Confession: I love queries. Writing them. Reading them. Talking about them.
That's why I gave a really loud "squee!" when I found YA author Karsten Knight's UH-MAY-ZING query for his upcoming debut novel, Wildefire. Folks, not only did this query land him his (super awesome) agent, Ms. Mary Kole, but it captures the essence and voice of his novel so. Freakin'. Well.
Don't feel like taking my word for it? Check it out for yourself here.
Read it. Study it. Then go make sure yours is just as wonderful.
I know I'll be working on mine ;)
Now tell me: do queries make you panic? Smile? Both???
Ack! The link isn't working for me and I really wanted to read it. Waa.
ReplyDeleteIt's so helpful to read queries that worked. Sometimes it feels like playing darts in the dark when I'm writing my own.
Well... I don't panic.. they can make me VERY frustrated, though not as much as a synopsis. Really it's one of those things that I just do cause if I over think it then it goes wrong.
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Fixed the link!!! Now go hop on over there, Katrina!! :D
ReplyDeleteNicole--Ugh, I totally forgot about the synopsis. You're right. They're tougher to deal with. Guess the key is to take deep breaths and eat LOTS of cookies ;)
Holy amazing cover!! Wildefire looks epic from the cover alone (I know, I know, don't judge a book...) and then there was the query. I love the life lessons. It seems that unorthodox elements like parentheses and lists are actually okay in queries, since Elana J put parentheses in hers, too. Whatever gets that voice across loud and clear.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool concept, too! I haven't read any books with Polynesian mythology. Very interesting. Thanks so much for posting, Amparo!
I think the word that comes to mind when I hear query is "Gah." lol. Thanks for the linky. I'll hop over and take a look now.
ReplyDeleteI'm nowhere near any sort of submission or querying but by golly I really liked the sample query letter by Ms Knight!! I can so see how it was successful and why - I was wanting to read her book asap!!! Brilliant - thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteTake care
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I get frustrated, too, especially with soo many edits and revisions of the query. I also just hope that it works once I hit send!
ReplyDeleteI remember starting to write my query and I was like "hey, this isn't so bad". One month later..."query letters must die".
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