Take The Time

A few posts ago, I commented on the importance of taking it slow when it comes to query letters (speaking from my own mistakes here). Well, in this post I wanted to show proof of that. Below I'm going to post my FIRST draft of These Wicked Waters' query letter (though it's going to cost me a lot of self-esteem points...) and the FINAL version (as far as today, anyway). Draw your own conclusions, but here are mine:

1. Use the Write & Hide Method. In other words, write the query letter and then leave it alone for a few days. Fresh eyes are an asset.

2. Make use of query critiques! Get whoever you can to look at your letter. Search for contests. Check me out, I offer free critiques (on more than just query letters!). AgentQuery Connect is also a great resource for critiques--but be prepared to give back!

3. Take. Your. Time. My final version is Draft 15 (literally, that's the name of the doc on my laptop) and it took me 2+ months to get to it.

Without further to do... I reveal, the queries!

DRAFT ONE

After an unfortunate incident involving a tutu and a school’s patron saint statue, eighteen-year-old Annie is yanked from her summer rock-climbing fantasies and shoved into indentured servitude via cleaning toilets at her mom’s newest project: a fancy-shmancy island resort.

Gawking at hairy amazon armpits, handling strangers’ tighty whities, and avoiding a cute but troublemaking lifeguard are all part of a day’s work. Annie resigns herself to a mentally scarring, yet deathly boring, summer. Until she sneaks out for contraband climbing and discovers the skeletal remains of siren.

Then human bodies start washing up on shore.

The NIS (National Intelligence Service) invades. Annie knows their suspect pool is kiddie-sized, mythological women don’t have a notch in the modern-day man hunt. Curiosity over the island’s mysterious inhabitants and the government’s ineptitude lure Annie into treacherous waters.

Foiled attempting to swallow half the Atlantic Ocean, Annie is shocked to face her rescuer: a scaled woman with two tails. Annie fires off questions, but the siren, Lorelei, only answers with gestures. Her tongue has been sliced from her mouth.

Lorelei manages to reveal three truths. One, Lorelei has been banished from her kind after an unexplained betrayal. Two, the sirens despise humans—lung-breathers—courtesy of a century’s old vendetta. And, three, the sirens are preparing to attack the island, ravenous for human blood.

With the overtime Annie’s going clock while convincing her mom of sirens’ existence and protecting guests from a gory death, she deserves a promotion.

FINAL VERSION

After her rock climbing trip is cancelled, eighteen-year-old Annie Mayfield expects a boring summer at her mom’s island resort—until she stumbles upon a human skeleton. Though a closer look reveals the skeleton isn’t human at all. Humans don’t have fish tails.

Days later, a guest’s bloated body washes ashore. Law enforcement pronounces the death an accidental drowning, yet Annie wonders if something mythological is at play. Revealing the skeleton would give investigators a better lead, but Annie keeps quiet, aware her discovery occurred while scaling the Forbidden-By-Mom Cliffs. Instead, she channels Nancy Drew—minus the skirt and pearls.

While scavenging the island for clues, Annie discovers a siren tangled in submerged netting and cuts her loose. The siren’s thank you is a warning: others are coming, and they’re hungry. When Annie’s childhood crush is found next, mutilated and half-eaten, things get personal. No more waiting for an attack. Annie’s bringing the fight to the sirens.

~~~~~

Unlike the first, the final version snags Annie's voice, the plot, and the stakes--without giving away too much. Thoughts? Feel free to comment!

Slow & Steady Gets an Agent

What's the first thing about your book an agent scenes?
A query letter (usually).

How important is a query letter?
Very!

How long should you spend working on your query letter?

First off, everyone's different. Some people can get a perfect query letter in one day of writing (if you're one of these people, we really should meet up) others it can take weeks. In my case, two months. And I'm still not finished yet, though I think I'm close.

The thing is, unlike my last three queried books (unsuccessfully, might I add), I'm not in a rush to send out my letter. I want to take it slow and get things right. Which, in turn, will get me an agent (I hope!).

How am I so blase about querying? Let me tell you my recently discovered method via a step-by-step diagram. I was a business major, after all.

1. I wrote These Wicked Waters.
2. I did a quick edit of These Wicked Waters.
3. I wrote the query letter for TWW.
4. I started planning/writing another book.

While writing my other book, I go back to my query letter and make changes, then I send it out for other people to edit. I've got about 12 different drafts of it. Currently I'm on my 13th.

Honestly? It's the best query letter I've ever written. We'll see if the whole process works come June 29th, when I plan to start querying. Fingers crossed!

A Writer's Wounds

I got another rejection yesterday.

Well, more like yesterday at 5 AM. Why did I voluntarily put my email on my phone again?

The rejection stung particularly more than the others. Why? Because now I only have one submission out, a full request. Of course there are still some odd twenty query letters awaiting responses, but still. The realization that I might not get an offer of representation for "After Alice" was terrifying.

               

It still is, honestly.

I allowed myself to mope for an hour or two. I googled "way to deal with rejection" and all the sucess stories of writers who were rejected tons of times. I even contemplated the possibility of driving to the store and purchasing Woe-Is-Me Chips (aka Cool Ranch Doritos). Luckily for my waistline, I didn't.

                                

Instead I started writing "Shattered," the sequel to "After Alice" and the book I'm doing for NaNoWriMo. At first the words didn't flow.

And then they did. Oh, yes they did!

Yesterday, in the midst of my despair and self-doubt, I hammered out over 6,000 words in five hours. And by the end of the night, I didn't care what any agents thought about my book. I know it's worth publishing, I've just got to make them realize that too.

                      

Vlog #4: Query Letters & Rejections

Slogging Through the Slush

So last week I entered the miry trenches of querying. I was so involved I forgot to do a post last Thursday.

                                     

But here I am now! That has to count for something, right?

Here are so updates for you so we can commiserate together. Over the last week I have received the following:

Query Rejections: 18
Full Requests: 2

You know that sound Lucy makes in I Love Lucy where she messes up pretty bad and Ricky finds out? Yeah, cue that.

                                     

Not as stellar as I was hoping. In fact, I was pretty annoyed/frustrated/depressed/melancholy over it this weekend. Especially since my novel for NaNo happens to be the sequel to After Alice (my querying manuscript). My family tried to cheer me up, but it didn't really work. I was determined to be pessimistic.

                                   

Then I got to talking to this writer on twitter then on NaNo's website. She probbaly doesn't realize how much she boosted my spirits, but shout outs to her website! She's querying too, so we commiserated and she reminded me how cool of an idea After Alice is.

Maybe you're wondering what the point of this post is? Well, let me sum it up for you in one sentence. When braving the querying trenches, have a fellow writer/soldier at your side, it works wonders.

Unfortunately, I'm still going to jump every time my phone vibrates...

                                   

Killing Me Slowly: Queries

If you've ever written a query, you know how painful they are. Summarizing your 80,000 word book in 250 words is no easy feat. Plus you have to make it interesting!

Ugh.

Nonetheless, I spent last week working on my query for Underland. Which put me in a terrible mood.

                             

Which is also why I didn't do a blog posts.

The words were not flowing. At least, not the way I wanted them to. So I turned to the Internet, the familiar of writers all over the world. I typed in "examples of successful queries," and boy did I get a lot of results! Mixed feelings at this. Yay, success! Boo, my query sucks!

                                      

But I didn't give up. I kept reading and writing and taking frequent breaks to mope. Not the best method, I know. Though, through the negative bits, it was a learning experience that I can now pass on to you. And lucky you, you get only the positives...

How To Write a Query Letter (According to Emily Layne):

1. Don't look at your book for awhile (this way you'll only remember the important parts).
2. Read examples of successful queries on Query Shark and Agent Query Connect.
3. Write your entire query before you go psycho-analytical on it.
4. If you start to get frustrated, take a break.
5. If you really like your query and think it's perfect, take a break.
6. Give it to someone to review. A lot of websites offer free query critiques.
7. Edit then let it lie for a few days.
8. If you read it again and like what you see, you're ready to hook an agent. Good luck!

A long list, I know. But a query letter is the most important thing you'll ever write--besides the manuscript of course. Except the only way your MS will see the light of an agent's eyes? That's right, your query.

                                 

So take the time, and make sure it's perfect!

Oh! And don't forget about my contest going on. A $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble could be yours!

My Plan of Attack

According to Pat Benatar, "love is a battlefield."

                                    

Which, I suppose, in some way it is. Especially in the paranormal YA books. Except I think there is a much more difficult, frustrating battle: The Editing Wars.

Why not just "War," you might ask? Well, there are lots and lots of battles involved. Like the Battle of Plot Points and Skirmish At Adverb Ridge. Toward the end of the Wars you might find you have at least 15 different drafts of your novel saved somewhere on your computer. Right now I have 8. And I just started editing.

                                      

Yuck.

When editing, it's incredibly important to step away from your manuscript. For at least a month. Seems like a horribly long time, doesn't it? The urge to finish your book and throw it out there for publication is so strong. Resist, resist! The time away allows you to come back with fresh eyes. It makes a huge difference.

So, here's my plan of attack in chronological order because I am a fan of organization:

09/08/2014 -- Finish Draft 1, send to beta readers
BEGIN PLOTTING SEQUEL & WRITING QUERY LETTERS
11/01/2014 -- Receive feedback from betas, start editing like mad
11/15/2014 -- Finish Draft 2, review
12/ 01/2014 -- Final check for any formatting errors
12/02/2014 -- Send out query letters

                                      

Pretty simple and to the point. This process and its length varies from author to author. But the one constant should always be a beta reader. Their input is invaluable. If you don't have someone you can trust to honestly critique your work, consider joining an online writing community like Critique Circle. It's amazing what another pair of eyes can pick up.