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Writing A Query Letter About Your Novel

The query can be a quick way to tell whether your novel might be of interest
to a particular publisher--without having to wait until some editor finds
your manuscript deep within her slush pile. The query should give the editor
an idea of your story (and a sense of the way you're handling it) that's
clear enough to help her decide if it's worth considering. If the idea sounds
good, you know the complete manuscript (or sample chapters) will enjoy a
prompt and careful reading. If the idea doesn't sound right for her, she may
tell you why, and perhaps suggest either a new approach or another publisher.

Some queries are very short, and others are long indeed--novel outlines
masquerading as letters. Consider the following suggestions as guidelines,
not ironclad laws:

1. Supply a short, pungent description of what the book is about: a desperate
attempt to escape a narcotics bust, an unexpected journey that leads to
romance and danger in 1930s China, an aging gunfighter's attempt to prove
himself again in the Mexican Revolution.

2. If not obvious from your plot outline, identify the audience your book is
aimed at: hardcore space-opera fans, teenage girls, Regency-romance readers.

3. Be able to tell the editor what makes this novel different from others in
the genre: a twist in the plot, a new angle on the hero, an unusual setting.

4. Your credentials may be helpful, if only as a dedicated and knowledgeable
reader in the genre, or as an observant resident of the city you've set your
novel in. These are not trivial qualifications: If you don't know and love
the genre you're writing in, it will show. And if you don't know the history
and folklore of your setting, the story will lack depth.

5. Display in your query some of the excitement and energy you want to bring
to your story--show how and why this story matters to you, and it'll matter
to your editor.

The Letter Itself:

Ideally, your query letter ought to run to a page or a little more, organized
something like this:

First paragraph: Tell us what kind of novel you've written, or are now
writing. How long is it, when and where is it set? Describe the hero and
heroine, and perhaps one or two other major characters. What's their
predicament? How are they proposing to get out of it? And why should we
care--that is, what's at stake?

Second paragraph: Describe what happens in the middle of the novel--how your
characters interact, what conflicts arise among them.

Third paragraph: The resolution of the novel--the climax and its outcome, and
tying up loose ends.

Fourth paragraph: Why this story interests you, what your qualifications are
for writing it, and some questions for the editor: If this story interests
you, would you like the whole ms., or an outline and sample chapters? Do you
have any specific ms. requirements I should be aware of?

Obviously this pattern will vary depending on the nature of the query: If
you've included an outline and sample chapters, the plot summary will be very
brief or nonexistent, and the query will focus on your background and your
questions for the editor. If the book is completed, the plot summary will be
easier to supply than if you have only a rough idea of where the book is
going.

The query letter is a blurb for your novel, and like any blurb it needs to
pique the reader's interest and make the reader wonder: "How is *that* going
to turn out?" The quality of writing in the query had better be first-rate,
especially if you haven't included an elegantly written chapter or two. If
your query is clumsy or riddled with English errors, the editor will be less
than eager to see more of your prose.

Because the query requires little time to read and respond to, it can help
you quickly identify potential markets and definite non-markets. But it can't
pre-sell your novel; at best, it can only create a cautiously welcoming
attitude in an editor who knows how tough it is to sell a first novel during
a recession.

Will your query reveal such a knockout story idea that the publisher will
steal it--turn you down, pass on your idea to one of their hack writers, and
publish it for their own profit? This may be the single most common anxiety
of novices, but the sad truth is that your idea probably isn't *worth*
stealing. In fact, the editor may wearily see it as the umpteenth standard
variation on some ancient plot, one she's seen a dozen times just this week.
This is not to say your idea should be positively weird; most story ideas in
genre fiction are indeed variations on ancient plots. The trick is to make
the variations appear to be fresh, surprising, and full of potential
storytelling power. A query is a direct approach to an editor. But you may
well be aware that many, many publishing houses no longer even consider
queries or submissions that do not come through an agent. In my next posting
I'll consider what that implies in the selling of your novel.