The Tease
Monday, March 1, 2010 Question of the day: Now that I've finished writing my book, I'm ready to start writing my query letter. I think this is harder than writing the book! I've read a lot about query letters in your blog to get a feel for it. My main question is: how much information should you give away in your letter about the book? If, for example, something happens to your main character about mid-way in, but it's a surprise to your readers, do you mention any or all of the details in your letter? Help, I'm stuck and I can't get up and at it!
Think of your query like a first date - you want to give something away but not give, ahem, everything away. To that end, I think you include the juicy morsels of what makes your story tick and what makes your book unique without giving away the full hog. For my The Department of Lost and Found query, I never, ever said what would happen to Natalie - would she live or die - and how she would resolve all of the open-ended questions that I posed in the query. I can't remember exactly what I said, but I presented all of the issues - she has cancer, her job, which had been her life-blood, gives her the boot, she decided to track down her old boyfriends, etc - and then I left it open-ended. The whole point of a query is to pique interest, to have the agent read it and raise her eyebrows and think, "Aha, now there's a book I'd love to learn the ending to." So why tell her the ending right then? Instead, i'd use a sentence or two to sum up what the protagonist then does to GET to that resolution: something about how, for example, as her life unravels, she's forced to make a decision between x and y, tries to salvage xyz, etc, etc, etc.
Again, the point of the query is NOT to provide a summary of the book. I think writers sometimes forget this. It's to provide a TASTE of the book and hint at how tantalizing the rest of the meal will be. Don't give everything away - save that for when the agent requests the full manuscript! Good luck!
Reader Comments (5)
I'm struggling with pretty much the same question but for a one page synopsis. It seems that you do in include the novel resolution in a synopsis but so many of the query challenges are echoed in the synopsis writing. I am just moaning basically...wish me luck!
The only thing I want to add to what Allison said is that an agent is not a typical reader; it's okay to "spoil" things for them. (Particularly in a synopsis, as Rebecca mentioned.) Per Allison's advice, you want to entice an agent above all else, but you don't want to *hide* anything from them. It's a subtle distinction, but I think it's an important one.
It's helpful to think of the query letter like the material on the back (or flap) of the book. Set up the premise and the conflict, but I wouldn't give away secrets. You could, however, HINT at something big and surprising. Tantalize them.
Like Kristina said, I found it extremely helpful to think of my query letter as jacket cover copy. Also helpful: the "winning" query letter examples on The Bookends blog and Kristin Nelson's blog, Pub Rants. (Check the sidebar.) I think probably the most difficult part of writing a query is capturing the voice of your work, meaning if your novel is humorous, the pitch part of your query should carry a lighter tone.
I'm not here yet, but thanks for the information. I'll have to remember it for my "someday."
Liz H. Allen
www.writingmommy.com