query letter

Last night I finally sent off my query letter. Okay, so I didn't send it to an actual agent or editor, but that is not currently the point. The class I used to go to (and would like to continue going to if I could afford it) is hosting a conference/seminar (what is the difference between the two anyway?) this coming Saturday and there will be a query letter clinic run by actual editors of actual publishing houses. I scraped out a query letter in the hope that it will be commented on at this clinic. (Okay, if we're going for honesty here, and it's my blog so I might as well, what I REALLY hope is that one of these editors will look at it and be blown away and ask to see the manuscript. However, barring that, I felt I had an obligation to submit something so that I can get some tangible feedback from somebody whose opinion actually matters--which was a total slam to everyone who has given their opinion on my query letter already. I'm sorry.) Since this is something that I am patently not able to figure out on my own, I really need to be taken by the hand and led down query letter lane. The editor in particular that I am hoping to snare with my wit and writing prowess is the one from Shadow Mountain. Shadow Mountain is responsible for Fablehaven, Leven Thumps, The 13th Reality, and a new one I've seen at Costco, but can't remember the name of. Anyway, I think it's the same kind of audience that would be interested in my book, and I'm hoping they think the same. I am impressed with how well those books have done on a national level, when I thought Shadow Mountain was more of a local publisher. See how wrong one can be.

Anyway, I am going to post the letter here, and hopefully come Saturday be able to give insight to what these editors said. Who knows? Maybe the wild fantasies of a middle-aged stay-at-home mom will actually come true. Or a miracle can happen and I'll finally figure out how to write the darn thing and send it out again (for real) next week.

Eleven-year-old Dawson Winterrose has to rescue his sister, Casey, from Maglorix with nothing but the help of his trouble-prone brother, Cris. To make matters worse, they have to be back before their parents wake up in the morning and realize Casey is gone. It’s going to be a long night.

Quest for the Scroll is my 64,000-word middle-grade fantasy. I believe it will appeal to the same audience as Fablehaven and Leven Thumps.

Dawson is used to watching out for his brother, Cris, and sister, Casey, especially when they ride their dragons to the magical land of Hiraeth. Up till now being the oldest hasn’t been much of a challenge, even if he is the only kid he knows who has to take fencing lessons from an elf. Then Casey is hounded by Night Mares, Cris gets thrown in a dungeon by leprechauns, and the three children find out the prince of Hiraeth is really their great, great uncle. Their great-grandfather left Hiraeth to become mortal and wrote a letter to his first female descendant–Casey. Dawson isn’t certain he wants Casey to find out what the letter says, especially after the letter gets stolen, Casey is kidnapped, and then their dragons also go missing. Now Dawson has to find a way to get to Hiraeth without their dragons, rescue Casey, and retrieve the scroll, all while keeping Cris out of trouble. And where are the dragons anyway? Are they working for Maglorix? Being the big brother is turning out to have more worries than Dawson ever dreamed of.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

I left out all of the whos and wheres, but there it is. I don't even want to look at it again before Saturday, since I can't change what they're going to see at this point. But that's it. We'll see what they say.

A fly on the wall

It's been a while since I've written, probably due to the fact it's been a while since I've 'written' (if you get what I mean). I have been working on my manuscript, but I don't have enough to show for it to feel justified in talking about it. I've been spending a lot of time reading James Dashner's blog and learning about the process he went through to get where he's at today, and also where exactly he is at today, in terms of writing (it was only today that I figured out what an ARC is and I felt rather like a child listening to adult conversations as his many fans were begging for an ARC of his latest book. I wanted to ask what they were talking about, but felt too stupid. Now I know and I'm glad I didn't expose my ignorance to the world on his blog...so I could expose it on my own instead. Huh. I guess I'm really not that smart after all...)

Anyway, let's all hope and pray that I don't always write in such convoluted terms or I'll never get published.

Back in February I signed up for David Farland's Kick in the Pants and consider it to be one of the best things I've done (writing wise) in a long time. I have posted a link to one of his Kicks before and I'm going to post another one tonight. Whether you're a writer or an Indiana Jones fan or just a geek that likes to learn obscure things, this is a totally cool post. I'll let it speak for istelf, but I will say this: aside from the discussion of Indiana's character (which is fascinating) I think the best part of the whole thing is "Consider their approach to exposition." One of the things I'm stressed about in my own book is a Council-of-Elrond-ish scene where the kids learn a whole bunch of stuff about Hiraeth and their family history. I'm afraid it's just an info dump, but I don't really know how to change it (and I intend to deal with it when I actually get that far in the rewrite. Right now it just hurts my brain.) After reading this bit with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan, I'm not certain I can do on paper what they did on film, but it at least shows what utterly brilliant minds can do. It remains to be seen if I have an utterly brilliant mind.

The "Raiders" Story Conference