#writing queries

[bison-appreciation-club]

can you just. buy matches in america. or are they behind glass and you have to ask a special cashier to get one.

(this is for my story btw. i am not in america. i am not committing arson. i need to know whether my fifteen year old character can buy matches in america. because she's in america and i'm not.)

[seeliemansi]

HEAR ME OUT! Mc (reader) performs "Earned it" by The Weeknd (yes the tiktok dance) meanwhile Mr. Crawling 👁️👄👁️

It's your choice whether u make it sfw/nsfw I WANNA KNOW HIS REACTION-

I will be honest with you nonnie. I think Mr. Crawling is too innocent to have the reaction you want him to have.

The moment you called for Mr. Crawling, you can hear how fast he zoomed towards the room where you at. His hands were happily tapping on the floor, his smile is wide, as he chirped, "Me here! You call?"

It was as if just by calling his name, you made his day.

At first, you feel a bit ashamed as he innocently titled his head to the side, waiting for you to speak or do whatever the reason you called for him. He looks too pure for the dance you plan to perform. But, you have to do this. This is his reward for being so good to you since he came home with you.

Anyway, might as well start.

With a deep breath, you readied yourself, played the music and do the choreography as you practiced.

You never took your eyes off him, especially when you got down, opened your legs and flip your hair. You watched as his smile went to an "O" and how he gasped when you suddenly move down, surprising him.

After you ended your performance, the room was quiet, too quiet to your liking. When you raised your head, he was just staring at you, at least that's how you felt as his smile was down and he was just sitting there, unmoving.

Embarassed, you felt your face heat up, and immediately sat properly, crossing your legs shame finally catching up to you.

You were about to say something and cut the awkwardness when he suddenly grinned and clapped his hands. His giggles are loud as he howled and cheered for you.

"Wow! Cute! Good! Good! Pretty! Pretty!"

You let out a yelped when he suddenly hug you, snaking his arms around your neck. His cheeks glued on you as he continue his praises, and squeezes you with affection.

"Kiss! Kiss!" He suddenly scooped your face and give you smooches all over your face.

You were too dumfounded to do anything so all you did was blinked, until he used his hands to pat your head, and you giggled, ticklish.

"Love you! You love me?"

a/n: but i don't want to end this here and i thought might as well write for the other guys 😆

The other Homicipher boys under the cut

Mr. Hood just stood there after you performed. He didn't say anything but he kept you sat on his lap the whole day.

Mr. Chopped is not innocent as you think. If he has a body, you'll see the sign of his boner on his pants. Let's just say Mr. Chopped was too clingy after that invigorating performance.

Mr. Silvair was grinning the whole time until it ended, just like his reaction every time. It made you nervous, and you gulped not knowing what to do. Suddenly, he grabbed a pen and a paper, and wrote the exact words, "you only show that to me. yes?"

Mr. Machete never let you finish. He thought whatever you were doing is a challenge and he almost chase you out. It took a while but you convinced him after that you were just dancing. The mood was already ruined so you didn't pursue doing it again.

Mr. Gap watched your performance intently, too intent to your liking. He was grinning from start to finish. He was giggling when you were done when suddenly he vanished out of your sight. It made you nervous and scared. Knowing him, he will probably do something unpredictable. And you were right. He suddenly appeared on the shadow that was on your wall. Touched your nape with his cold hand. You felt something sticky and wet had touched your skin. The suddenness making you yelped and shudder in surprise. He giggled and vanished for the entirety of the day. (What an asshole)

Mr. Scarletella was smiling at first when you started your perfomance. But it was you who decided to stop it when he suddenly turned his head in a 360' angle and never let his eyes out of you. It was so creepy that your want to perform was replaced by fear. He stood by you the whole day. Way too close to your liking, that you can feel his jacket brushing on your skin.

[adastra-sf]

Bad news for those querying agents: "AI" is ruining this, too

Sending your book manuscript off to agents in hopes of selling it? Be aware that at least some of them have taken the lazy route and are now using "artificial intelligence" to process submissions, thereby wrecking the author/ agent process.

If an agent doesn't read your manuscript themselves, don't trust them to be able to sell it to a publisher, either. Any agents doing this have made themselves irrelevant and unnecessary, and aren't worth paying agenting fees, as they only slow submission to publishers.

[pitviperofdoom]

Anybody who knows about query letters have any advice?

[studyblr-perhaps]

20/08/24 || Tuesday

Happy belated Rakshabandhan to the ones who celebrate! (For the ones who don't know what it is, its a festival when sisters tie an ornamental band on brothers wrists in exchange for protection. Now it's symbolic and we tie the bands in exchange for gifts lmfao). I got a watch as a gift from my cousin brother!!! At the perfect time too, cause I forgot both my watches at home while coming back to uni.

My thesis work is finally moving a bit and it's equally daunting as is exciting. I'm looking forward to the coming year haha.

[aurinavenir]

Things that DON'T make you a bad writer:

Terrible first drafts.

Being rejected by agents.

Not being able to write every day.

Taking some time off from writing.

Deciding to drop a WIP so you can write something else.

[whilereadingandwalking]

It takes real effort to keep believing in my future as a writer. Two books fully rejected by half the agents on the market, a character-driven fantasy and a friend breakup YA. I keep writing, because I can’t stop, but it does make it harder to persist in trying to finish those books. But I have to keep pushing. I know my work is good. I just have to find an agent ready to take a chance on me.

[willalraand]

Hear me out

A The Beholding ritual but it’s just some guy given some enormous spooky database and they have to come up with as many useful sql views for it

(Doing my databases homework for hours and listening to TMA at the same time does interesting things to my mind and it full on feels like some ritual)

[breakfastteatime]

As I am once again a querying writer™️, I thought I would share some general thoughts, feelings and tips about how to cope with what can be a long, drawn out, and incredibly hard experience.

With every query I send out, I expect rejection but hope for the best. Pessimistic perhaps, but I've found it really, really helps. To be clear, rejection never feels great (not even the personalised ones), but by expecting agents to pass on the submission, even from those who seem so perfect for the book, takes some of the sting out of it.

So, here we go: Breakfast Tea’s querying advice!

Ignore stories about other people’s querying journeys. You’ll hear about people who get signed by the first agent they query with the first book they ever wrote. Good for them. A friend of mine won a competition and agents came to her begging to represent her. Amazing for her, but those examples are also highly unrealistic for the majority. I’m on my sixth attempt (4 YAs – three of which were not good enough to be submitted in retrospect, and 1 adult thriller I’m still kinda bummed about but oh well!) and though I’m feeling really, REALLY good right now, I also don’t expect to get anywhere. I’m gonna shout from the hilltops if I do, buuuuut I also don’t expect to land an agent (as explained above). And if I don’t, well, onto attempt number 7!

Start writing something new as soon as you can. Ideally original fiction because agents will ask you what else you’re working on – and sometimes even ask you to outline this in the query letter (although I don’t think I’ve submitted to anyone like that in *years*). That friend of mine from above says agents also expect you to be in the same genre with the next project, so don’t query an adult thriller and tell them you’re now working on a picture book for toddlers.

If you can't write something new yet, find other distractions. Anything to take your mind off waiting for responses.

Have a rejection coping strategy in place. I find the first few don’t really bother me because of the whole ‘expect rejection’ mindset I try to have, but after a while they really, really, REALLY start to bring me down. Mine is usually eating cake and/or other little treats. Something that just reminds me I exist beyond my writing.

Accept the loss of control. Oh man, I hate this. I haaaaaaaaaaate this. Once that query package is sent out, that’s it. You’re out of control of the whole situation and you’re waiting either for a rejection, a full request, or just eternal silence. Thankfully most agencies are better now at specifying that silence = rejection. Patience is essential. I’ll let you know if I ever get any better at it.

You will get silences on full requests. You shouldn’t, but you will. I’ve had several. It is incredibly rude and exceedingly frustrating, but that’s querying for you. Even after chasing some agents just will not respond.

You may also get really rude rejections. Back in the 2010s I had one post about my story ON HER TWITTER PAGE after she rejected me. Like literally, I got the rejection and then I saw her tweet. Arsehole. And no, I can’t remember her name because I would publicly shame her. I’ve had rejections that were a sentence, I’ve had rejections that made no sense, I’ve had multiple rejections from the same agent on the one book I sent, I’ve had agents reject me by the wrong name, I’ve had agents reject me using the wrong pronouns (my name is traditionally masculine so my pronouns are in my submission). If you get something like that, blacklist them from any future projects. You deserve better.

I prefer form rejections to silence unless the agency specifies a timescale for ‘silence = rejection’. I personally prefer the certainty of a rejection. I know, weird.

Always chase agents who say it’s okay to chase them. You never know!

Personalised rejections are nice to receive. Oh, they still suck, but it’s a sign you’re on the right lines. And if an agent says ‘please submit your next project to me’ take them up on it.

If an agent forwards your work onto another agent who ‘may be more suited’ get excited but stay realistic. Many years ago, I had a project move between three agents (one of whom I’ll be submitting to again with this project). None of them signed me, but oooh it was so thrilling for a while! It was my second project – a YA sci-fi that actually got the most amount of requests of anything I’ve ever sent out. It will never see the light of day.

Don’t be disheartened if you submit to a contest and don’t get chosen – still query traditionally. Same if you submit to a course and don’t get selected. Agents don’t tend to read the submissions – readers do – so the agent won’t have seen your work yet.

You’re absolutely allowed to feel like shit and to cry about being rejected, but you gotta get back up and keep querying and keep writing.

You’ve got to be in the right headspace for querying. The last time I did it, I had to stop because I’d just started a new job with a huge new learning curve, and I couldn’t manage queries and new job at the same time. I resumed querying a long time later once I felt more settled.

Do not lie to agents. Now, this may be more specific to the UK, but agenting is a really small world and they all talk. So if you try to nudge an agent by going “Oh, another agent has a full request” or “another agent has offered representation” and that’s not true? You’re fucked.

Celebrate a full request – but stay realistic.

Agents will reject the same book for totally different reasons. I had one agent reject a horror novel because it wasn’t scary enough, and another because it was too scary. It’s all very subjective.

Agents are not rejecting you as a human being, they are saying no to what is essentially a business proposal. It’s a really strange way to look at it, but you are more than your writing!!!!!

Okay, I think that’ll do for now! Feel free to drop me an Ask if you wanna know more!

[transcendragon]

So, now I’m querying a couple different works, which is a process that involves a surprisingly large amount of editing. Here’s an editing bingo to celebrate! Do you get any bingos from your editing experiences?

My edit made in Canvas, image description in alt.

[nixotinix]

OH IM BACK BABY!! I gotta know from Edward (maybe Q and E as well because I value their opinion) but is there a particular heist he enjoyed the most?? Or perhaps a scheme that he absolutely adored putting into motion?

Riddler: “Again with the Edward thing. It’s always ‘Edward this’, ‘Edward that’. Really, does nobody respect the title of ‘Riddler’ anymore? It’s ludicr-”

Echo: “Hey, we know her!!”

Riddler: “... You huh?”

Query: “Yeah, we know Catie! She came into our apartment last night and hung around for some takeout.”

Riddler: “How did she find your apartment- how did you find their apartment, Catherine?”

Query: “We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves. But I don’t think ‘Catie’ is short for Catherine.”

Riddler: “... Regardless. Any notable heists? No. They’re mostly a dime a dozen. You bust into a place, hold the teller or clerk or whomever at gunpoint, they put the money in the bag, you leave. It’s quite simple. Other crimes, though? Hmm…”

Echo: “Oooh, boss, we should tell her about the cows!”

Riddler: “Oh yes, the cows! Ahem. I won’t get into it here, but Mayor Hill pulled a little stunt on me back in my E. Nigma days that really ticked me off, so naturally, I wanted to get back at him. Shockingly, though, a man like Hamilton Hill has extraordinary cybersecurity, so it wasn’t as easy as spoofing his IP address and getting blackmail. So if I couldn’t get dirt on him, I wanted to at least piss him off. And that’s where the cows come in.”

Query: “Yeah, so basically-”

Riddler: “Ah-ha, I’m telling this story, Query. I got in touch with Jon and he got in touch with a few of his farmer friends, and before I know it, I’m standing outside Hamilton Hill’s private mansion at midnight with a frankly absurd number of cows. He was away on business, otherwise he would’ve heard all of the moos. Now, the Hill mansion has a large porch and leading up to that porch is a set of about five stairs. And I don’t know if you know this, Catherine- I didn’t before Jon told me- but cows’ knees have a very unique property that makes them able to walk up stairs, but not down. So when Hill got back to his house the next day, he was greeted by about 400 cows on all three stories of his house. It took him and the Commissioner three days to figure out how to get them all out! Ha… those were the days.”

Echo: “I don’t think anything we’ve pulled since has been that good.”

Riddler: “You know, for once, you and I agree on something.”

[abbyzwrites]

I’ve officially started the querying process to try to get representation on my book! Playing the waiting game now and fingers crossed an agent decides my manuscript is interesting 🤞🏻

[raineandsky]

Imagine a hero x villain where the villain is kind of inept, and he basically has one last attempt to convince supervillain he's worthy of his job (and possibly life tbh), and he comes across a badly injured hero. This starts a long con where he ingratiates himself with her, slowly learning details to her powers (think Black Canary's scream), only to sell her out to supervillain. But it turns out he ... might have grown a little fond of her.

Probably a really basic idea. 😅

there's no basic ideas in this house - we like what we like!! thank you for the request as always :)

His whole plan was leading up to this moment. Why is he stalling?

The villain stands outside the supervillain’s door. He should be in there, should be explaining his master plan the he knows the supervillain will love, but no—here he is, lingering outside like a wimp.

He knows why he’s lingering. Of course he does, it’s been pretty hard to avoid.

He found a hero. Injured, weak, vulnerable. He took her in and helped her recover, all under the guise of some concerned civilian who just so happened to know emergency first aid. She was unsure at first; closed off, speaking only to thank him for the food he brought her and the bandages he wound around her injuries.

Then she got comfortable. Talked about her work, the other heroes, how her power worked—her sonic blast, to give it a name. She demonstrated on his poor mug, his favourite, and beamed when the villain showered her in praise and amazement. As heroes do.

She got better, returned to the agency, but not without the stab of affection the villain had managed to plant in her.

The hero returned, of course. Talks of heroism turned into talks of life—her cat was probably eating all her food, heroism made her awful lonely, his sofa was cosy with a blanket over her lap and the fireplace crackling in front of her, could he draw her, please? The villain had tried to play his pad of notes—notes on her—off as a sketchbook before, and was suddenly deeply regretting it.

The drawing’s still in there. He’s been looking at it, with all its wonky lines and uneven pen marks, as he pieced together his plan. Maybe too much. It’s clearly had an effect.

Dammit, now he’s thinking about it again—thinking about her. All he should be thinking about is how he can manipulate the information out of her for the supervillain’s gain. All he can think about is the movie night they’ve planned for this evening.

The supervillain appears at the end of the corridor. He eyes the villain for an awkward moment before he says, “Everything alright, [Villain]?”

Come on, do it. No, don’t. The villain shuffles on his feet. “Yeah. Could I grab you for a meeting quickly?”

The supervillan’s expression only gets more quizzical but he doesn’t say no. He opens his office door and ushers the villain inside with a sigh.

He flops down in his chair, gesturing idly for the villain to start. The villain flips his notepad open, his speech laid out in his mind. I’ve integrated myself into [Hero]’s life. With a little pushing, think of what we could find out! He glances down at the page for inspiration.

The notepad has been open on this page too much recently. It flips itself, irritatingly, to that godawful 30 second drawing, and any words the villain was gearing up to say die on his tongue.

He showed it to the hero with a grimace and she laughed. Loud, unabashed. Like someone who isn’t afraid of who she is. “Looks just like me!” she cried. “It’s no Picasso, sure, but it was by you, so that must count for something!”

The lines are even more crooked than he remembered. Jesus, why did he keep this? It doesn’t do her justice.

“[Villain]?”

The villain looks back up like he just remembered where he is. He did, honestly. He was more than a little lost in his own thoughts. Thinking about her like some irritating fly that just won’t take the hint away no matter how much you swat it.

“Yeah, I, uh, yeah.” Flawless start. The villain clears his throat and flips the pad closed. “I just, uh, thought I’d say that whatever you’ve done with the light bulbs is good. It’s, uh, brighter. In here. In all the rooms.”

The supervillain stares at him blankly. “Is that… what this was about?”

No! “Yeah.”

The supervillain has never had less emotion on his face than right now. “Okay.”

“Okay,” the villain echoes, and with a quick nod he turns on his heel and gets the hell out of there.

The halls are quiet, thankfully. The villain lobs the notepad in the first bin he finds, and after taking three steps he grumbles to himself and pulls it back out and tears the drawing out and replaces the pad in the bin.

He might as well just go home. He has a movie night to set up anyway, and he needs to rob the corner store of all the popcorn they have.

[rains-inky-mind]

I am once again asking for very specific, explicit, step by step directions on how to write a query letter to a literary agent and/or publisher.

@sleepyowlwrites @ren-c-leyn @ anyone else who can tag someone who can explain this in a way that my autistic brain can grasp.

[lilly-writer]

SHRIKE'S EYRIE

CARMILLA x THE CONJURING While exorcising a deadly ghost promises fame and fortune to the young spirit medium Agnes, what she truly desires is companionship. Her wish is granted, but the identity of her newfound love casts Agnes into a deadly conflict of interest.

🗝️ Haunted houses 🌹 Slow-burn romance 🗝️ Gothic horror 🌹 Love triangles 🗝️ Toxic relationships 🗡️ Plain bad heroines