8 easy steps to overcome the fear of query writing

 A friend asked me for help writing a query to a literary agent for her manuscript. And I froze. How could I, who have blogged so many times about query letters, explain I, personally, was months late replying to an agent who had requested pages from me? The reason seemed so silly. I dreaded writing the covering query letter. 

I do know something about query writing, if only from listening year after year to the Query Gong Show at the Dallas-area DFW Writing Conference. This gong show is the chance for literary agents to comment on--and "gong out" anonymous queries from conference attendees. (See this blog's October 8, 2024, post: "DFWCon word limit cautions -- plus, the Gong Show" for samples of agent peeves.)

Between that and workshops whose main topic seemed to be dissing silly writers who dare waste agents' time with their horrible queries, I'm tempted to coin a new abbreviation: FOQ--fear of querying.

Still, my friend needed help. And fortunately, there was a higher power to call on. It's one of my favorite resources, "Eight Ways to Boost Your Query Letter," by book editor for the late, lamented #RevPit contests, Elizabeth Buege. 

Read the whole thing. Really. It's only a few pages, although for the impatient, here's my summary of Buege's eight essentials:

1. Prove you have a compelling premise. She offers a number of suggestions, but for my money, the best is ". . . think about why you find this story special and why it's near and dear to your heart as a writer."
2. Show how genre expectations are met. If I didn't mention it in my October 8, 2024, post, more than once agents said "the query says the genre is X, but not why it's X. And it doesn't sound like X from the information in the query."
3. Let your character's personality shine through. By this, Buege doesn't mean writing the letter in first person. That's a big no-no, basically because it confuses the agent about whether they're hearing the character's actual words or the writer's. Instead, Buege suggests writers ask what the POV character would see as their goals and obstacles, and the kind of language they would use to describe the main conflict.

4. 

   Image from Pixabay

   Address multiple main characters in terms of their shared story. Assuming the story has multiple POV characters, Buege suggests giving each (preferably not more than two) MCs a paragraph for their context, goals and states, and using the following paragraphs to show how tensions rise in the central conflict their both part of.
5. Don't spend too much time on setup. This is another issue that arises more than once in query Gong Shows. Buege's remedy: concentrate on the conflict and goals the character(s) face for the bulk of the story, giving the setup--no matter how fascinating--only a brief mention. I'll add that limiting the setup will help keep the query's length to a single-ish page. Think in the neighborhood of 300 words.
   
6. Identify the inciting incident. This is the moment that rips the main character from their normal life--that "setup--to the conflict that takes them through the rest of the story. And don't wait too long for it--generally, it should happen in the story's first act.
7. Save those plot details for the synopsis. How many times during Gong Shows did agents say about queries, "this sounds like a synopsis"? Way too many! And it's a primary reason for another agent peeve, that the query letter is way too long! Among Buege's suggestions is writing the synopsis (plot summary) first, making it easier to identify the key elements for the query letter. (And no, don't tell the ending in the query. Save that for the synopsis if requested.)
8. Avoid leaving key information too vague. Sure, we writers hate spoilers but still need to explain what the states are and what inciting incident creates the situation. From Buege: ". . . be honest and direct about the inciting incident, main goal of the MC, and stakes."

After looking again at Buege's post, I'm struck once more with fear that I may have overlooked something(s) essential as I finally hit "send" on my query. to which Buege adds these consoling words: ". . .put on a revision mindset for this process. It might take multiple drafts. . . and that's OK."

***

Well, that's longer than my usual posts. But who spotted what got left out? What else we dread--maybe dread most about query letters? Dare I say, comparison titles? But while I spent several months last year not blogging, I was still busy listening and learning, including more suggestions about those dreaded comps. 

And the writing of the possibly still more dreaded synopsis. Stay tuned.