You guys. I thought writing a novel would be one of the hardest things I’d ever do.
I was totally wrong.
I’ve finished three rounds of revisions on my manuscript, which means that it’s time to start querying agents. “Queries” are emails in which I beg literary agents in a professional manner to read 10-30 pages of the full novel I spent months pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into, in the hopes they will want to read the rest of the manuscript.
That’s it. That’s all you get to show them the first time ‘round. Ten to thirty pages. That’s roughly 1-3 chapters.
It’s nothing. Nothing.
I mean, I get it. Agents wade through thousands of submissions, so they only have time for a little bitty bit of each manuscript that crosses their paths. But you gotta hope that those 10-30 pages you submit really capture their attention.
Well, those pages, and the query letter.
THE QUERY LETTER. *cue ominous peal of thunder*
The difficulty of writing my novel pales in comparison to the gigantic wall of writer’s block I have repeatedly slammed into while trying to write the query letter, as well as the synopsis of my novel. How do I condense 250 pages into 3-5 paragraphs that simultaneously convey all the major points of the story and make you NEED to read the entire manuscript? *headdesk*
The query is what the agents see first. Think of it like a cover letter for your resume, or the tagline for your online dating profile. It’s gotta be short! It’s gotta be informative! It’s gotta be memorable! In short, it’s gotta make the agent choose YOU. (Pikachu. Sorry. Couldn’t help it.) If those few encapsulating paragraphs don’t grab the agent right off the bat, there’s a very good chance that those 10-30 pages of your manuscript will never even be read, no matter how riveting they may be.
Every attempt I make at a query draft results in complete and utter crap. No, I’m not being too hard on myself. Trust me when I say it’s crap. I’ll never be published. Ever, ever.
I ran into a similar problem with the synopsis of the book (the longer description that agents will read if your query letter gets you through Round One). Thankfully, I have a friend who’s an editor, and she mercifully reviewed my synopsis multiple times and gave me excellent pointers. I’ve revised it multiple times and I thought it was done, but based on what I’m finally molding into my query, I’m thinking I may have to go back and revise the synopsis a little bit. Again.
On the bright side (??), I’m not the only one who finds the query process incredibly daunting and harrowing. There are multiple forums and sites devoted to navigating the agent query process, and there is even a mentoring program called Pitch Wars that helps would-be authors revamp their queries, synopses, and manuscripts into more agent-ready form. The Pitch Wars August submission deadline is rapidly approaching, and I’m thinking about entering, so the pressure is ON to create an “unputdownable” query letter and synopsis. (“Unputdownable” is a word. I’ve now seen it in two different book descriptions. I’m going to be using it like whoa from now on.)
Writing this post was a nice little break from writing (and re-writing, and re-re-writing) my query letter. Thank goodness I have this blog. It makes me feel like I can at least write something decent today. (Please don’t disillusion me. I’m fragile right now.)
Tonight will be another night in the query trenches. Tea and more sweets will be needed to make it through. #eatyourfeelings. As I write this post, I’m already on to caramel #2. I sadly don’t have access to caramel #3 right now, but perhaps that is for the best…
Any other writers out there in the query trenches right now? Feel free to vent in the comments. Misery loves company. 😀
