Labotomy of a Writer

This blog has been shut down and will no longer be updated with new content. I have decided to leave it here, for you to enjoy the archives as I have collected quite a bit of information that can be useful to many authors out there! I have made some quick links of my favorite posts in the sidebar and you welcome to browse the date archives and labels as well.

Thank you and enjoy!

For this round of Fantastic Friday Writers, we're talking about query letters. It was my original intention to share my recent query letter, but since I did that for the A to Z challenge in April, I'll just talk about how to write one.

Now, I'm no expert at this by any means. I'll be honest and say I totally suck at it. But, I do know how it's SUPPOSED to go.

Query letters give the agent/publisher/editor a look at your book in a very short amount of time. It needs to draw them in and make them interested enough to read your whole book. Obviously right?

Well just how do you do that? You just wrote a 75,000 word story (or more!) and now you have to talk about all the wonderful things in just a few paragraphs!?

Where to start? Well what I do is write the synopsis first. After all the synopsis is longer than a query but shorter than your novel. But, how to write a synopsis is for another post. Also, I write the synopsis and query soon after I'm done with 'final' edits. Why? Because the story is still fresh in my head.

Some say that you should describe your story in only three paragraphs, others say five is okay. The one thing all my research agrees on is the entire query letter shouldn't be longer than one page - including your signature at the bottom.

To get your huge novel down to three to five paragraphs, start with writing down the major plot poitns in your story. The MAJOR ones mind you. This is the hard part for me. Figureing out the plot points that are the most important. Also, during the preplanning phase here, list a few side plot points or character plot points (used to fill in the gaps).

Also, try to stick to mentioning only one or two characters, three at the most. (Three would cover the hero, heroine/sidekick and the villian.)

So here is what the process looked like when I wrote the query letter for Cleanse Fire

Major Plot Points:

1. The teams Commander tried to kill them
2. The team discovers the Commander is only the beginning.
3. The wizard is trying to kill them all for revenge.

Character Plot Points:

1. Dearc's wife died in a terrible fire and it haunts him
2. The wizard's wife was murdered in front of him
3. Derac is falling in love with Kie.

Character's to Mention

1. Derac
2. Kie
3. The wizard
4. The commander (possible)

So you have your three or four major plot points, two or three character plot points, and two or three characters. Now comes the time to write the information out in complete sentences. You can read my finished query letter here if you like.

Of course, after you write it, I highly recommend getting someone else to read it over for you. It is a good idea to have suggestions come back from both people who have and haven't read the full story yet as they both will have vaulable insite for you.

There are many other things to think about when writing a query letter, like word usage and such, but I think I'll save that for another post on another day! I hope this post at least helps you get started and headed in the right direction!

Hop to the other members of Fantastic Friday Writers and see what they say about Query Letters!

I have made numerous posts about my crit partners, but today I think I'll talk about my husband.

I'm very lucky to have a man that supports my writing. He gives me plenty of time to write by letting me stay up late (and then sleeping in) while he cares for our son. He'll even take the little man out of the house for a few hours on his days off so I can work in peace.

I know many people whose spouses don't support their writing at all and it makes me realize just how lucky I really am. Sure, my husband does get a little jealous sometimes as I do get caught up in my work and forget to spend time with him. But he never tells me I can't do it or that I need to stop doing it or that I shouldn't do it. He just reminds me (and sometimes begs in his own way) for me to spend some time with him.

It's great to have that kind of support. Sure, he doesn't crit my work or help me with plot issues really, but it's nice to know he supports my dream in his own way. Like I said, he doesn't crit my stories or anything like that, but he does give the time and space to write the stories in the first place.

And after all, isn't that what every writer needs? Time and space to write?

Do you have any support like this from your spouse or friends or family? For those that don't, how do you keep writing and following the journey?

Hop over to the rest of the Fantastic Friday Writers to see what they say about today's topic.