Backspace: Part 1 The Query

The Backspace Writer’s Conference was at the end of May. This post is long overdue but life gets busy.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Backspace go here. If you can swing it, do it. The conference changed me as a writer, plus I met some pretty awesome writer buddies. You get the chance to meet agents, authors, editors and other writers. I loved every second of it.

I’ll break these Backspace posts up into different aspects of writing and things I learned. Now on to part one!

For starters, this was me.

I had triple checked my bag, fifteen copies of my query letter and first two pages. I live on Long Island. The conference was in the city, only an hour away. I decided to take the train, great idea, but shame on me for being late and wearing heels–terrible to run in. I got onto the train just as the doors were closing, literally.

I was so afraid of being late, I ended up being the first one there >< I sat, drank hotel coffee and wigged out some more.

By the time the query letter workshop came up, I was practically hyperventilating.

I sat at a table with at least eight other writers and two agents. I was blessed to have Roseanne Wells and Kathleen Ortiz in my group, squeal! We passed around our query and each person read theirs out loud. I was a little excited. After months and months of re-writing, I thought I had the perfect query. Here is what I brought.

You know how agents always say this business is subjective? Well, it’s true. They have different tastes in the query format they like AND on stories they’re looking for. I thought I had a nice query. It even received good feedback on Query Tracker, but it didn’t work.

Two agents, two different suggestions. One thought to cut out the last paragraph while the other suggested to add more back in (My original query started with Avikar’s grueling guilt over his brother’s death). They also suggested, very strongly, that I change the name Eden which surprised me because no one ever commented on it before, but these two are well known agents and I should listen, maybe ; )

My query lacked setting and voice and at the end you had no idea who Avikar is, except that he may be a bit cocky, but not really, lol.

Both had great advice, but it boiled down to what they thought worked best.  Oh, and if your ms has series potential, say it. The agents said the way I stated that fact worked perfectly.

You can tell when a query works, and I don’t think it has to do with a specific format, but on how the story grabs you. Based on that morning with the agents, I understood each one’s suggestions because I got a feel for them. Everyone has personal tastes, find an agent that matches yours.