by C. LaRene Hall
Although the writer’s conference was a few weeks ago, it’s still in the back of my mind. Life has been crazy at my house, and I’ve not been at my computer very often. My mind keeps wandering to the things that I know in my heart I need to do. One of those things is a query letter. The workshop taught by Elana Johnson was fantastic and she kept the entire class in stitches with her sense of humor.
She pointed out in the very beginning that the purpose of a query letter is to generate requests. First, you have to have a hook. You can sum up your entire novel in one sentence. Your letter should not describe your book at length, drag the reader all the way through the plot and should not give away the ending. I was excited to hear this bit of news.
In your second paragraph, you should give some brief and pertinent biographical information. You need to be professional, serious, dedicated and confident. After all, you are trying to get someone interested in reading your novel.
Your third paragraph should be the sign-off. Don’t drag this out. Finish your letter with a complimentary closing.
Elana made this sound so easy, but I’m still nervous. I’m not sure how soon I’m going to take this next step, but I’m glad I attended the class. Someday, I am going to write my query letter, just not today.
1 comment:
This is what I'm struggling with too. I thought her class was fabulous, but I can't seem to master the query thing. I'm working on edits this week for a joint project, but I know next week I'll be out of excuses and onto queries again. *sigh*
Moral of the story: try, try again.
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