Querying is the Worst

I’ve recently finished revising my space fantasy manuscript and I’m going to try to get it traditionally published. That means I need to send query letters to agents — who can hopefully get the publishing houses to have a bidding war over the glory that is my story. Or, that’s the plan.

However, querying is the worst. Most likely, I’m going to end up with a lovely stack of rejection letters to match my first queried manuscript, a few full requests (where agents ask for the rest of the manuscript), and, if I’m very fortunate, an offer of representation from an agent. Who will then spend the next weeks/months doing their best to find a publisher looking for what I’m offering.

For those who are not familiar, “to query” someone is to ask something of them. In publishing, query letters have very specific formats and expectations. They include: the story’s stats, your bio, and a two to three-paragraph section selling your story. It should be in third-person, present tense.

I actually have a hobby of revising other people’s query letters. I am skilled at getting them into query format, and my friend Patrick is great at making them pop.

And it is known that it is 1 million times easier to revise someone else’s query, rather than your own.

The struggle is real when you have to incorporate some feedback, and not just shove back with justifications for why you put that in there.

Why is it easier to revise someone else’s query?

Glad you asked.

1 – Everything is important

Everything you put into your story is in there for a reason. If you’d wanted to write a story in two to three paragraphs, you wouldn’t have written the rest of the manuscript.

Keeping it short is a struggle. And my friend Patrick highly recommends more strong verbs and fewer descriptive prepositional phrases. (But those are my emotional support prepositional phrases!)

2 – Everything happens for a reason

A lot of times, plot elements are hard to boil down to their simplest form, because it’s hard to explain what’s happening and why without giving backstory. And a query isn’t the place for your character’s back story.

3 – Everyone matters

My story has three point-of-view characters. Each with their own stakes, their own storyline. But. They can’t all fit in the query letter. So, I need to focus on one, maybe two point-of-view characters, whose stories tie together the best.

I started off with two of them, but my current version, which is a hot mess, is only one character.

What does need to be in there?

Query letters should focus on the beginning of the story, up to the turning point. If you need to tie it for comparative books in the market, or for the story’s theme, sometimes you can go up to the halfway point. But what should the story portion of the query letter contain?

1 – Emotional stakes

What does your character want, and how do they feel about not having it?

2 – Something stopping them from having it

If they could just order it on Amazon, they’d already have their dreams. So, clearly, something must be standing in their way. Whether it’s a mystery organization, lack of funds, or their own brain chemistry setting them up for failure, there’s something they need to try to overcome.

3 – Consequences

You don’t achieve your dreams by everything staying the same. In order to get something, you usually have to give up something or risk losing something. The main character needs consequences whether or not they achieve that turning point goal.

4 – Details

Some agents want queries that sound like back-of-cover blurbs. But, most agents want more details. This is not where you worry about spoilers. If your query is vague enough that it sounds like a find/replace on names of other books you know, you’re not giving enough details.

After all, the Avatar (blue aliens) movie has the same synopsis as Fern Gully has the same synopsis as Pocahontas. (side note: I was about to say, if you haven’t watched Fern Gully, it’s a forgotten classic, but I have no clue if it’s stood the test of time. Let me know!)

Queries are hard. Even for people who enjoy them. If you’re in the query trenches, I wish you the best of luck.

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Sure, I’ve left out a lot, that’s why I have a Query Resources page.
Have you ever had these struggles?