27 January 2010

query letter blues

i can't market worth a damn.

but i also overthink everything, as the four of you know, so i guess it's a given that i'm frustrated.

i posted my query on the bransford forum, and like i expected, it got ripped to pieces (what happens when you write a query at 4AM, i guess). so i wrote another draft (at about 330AM this time) and i'm afraid that it's too TMI. it's too long. too involved. and doesn't say that much. is there an unwritten rule for SF/F writers that our queries can be longer than everyone else's? we do have worldbuilding after all...

or am i just making excuses?

i guess i just didn't expect this to be so difficult. i mean, this is what i went to school to do. freaking Stephen Leigh was my professor for my novel writing classes. and this is what i come up with? what the hell was that degree for anyway?

the moral of the story is that writing is such a subjective business that one person's "too long query" could be another's "just right." so...yeah. maybe i'll ask good ol' Prof. Leigh.

2 comments:

lisa and laura said...

Yes, we will totally look at your query and also, check out Elana's Query Ninja blog--she's freaking awesome. She also just did a post yesterday about queries. She REALLY helped us!

http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/

lexcade said...

i love you, ladies. i didn't necessarily mean for you to look at it *cause i don't want to impose, and it also sucks*, but if you're willing, i'll accept.

and i'm going to go live on elana's blog for a few days.... thanks for the tip!