Write Your Query First?

 

 

 

An idea I ran across on a writer's forum a while back was to write your query before your manuscript is finished, especially if you have hit obstacles in your story or, like me, you tend to meander.

 

If you aren't familiar with a query letter, in brief it is a 200-400 word pitch to a literary agent or editor to generate interest in your manuscript. There is an art to writing a good one, but it also requires a lot of sweat! (The query letter should not include the resolution of the story -- you want the agent to want to actually read your MS.)

Three questions to ask yourself when sitting down to write a query are:

• What does your main character want?
• What does he or she have to do to get it?
• What are the stakes if he or she doesn't succeed?

These three elements should be incorporated into your query. There are tons of examples online of query letters that actually resulted in the author securing an agent. It's a good idea to peruse a bunch of them.

 

As a pantser, I sort of know where my story is headed -- I know the inciting incident and I know the subplot (all things I discovered in the course of my writing, since I simply began the story with a main character and no plot). My primary issue is tightening things up while still producing a word count that makes the story a novel and not a novelette. Writing the query letter now, while in the midst of this morass of a manuscript will ideally help me to focus on my most important story elements.

 

Even if you plan to self-publish, writing a query letter is a valuable exercise. Have you tried this exercise while still crafting your novel? Did it help you? Leave a comment and let me know.