This week Kelly and JJ go into a little more detail about how to write a query: what works, what doesn’t work, the who, the what, the where, and the whys. Also, have a query you want to have critiqued? Email us!
Show Notes
- Browse all of PubCrawl’s posts on querying: Query Tips, Querying, and Querypalooza!
- Our previous podcast episode about Querying and Representation
- JJ has laid out “formulas” for copy before
- More about Inciting Incidents (which we also discussed in our first NaNoWriMo episode)
- JJ’s query for Wintersong (then called The Goblin King)
- Our episode about the High Concept Pitch
Tips for Best Query Practices
- Emotional distance from your work is best (we know this is hard!)
- Don’t go too broad; the more specific the better
- You don’t need to include absolutely everything about your book in your query—just enough to entice the agent into wanting more
- The shorter, the better: sweet spot is 250 to 400 words
- Let your story speak for itself; don’t talk about your book (show, don’t tell!)
- Try to limit the number of characters you’re naming in your query (they generally say no more than 3): the protagonist, the antagonist, major ancillary character
- Also, you may write a flawless query, but the agent may still pass because it’s simply not their taste
The “Formula”
SETUP: A brief “laying of the scene”: setting, premise, etc. The “status quo”, as it were.
INCITING INCIDENT: A disruption of the status quo (e.g. a stranger comes to town)
CONSEQUENCES OF INCITING INCIDENT: How the world has changed after the Inciting Incident
THE MOMENT THE PROTAGONIST BECOMES PERSONALLY INVOLVED: What it says on the tin
The SETUP but when INCITING INCIDENT happens CONSEQUENCES OF INCITING INCIDENT occur, so then THE PROTAGONIST BECOMES PERSONALLY INVOLVED.
All of this together gets across what the stakes are, and that’s what generates tension and interest in a story.
What We’re Reading/Books Discussed
- Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
- Salvage and Sound by Alexandra Duncan
- Morning Star by Pierce Brown
- Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan
- Assassin’s Heart by Sarah Ahiers
- Scripted by Maya Rock
Off Menu Recommendations
Lots of other podcasts this week!
Oh, and this is the DVD box set of Hart to Hart with JJ’s high school on the cover. And if you have not seen Legally Blonde, we suggest you rectify that immediately.
What We’re Working On
- Kelly has been giving classes at The Loft about contracts, so if you’re in the Twin Cities area, you should check it out!
- JJ is still working on mental health, but still thinking about writing
That’s all for this week! Next week, in continuation of our Publishing 201 series, we will giving an overview of SUBRIGHTS.
“Got To Kick It Up” is the Disney Channel movie about Cheerleaders….just a random piece of trivia. Don’t know if that is the correct movie that was filmed at JJ’s high school, but it is something.
YES! It is Gotta Kick It Up! They used our gym, and part of the main campus.
I also forgot to mention that there is a scene in Jurassic Park that was filmed at my high school as well.
How cool!
This is the first time I’ve heard someone likes writing queries :). After this podcast finished I re-worked my query and I still feel it reads as ‘average.’ I’m submitting my query for one of your critiques and hope you can help make it better. Thank you.
Well, I’ve got to say this podcast has helped my query. I’m submitting to you lovely ladies for a critique. Can’t wait to watch it bleed red!
I’ve read and heard lots of advice on query letters and querying, but this is my favorite so far. Thank you!
Do we take an actual query letter and send it to you? The reason I ask is because some posts recommend making the first paragraph of the letter more personal (if possible), so my first paragraph would look different depending on who the recipient is. Or are you just wanting the meat of the query letter, where we give a brief blurb of our story?
Thanks!
Hi Laurie!
If you send us the whole query letter we will not read the personal, identifying sections aloud on the podcast. But we may still be able to give you feedback on those sections, either by skipping over a few details but reading the non-identifying parts, or by speaking generally about the personal section. We can work with either a complete query or just the meat, as you say.