thank them for their time: I do so deeply appreciate you taking a moment to gander at my tale, Joy to the World. I hope it scratches an itch you didn't know you had.

Close: I look forward to hearing from you! Regards, Sunny Jim the Weird Hippie.

Thirdly, be yourself, be a little funny, but DON'T GET CUTE. Editors read hundred of these per HOUR, and the last thing they want is something the author thinks is cute. Think of your day job, maybe you have customers or new employees who think they'll be funny and just wind up looking dumb. Yeah, don't do that.

Be relaxed, be confident you've got a good story, don't write anything you think will make you "stand out." You know what will make you stand out? Being courteous, professional, and personable. Use your words judiciously and appropriately. Talk to the editor like you would talk to a busy co-worker whose work you value and who you genuinely like. Short and friendly. If things go well, that's who this person will become to you.

Anyhow, I hope this helps, and it's been a loooong time since I queried an agent and got a positive response, so if I'm getting this wrong now and you know better, do let me know. I can't imagine any of this advice has gone out of fashion, though. Being smart with your words, keeping your email short, and being polite and friendly has not steered me wrong yet.

Good luck out there, folks.

[kazz-brekker]

reducing word counts in my book is so hard but i am being so brave and doing it