I’ve queried 21 agents so far for my latest completed novel, “When Libby Met the Fairies and Her Whole Life Went Fey.”<\/p>\n
I mentioned previously that I got a request for a partial. Now I’ve also had a request for a full.<\/p>\n
My query has now gone through one major and one minor revision. The major revision came after I queried Kristin Nelson<\/a> and she noted that although the title sounded light, the query came across as dark. It was a spot-on critique, so I rewrote the query to bring its tone more in line with the tone of the book.<\/p>\n Now, this week, Anne Hawkins<\/a> is the guest on Dorothy Thompson’s Yahoo forum, TWLAuthorTalks<\/a>. I wasn’t going to query her\/her agency — their list is so literary — but in her introduction she said she looks for fiction that’s on the border between literary and commercial.<\/p>\n Hmmmmmm.<\/p>\n I can’t presume that I’m able to hit that spot, but I will say it’s my ideal, as a writer. A book that’s plotted to keep things moving but doesn’t shy away from a pretty turn of phrase once in awhile . . . after all, that’s what literature once was.<\/p>\n In any case, the last rev I did to my query, I added in a couple of sentences about the — I wouldn’t say darker, but maybe “more human” elements of the plot — human in the sense that all of our lives are leavened, to some degree, by fear of aging and death, by the scars of betrayals we’ve either committed and betrayals we’ve suffered, by the disappointments of realizing our best-laid plans were actually elaborate illusions — my book doesn’t wallow in those themes but they are there.<\/p>\n Yet there’s also a romance . . . and little folk.<\/p>\n So you see, I need my query to show both. It’s not easy . . .<\/p>\n My title may not be quite right, for that matter. It may be skewed too much toward “lite & frothy.”<\/p>\n Lots of nuances to juggle, to pull this stuff off . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve queried 21 agents so far for my latest completed novel, “When Libby Met the Fairies and Her Whole Life Went Fey.” I mentioned previously that I got a request for a partial. Now I’ve also had a request for … Continue reading