kt literary

Lately I’ve gotten a number of emails from authors who’d like me to feature their query in my regular weekly “About My Query” posts (or AMQ for short). And I thought it would be helpful to put up the guidelines for such here, as a single reference point, and so that I don’t have to say the same thing multiple times.

What I don’t do: just pick random queries that are sent to me for consideration as an agent to post and pick apart.

What I do: every few weeks, I will put out a call on my blog for queries to post. Then, and only then, should you send me your query in an email with the subject line “About My Query: YOUR TITLE”, where “your title” of course represents your actual book’s title. All of these emails should be emailed to daphne.unfeasible@gmail.com, NOT to queries@ktliterary.com. I’ll anonymize your name and use your initials or some other nickname that you request. (WordPress doesn’t think “anonymize” is a word, but I like, so I’m using it! Also, FreeDictionary.com totally says it is, so there.)

Once I get your query for an AMQ post, I will email you with the date that it will be posted. At any point before that time, if you change or revise your query, I ask that you email me back with your edited query, so that I can post the most up-to-date letter.

I do things this way because, in the past, I just let people send me AMQ posts whenever they felt like it, and I often ran into the problem of posting queries only to get comments from the author that said, basically, “Oh, this old thing? Yeah, I completely changed it, and I got an agent, and I just sold my book for a bazillion dollars.”

When I do open my mailbox for AMQ posts, I’m hoping that I won’t have to set a specific number of how many posts I’m looking for. So far, I’ve been able to take what I get and schedule posts for a few weeks (somewhere between 5 and 8, maybe). If I get 25 next time, I think I may have to cap it at a lower number — in which case, yes, I will let those authors who are over the cap know to try again in a few weeks.

So, them’s the facts. Any questions I haven’t answered? Put ‘em in the comments, and I’ll answer them there. And stay tuned — I expect to put out a new call for queries shortly!

Clearly, I was a little too excited yesterday by the Oscars to actually blog, but I’ll make up for it today. First, as promised in last week’s post in which I asked you to make a speech about your theoretical awards-show thank you speech, one free copy of Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson goes to…

Sarah Fisk! Sarah, please send an email to daphne.unfeasible@gmail.com with your mailing address, and I’ll get the latest adventures of Scarlett, Spencer, Mrs. A, and the whole gang off to you!

As for the Oscar ceremony itself, for all that the movie Precious is subtitled “Based on the novel Push by Sapphire”, I found it somewhat obnoxious that the winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay award didn’t thank the author! But what were your favorite Oscar moments?

Beautiful colorful shoes for Vee, whose About My Query follows. Before we go, though, a quick note about these posts. Each query that appears here was sent to me for the express purpose of being posted and commented on. I don’t just pull queries from my inbox and throw them up here. For the authors, then, I understand it to mean that they’re looking for honest feedback towards the purpose of improving their query. But honest — as most of you know — doesn’t have to mean “mean.” I’m not thinking of any commenter in particular, and in fact, almost every comment on these posts is kind and generous. So consider this just a congratulatory “good job” pat on the back. Keep up the good work!

And now, onto the query!

Dear Ms. Unfeasible,

Sixteen-year-old Skylar Jones hasn’t seen her jailbird mother in ten years. So when mommy dearest arrives on the doorstep armed with apologies, Skylar has no idea what to do.

Skylar would prefer meeting up with the Wicked Witch to seeing her mom again. But fragmented childhood memories– her mom’s shallow dimples when she smiled, their hands twined together– convince Sky to chase after a reason to let her mom back in. To figure out whether she can trust her mom Skylar puts the motto her mother taught her to live by, “Find Heaven on Earth,” to the test. If it was more of her mother’s drugged up bullshit, Sky plans to dump her childhood memories in the nearest ditch and move on.

Artistic Skylar’s version of heaven is nothing more than a stunning colour palette, so she sets about getting blissed out on colour combinations. She lights illegal fireworks at the local park, letting pink and green spark above her. But heaven’s yet to appear and Skylar just discovered why her mom finally came back: she’s dying of cancer. Skylar’s attempts to find heaven become desperate. When she jogs headfirst into a field of speeding cars – yellow headlights, red taillights, rusty bumpers and the bruise-coloured evening – and her heart rate doesn’t spike, Skylar realises she’s no longer just looking for a reason to trust her mom. She’s searching for a reason to live, and a way to make peace with her past, but heaven’s still slipping through her fingers.

SKYLAR’S STORY is a 45,000 word contemporary YA novel. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Vee

I really like the start of this. It’s a good, quick summary of the set-up. I have some question about the term “jailbird,” since I’m not sure if you just mean a person who’s been in jail, someone who’s been in and out of jail repeatedly, or if you mean someone who’s literally “flown the coop,” or escaped. Using the word “armed” in the next sentence gives me another pause, but I’ll read on for clarification.

The next paragraph causes me to stumble a bit. You say “Skylar would prefer meeting up with the Wicked Witch to seeing her mom again” but Skylar isn’t really given a choice about “seeing” her mom. She just shows up on her doorstep. Unless this alludes to a follow-up “seeing,” in which case, I’d want to know more about it. Is her mom staying with her? Asking her to meet regularly?

You ask the reader to assume a bad relationship between mother and daughter, and then contrast it with the “fragmented childhood memories”, which are lovely images. I’m less sure about Skylar “chasing” after a reason to let her mother back in, especially when the method she’s using to test things is a motto from her mom in the first place. Do you see how this can confuse the reader? By one way of thinking, the very method she’s using to find a reason to believe is a reason. Twisty!

The phrase “If it was more of her mother’s drugged up bullshit,” doesn’t seem to me to agree with the tense of the rest of the query. But it does put another thought into my head — is Skylar ALSO on drugs? Her actions, as you describe them in the next paragraph, don’t just seem like the normal actions of an artist — they seem like those of an artist on drugs. Does Skylar turn to drugs to help her deal with the reason behind her mom’s return?

In fact, by the time I get to the end of the third paragraph, you tell me that Skylar’s searching for a reason to live, which — OMG! — is a MUCH BIGGER issue to deal with than just her mom’s return and diagnosis.

By the end, I suppose I just don’t know what this story is. I’m intrigued by aspects of it, but I don’t get enough detail to compel me to read more.

So that’s my opinion. Readers, how do you find this query?

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, it seems like everyone has award show fervor on the brain. I was reading John Scalzi’s reprint of an article he wrote a few years ago about borrowing a friend’s Oscar, and it got me wondering…

If you were given an award for your life’s work — call it a Newbery, Printz, Caldecott, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony, or what have you — who would you thank? What would your acceptance speech sound like? Would it be short and sweet? Funny? Inspirational? A laundry list of names?

Give it a try in the comments, and I’ll pick a random commenter and award them not with an Oscar, but with a Scarlett. Scarlett Fever, that is. Extra bonus: no one will be played off! Take all the time you need.

Technically, I was back on Monday, but I had a lot of catching up to do yesterday and today, so I feel like I’m only now back in the swing of things (Note: not my back pictured.). But I want to issue a huge round of thanks to my guest bloggers: Sara Beitia, Kiki Hamilton, Stephanie Perkins, Intern Jenny, Maureen Johnson, and Trish Doller. They’re all stars, and if you haven’t read and commented on their posts, I invite you to do so!

In additional to just the normal stuff of getting caught up after a week away, I’m also prepping for my trip to the Bologna Book Fair later this month, where I’ll be meeting with dozens of foreign editors and talking about my authors and my books. Things are going to be busy busy busy around here for the next few weeks! I’m thinking of another round of guest posts while I’m in Italy — what do you think? Do you want to hear more from my authors (and maybe a few additional guest bloggers) or do you want me to just set up some scheduled posts of my own? Let me know in the comments!

And speaking of European trips, have you seen the gorgeous cover to Stephanie Perkins’ debut novel Anna and the French Kiss? Love!

We all know how the publishing process is supposed to go. You write a fabulous book, then land your dream agent, who sells your book to a publisher. A year later–voila! You’re a published author.

Except, it doesn’t always work like that.

Sometimes that first book never finds a publisher. Sometimes the project dies along the route to publication, and you and your agent have to go back to square one–which is what happened with my first book. My deal died in the pipeline and we had to go back out on submission, which hasn’t proved as successful as the first time around.

So what do I do now? Well, I write another book. Only this time it’s not so easy.

With book one, I had no clue about “the market” and whether or not my book would fit. I just wrote the story that was buzzing around my brain and it turned out to be a pretty good one. But now–having had a brief taste of what it’s like–I’m keenly aware that my next book should be something editors will want. Oh, I still believe I have to write a story that calls to my heart, but I have lots of ideas. The trick now is to find the one that can keep its head above water in a market swamped with zombies, angels, demons, werewolves, and vampires. Yeah. No pressure there.

It also seems like I’ve got a lot of other people in my head while working on book two that I didn’t have with book one. Writing partners who are so much better than I am. An agent who is certainly going to dump me if I don’t finish this project immediately. And that imaginary editor who will reject the entire book if I make the main character’s dad a cheater instead of a chronic gambler. Instead of being motivating, it can be sometimes paralyzing.

And finally, when I first sold my book, I joined a group called The Tenners, whose books are scheduled for publication in 2010. Now I’m watching their books hit the shelves and while I’m happy for them–no, I really am!–their successes make my disappointment that much stronger. Sometimes it’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel.

I’m not telling you all this because I’m looking for a pity party–although I’d take a cupcake if you’ve got one. I’m just here to serve as a real life reminder that publishing is full of pitfalls.

So what do I do now?

I pick myself up, dust myself off, log off the Internet, and write.

Trish Doller is hard at work on her next novel, and is a fantastic cheerleader for her fellow Tenners. Learn more about her and other kt literary clients here.

Another Friday, another image of fabulous shoes, another About My Query post! In the spirit of this week, however, we’ve got a guest blogger commenting — Maureen Johnson, author of Scarlett Fever and many other fine novels, available wherever books are sold! Without further ado…

Dear Ms. Unfeasible,

I am seeking representation for my manuscript, COLORS LIKE MEMORIES, complete at 65,000 words. It is targeted toward an upper young adult, adult crossover audience.

Living with Julia’s college roommates is like living in a mine-field, one wrong step and she’s going to lose one of them. Navigating this treacherous ground is Julia’s job, and if she can get the three girls to work together they are supposed to be a powerful source of good, but only if she can keep them alive. Julia is a Sary, the soul of a child who died before she was born, only allowed to obtain a body and stay on earth if she secretly aids humans in need. She’s supposed to forget herself through service for others, but Julia’s never been very good at keeping that rule, or she wasn’t until it cost her the man she loved.

While her roommates struggle with grief, abuse, and suicide, a new boy in Julia’s classes, and at the bookstore where she works, draws her attention. Something about him reminds her of the man she lost, but also of memories better left buried. As the problems facing her roommates threaten to detonate in the form of a stalker bent on terrorizing their apartment, Julia can’t deal with her own issues, let alone help anyone else. Julia must get her life, and memories, together if she has any hope of saving her roommates, and herself.

I am a graduate student at the University of California, where I am in constant contact with college-aged students facing problems much like those Julia’s roommates face.

Thank you for your consideration.

Best,
MHS

Hello! Since I’m author and not an agent, I’m not really going to address the form of the query. I’m entirely concerned with the story as it is presented here. I’m going to be honest—I don’t really understand what this is about. I have a lot of comments, so I’m going to talk through the letter.

THE FIRST PARAGRAPH:

“Living with Julia’s college roommates is like living in a mine-field, one wrong step and she’s going to lose one of them. Navigating this treacherous ground is Julia’s job, and if she can get the three girls to work together they are supposed to be a powerful source of good, but only if she can keep them alive.” You begin with “Living with Julia’s college roommates is like living in a minefield . . .” Your first sentence, a simile, is instantly destroyed. You’re comparing something to itself. What you seem to be saying here is—if Julia makes a wrong move with either of her roommates, they will explode in some way. In fact, you say that if she must keep them alive. That’s dramatic! But . . . what? What is trying to kill them? I must know instantly! But there is no answer to this. From there, we learn that it is Julia’s job to manage these people in some way. Why is it her job to manage these dangerous, explodey people who face this undefined threat? The implication seems to be that the three of them, working together, have some kind of special power. (Like the Power of Three in Charmed. That’s what springs to mind.)

“Julia is a Sary, the soul of a child who died before she was born, only allowed to obtain a body and stay on earth if she secretly aids humans in need.” I guess this is the explanation, but these concepts aren’t really linked up. Now I have three sentences that fly in different directions. Moreover, the concept of dying before you are born is a bit tricky to get the head around. Because if you’re born—you’re born. You didn’t die. Birth and death are clear markers. And who let her “obtain a body”? Is it some kind of god or a committee or something? This concept needs to be explained. And why does she have to do this in secret?

“She’s supposed to forget herself through service for others, but Julia’s never been very good at keeping that rule, or she wasn’t until it cost her the man she loved.” Okay, now I’m really lost. “Forget herself” is a slippery expression, and I don’t know what you mean by it—so I don’t know at all what you mean when you next say that she’s not good at this. Then we get to losing the man she loved! That sounds juicy! But what happened?

THE SECOND PARAGRAPH:

“While her roommates struggle with grief, abuse, and suicide, a new boy in Julia’s classes, and at the bookstore where she works, draws her attention. Something about him reminds her of the man she lost, but also of memories better left buried.” So now I’m thinking that the roommates aren’t imbued with any special powers—they’re just insane. I still don’t know why it’s Julia’s job to deal with them, since they are so deeply unstable. Then the new boy breaks into the sentence, and he’s in two places at once. And then, the memories come. And they’re even more ^#&$*ed up than what’s going on, I guess, but I have no idea what they are. None of these concepts are defined or completed.

“As the problems facing her roommates threaten to detonate in the form of a stalker bent on terrorizing their apartment, Julia can’t deal with her own issues, let alone help anyone else. Julia must get her life, and memories, together if she has any hope of saving her roommates, and herself.” Yeah, I don’t know what’s happening. The first sentence throws a lot of information at me (I think the detonate is an attempt to carry through the minefield thing, but the verb doesn’t quite work and the whole image is still wobbling). The second sentence doesn’t make any sense. From the title, I get the idea that memories must play into this in some big way, but I have absolutely no idea what you mean when you say she has to get her life and memories together.

“I am a graduate student at the University of California, where I am in constant contact with college-aged students facing problems much like those Julia’s roommates face.” Given my confusion, I find myself staring blankly at this. Is this book about “college issues” or being some kind of creature that dies before it is born?

There seems to be a LOT going on in this book. The major thing that leaps out at me is that it seems this is a story about a girl with powers of some kind (does she have powers?) who had a tragic romance that she doesn’t want to repeat. I can’t tell if the roommate stuff is a plot of equal importance. One plot must win. You can have other things going on in a story, but there has to be one throughline.

When rewriting this query, here’s what I would focus on:

I think you are trying to write in soundbites or in sentences you think might look good on the jacket of a book. On examination, they don’t mean much and they don’t fit together to build any kind of clear picture. That means the query will fail. To succeed, you need to sharpen. You need to be clean and clear and proceed in an orderly fashion. And you need to provide answers for some very basic questions.

What is Julia? Sary means nothing to me. Is that a thing? I don’t have a clue, and therefore, it is likely that most YA readers won’t either. (Google also doesn’t know.) You’re going to have to explain right up front. The concept of dying before you are born is going to make a lot of people scratch their heads—so you’re going to have to deal with that fact. (It can be done, but it will take work and finesse.) I want to know who or what has sent her into the world with this mission. (Whatever it is, it must be pretty mean. And how do you negotiate with someone in utero?) I need the mission defined, I need to know what the consequences are of failure.

Because you said she already has failed. And that means, from what I have read, that she should be dead.

So why is she still here? What are the rules? Is this some kind of last-ditch chance? Is that why she has to live with these crazy people? Has she been told by whatever it is that rules over her that she can have no more guys?

I feel like that’s paragraph one. What is she? What is her mission? What happened last time to the other dude?

Paragraph two can move you into the current situation. I’m sort of making this up now in my head—but I’m thinking she’s been given some kind of second chance. What is up with this second guy? All I know about him now is that he goes to class and hangs out in a bookstore, and that doesn’t sound too problematic.

I don’t know what to tell you about the roommates, because I just have no idea what’s happening. I know it sounds serious but I can’t build a picture from these facts. If the story is about saving the roommates, then don’t dwell on the guys in the query. As for the memories, they seem to be a tertiary concern. These scary memories are not defined or explained in any way, which in a query is annoying . . . especially when the concept is in the title. Don’t play games. Say what the memories are about. Then decide which point is most important. Of these three things, I must know which to focus on.

And definitely go for clarity over nebulous, quasi-atmospheric phrases. Agents want to know what the book is about. The minefields and the detonating stalkers will blow up your chances. I understand the impulse—but QUASH it! QUASH the SQUISHY BITS! It’s fine to say something poetically, but every sentence must have a clear underlying meaning, correctly expressed.

I know that’s a lot to take on board! But good luck!

-mj

[Note from Daphne: MHS, you should also know that the "upper YA/adult crossover audience" is more a thing of hope than a true market. Yes, St. Martin's has launched a New Adult line, but it's still a little early to hope it opens up a world of possibilities for authors. Stick with calling your work "upper YA" for now, I think.]

[Another note from me: So what do you guys think?]

Since Kate and I began working together last spring, she has generously included me in the query process by allowing me to help her go through the queries she receives. After reading hundreds, even thousands, of them I find it fascinating how many trends surface and how they seem to happen in waves.

In the last few months I’ve noticed an influx of books about mermaids, pirates, and especially guardians. There have been guardian angels, otherworldly creatures, animals, and even normal people. The word guardian shows up in a surprising number of titles. There are also an awful lot of characters with dead or missing parents, and I mean a whole lot. I would go so far as to say that 80% or more of the YA queries I read begin with dead parents. As you might imagine, many of these orphaned characters discover that they have a guardian of some sort. This isn’t necessarily something new; it’s just interesting how prevalent it continues to be.

Another shockingly high number that might be of interest, is the amount of stories that begin with a prologue, a character waking up from a dream, or both. Kate has mentioned on several occasions that this gets really old, really fast and I agree. We see this so much that it becomes difficult to get past. Even if the rest of the story is phenomenal, the redundancy of it puts a damper on the whole thing.

Two little details that have stood out to me lately are the popularity of the name Emma and the description of overly glossed lips. The latter sounds strange, I know, but I’ve seen it so many times recently that (obviously) it really stuck in my memory.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m curious to hear what redundancies you have found while reading, or even writing, recently. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to come up with a truly unique idea, let alone doing it while avoiding common pitfalls. How do you brilliant writers do it? I must know.

Intern Jenny is an invaluable help around here. She tweets at @internjenny1, and loves your books as much as I do.

I never expected that writing a novel would change my life.

I mean . . . okay. That’s a lie. I totally did. I hoped that if I were ever lucky enough to reach publication, I could quit my day job and work full-time from home. In my pajamas. (The pajamas were a crucial part of my ambition.) But I never imagined that the actual process of writing would change my life in a much more dramatic way.

It would change me.

Anna And The French Kiss is set in Paris. The idea came to me in a dream, and unlike Stephenie Meyer who also had a dream, and was like, “Awesome! A cute boy in a meadow!” my earliest thoughts were more along the lines of, “Aw, crap. A cute boy in Paris.” I knew nothing about the French — the language, the culture, the country. And I’d certainly never cared.

But I really wanted to know more about that cute boy.

So I learned about Paris. I’ve described my research process on my blog in detail here, but it was, in short, endless. And intense. The narrator of my novel shares many of my anxieties about being thrust into a new culture; it was the only way I could have written it. As Anna had to learn something, I did too. As Anna grew more comfortable in her surroundings, I did too. And somewhere along the way . . . we both fell in love.

I am a timid person by nature. I make excuses for social gatherings so I can watch marathons of Jane Austen films. I’d rather take a sixty-minute detour than ask someone for directions. And if an orange accidentally rings up at double the price, I keep my mouth shut in fear of appearing unpleasant.

The thought of renting an apartment in a country whose first language is NOT English would have been unthinkable before Anna. But because I had to make her brave, somehow I’d made myself brave in the process.

This January, I rented that Parisian apartment. I stumbled my way through ordering in restaurants and purchasing cell phone minutes and, yes, asking for directions. I said “Oui!” to every question thrown at me. And I had the best month of my entire life.

I am a braver, happier person because I wrote a book.

So that novel you’re putting off because the idea is too big or too scary or too hard? You aren’t doing yourself any favors. Write the book. And let it change you.

Anna and the French Kiss will be published by Dutton in December 2010. Stephanie’s blog about her experiences in Paris is well worth a read. Learn more about her and other kt literary clients here.

Greetings from the Black Hole of Editorial Revisions!

For the first-time author, the path to publication can feel like you’ve been sucked into a black hole of unknowns after you write the words ‘The End’. You’ve written a novel, now what? There are certain milestones of which most writers are aware as they attempt to get their book prominently positioned on the local bookstore shelves: write your novel, find an agent, sell your book – that part we all know about. But there is a crucial next step that may not be as familiar: Editorial Revisions. *revisions – revisions – yes, that’s an echo you hear….and there’s probably a reason for it….*

Editorial revisions are the step where the editor (who loves your book so much that they’ve paid good green cash for it – never forget this part) goes through the manuscript and provides the author with his or her suggestions, (usually on every page) on how to improve the writing to make the book publishable. Then you rinse and repeat. Several times.

At first glance, when you receive your marked-up manuscript and notice that all available white space on the pages are filled with bubbles of editing comments – it might seem a little daunting. *cough cough* But fear not – the tales of heads exploding from editorial revisions are grossly exaggerated. … I think.

But joking aside, I am finding these revisions to be a fantastic learning opportunity. I view them as having a personal master class in writing. A class where you’re the only student, and the teacher is totally focused on giving comments to your work and specifically to the areas on which you need to focus .

I count myself especially lucky because my editor leaves the door open for discussion on any of her suggested changes. And though I’m only about a third of the way through my novel, already we’ve had some fantastic conversations about character motivations, plot development, story arcs and proportion.

What about you? How do you view the revision process? Necessary evil or fascinating insight?

Kiki Hamilton’s debut novel, The Faerie Ring, will be published by Tor Books in Spring 2011. She is currently working on editorial revisions with her fabulous editor, Susan Chang. Learn more about her and other kt literary clients here.