As some of you know, I got the chance to head back to D.C. over winter break! I made sure to stop by my internship to say hello, and was given the opportunity to spend a few days reading queries. I thought I'd spend today imparting some general query wisdom with y'all. Hope this helps!
1. Don’t start your query with a rhetorical question (ie: Have you ever felt the nagging urge to lop off your arm, tie it to a rock, and throw it in the ocean as a way to get over your ex?). It isn’t just a personal pet peeve – most agents will tell you they despise the rhetorical question as well.
2. Don’t use a quote before your query. Especially if it’s unrelated to your book. Even if it is related, it isn’t necessary.
3. Don’t send unsolicited attachments. Especially if your query is IN the attachment. It will never see the light of day.
4. I’d generally advise against using smiley faces.
5. Never, ever, ever address a query as follows: Dear Agent, To Whom It May Concern, Dear Sir/Ma’am, etc. Use their name. And be sure to spell it correctly.
6. If you send a hasty query and later realize there’s a typo, don’t send the query again, apologizing. (I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this one.)
7. This is just a suggestion, but you should probably take it to heart: don’t send queries using your email address from 1995 (you know the one – kittykatmeowmewo2137@iheartbabyanimals.com). Go to gmail.com and set up an account using your actual name. Much more professional.
8. Don’t you dare send out a mass query! [Waves finger] That is a major no-no.
9. A synopsis is not a query. Ex-agent superhero, Nathan Bransford, has a great article on how to write a good query.
10. Don’t send a letter that’s all about your qualifications (or lack thereof) for writing your book, but never actually saying what said book is about.
11. It’s fine if this is your first book. Everyone has to start somewhere! But don’t give the entire history of how long it took you to write it.
12. Inserting random sentences from your manuscript isn’t the best way to sell it.
13. Do NOT just send a list of characters and how they relate to each other.
14. Do not send a marketing proposal.
15. Please don’t compare your books to the Bible, Harry Potter, Twilight, or anything by Nicholas Sparks.
16. Make sure you send everything the submission guidelines ask for. If an agent asks to see the first five pages pasted beneath your query, do it. Similarly, don’t send pages if an agent doesn’t ask to see them.
17. If you’re rejected, don’t respond to ask for the names of other agents you could send your query to.
18. Don’t send queries for three different books within the span of five minutes. Query one at a time.
19. Always check for typos. Sometimes we make mistakes, but if your query is riddled with them, no one is going to request to see more because they’ll assume the same of the manuscript.
20. Always wait at least six weeks before checking in to see if an agent has read your query. (Unless their submission guidelines say they don’t respond to those they aren’t interested in. Then you shouldn’t bother.)
Showing posts with label intern tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intern tips. Show all posts
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Monday, October 11, 2010
Intern Tips: Edited & Consolidated
I have to admit, the recent upheaval about agency interns has me terrified. Petrified, even. I watched InternAmie disappear, and have watched as other interns quickly regressed back into their intern holes (aka their offices or bedrooms, depending on where they work). The whole situation is just depressing. Before the recent controversy over #queryslam and #queryfest, interns were still sometimes disrespected by querying authors. I saw many comments and entries on blogs about how we shouldn't be allowed to make decisions on incoming queries and submissions, and how, because we aren't agents, we don't know what to look for.
I believe that's false, but I'll let Janet Reid argue that point, since she says it better than I ever could.
I truly believe any intern or agent who has tweeted or blogged about queries or submissions was trying to be helpful. Rejection is never fun, but this business is full of it. I've learned to accept it, and I think every author, querying or otherwise, would benefit from a hard shell.
That being said, I know there are still going to be people who are unable to look past this. And that's their right; they're allowed to feel however they want to. And because I would never want to hurt someone's feelings, or make them think they're being criticized, I've made the decision to take down all of my intern tip posts and consolidate them into one giant list. I've taken out repeats and deleted those that could have been misconstrued as someone's personal submission. I promise that everything below has been seen in numerous submissions, or is just a general tip I've picked up over the last few months. I will not be adding to this list in the future, and I'll probably keep #interntips on twitter to a bare minimum. I hate seeing authors upset, and I hate seeing interns lose their voice. There really is no happy medium, so I'm bowing out gracefully.
2. Label anything you send to an agency. Page numbers in one corner (upper right), along with your name and the title of your novel (upper left). Don't forget to label your synopsis, too.
3. Make sure you know what your genre is, and don't overdo it. You don't need to have vampires, werewolves, zombies, mythical gods, witches, warlocks, unicorns, and aliens in one story just for it to be considered paranormal.
4. Keep pop culture references to a minimum.
5. Do not forget to send a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with hard copies.
6. Double-space your material.
7. Stick to traditional fonts: Times New Roman, size 12, is always acceptable.
8. Be careful of repetition. Show your readers your vocabulary isn't limited to basic adjectives.
9. But please don't make your entire manuscript a ride through the thesaurus.
10. Not every line needs a dialogue tag.
11. DO include a copy of your query when sending partials. Either that, or provide some sort of cover letter, reminding us what your story's about, and how long it is.
12. It's not always necessary to send a copy of your query with full manuscripts. I asked Naomi about this, and she told me that, because the number of fulls agents request is so much smaller than partials, it isn't really necessary. "If they've asked for the full, chances are they'll remember who you are."
13. A partial that is free of typos is impressive.
14. Know the difference between 'too' and 'to,' and 'their,' 'there,' and 'they'er.'
15. Your synopsis shouldn't be longer than the first chapter. Neither should your prologue.
16. If the information in your prologue is repeated in the first chapter, you don't need the prologue.
17. Be a good intern. You get cupcakes. (This is the best advice I will ever give. Take it to heart.)
18. It's probably a bad sign if your supporting characters are more interesting than your main character.
19. If you're writing a mystery, your killer needs to have motivation. Unlike killers in real life, who sometimes just murder people for the sake of murdering people, fiction needs motivation.
20. If you're going to put quotes at the beginning of every chapter, make sure they're relevant.
21. SHOW, don't TELL.
22. If someone requests a partial, send a decent amount of pages. If your first three chapters only go to page 20-something, it's probably a good idea to send the first 50.
23. Your average human being doesn't have fuscia, purple, yellow, or red eyes.
24. Black clothes, tattoos, and an earring do not a bad boy make.
25. You probably don't need a prologue.
26. For those embarking on collaborative projects, make sure your voices blend seamlessly.
27. Be open to feedback. If any agent gives you suggestions on how you could improve your story, and offers to look at the manuscript again if you make them, it's worth considering.
28. 30,000 words is not a novel. 200,000 is a monstrosity. 60-80,000 words is generally a safe number to strive for.
29. Characterization is SO important. Even if your plot is The Greatest Thing I've Ever Seen, it won't go anywhere without characters who are well rounded and believable.
30. I can tell when you basically rewrote a movie.
31. Proofread.
32. If you're going to write about an actual town/city/school/place, do your research. If your facts aren't accurate, someone's going to notice.
33. Unusual names are fun. Indecipherable ones are not.
34. If your female character has a male name, make sure you let readers know, right away, what her gender is. Same goes for men with feminine names.
35. Never send out your first draft.
36. If you're going to use foreign words in your manuscript, give some context clues.
37. Keep the text speak to a minimum, and make sure people can understand it.
38. Watch out for shifts in tense. You don't want a sentence to start off in present tense, then switch to past tense by the end.
39. Multiple punctuation marks are not necessary.
40. If one of your characters has an accent that's actually written into the story, make sure you're consistent.
41. 'Anyways' is not a word.
42. Always give away the ending in your synopsis.
43. Setting: you need to have one.
44. Don't spell real people's names wrong.
45. A synopsis should always be written in present tense.
46. Be careful of leaving things out. If your character is outside one minute, and the next minute they're walking around the kitchen, you need to mention that they actually went back inside the house.
I believe that's false, but I'll let Janet Reid argue that point, since she says it better than I ever could.
I truly believe any intern or agent who has tweeted or blogged about queries or submissions was trying to be helpful. Rejection is never fun, but this business is full of it. I've learned to accept it, and I think every author, querying or otherwise, would benefit from a hard shell.
That being said, I know there are still going to be people who are unable to look past this. And that's their right; they're allowed to feel however they want to. And because I would never want to hurt someone's feelings, or make them think they're being criticized, I've made the decision to take down all of my intern tip posts and consolidate them into one giant list. I've taken out repeats and deleted those that could have been misconstrued as someone's personal submission. I promise that everything below has been seen in numerous submissions, or is just a general tip I've picked up over the last few months. I will not be adding to this list in the future, and I'll probably keep #interntips on twitter to a bare minimum. I hate seeing authors upset, and I hate seeing interns lose their voice. There really is no happy medium, so I'm bowing out gracefully.
INTERN TIPS
1. Do not write a synopsis that is a blow-by-blow account of each chapter. 2-5 pages is normal. Anything above that gets a bit iffy. 2. Label anything you send to an agency. Page numbers in one corner (upper right), along with your name and the title of your novel (upper left). Don't forget to label your synopsis, too.
3. Make sure you know what your genre is, and don't overdo it. You don't need to have vampires, werewolves, zombies, mythical gods, witches, warlocks, unicorns, and aliens in one story just for it to be considered paranormal.
4. Keep pop culture references to a minimum.
5. Do not forget to send a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with hard copies.
6. Double-space your material.
7. Stick to traditional fonts: Times New Roman, size 12, is always acceptable.
8. Be careful of repetition. Show your readers your vocabulary isn't limited to basic adjectives.
9. But please don't make your entire manuscript a ride through the thesaurus.
10. Not every line needs a dialogue tag.
11. DO include a copy of your query when sending partials. Either that, or provide some sort of cover letter, reminding us what your story's about, and how long it is.
12. It's not always necessary to send a copy of your query with full manuscripts. I asked Naomi about this, and she told me that, because the number of fulls agents request is so much smaller than partials, it isn't really necessary. "If they've asked for the full, chances are they'll remember who you are."
13. A partial that is free of typos is impressive.
14. Know the difference between 'too' and 'to,' and 'their,' 'there,' and 'they'er.'
15. Your synopsis shouldn't be longer than the first chapter. Neither should your prologue.
16. If the information in your prologue is repeated in the first chapter, you don't need the prologue.
17. Be a good intern. You get cupcakes. (This is the best advice I will ever give. Take it to heart.)
18. It's probably a bad sign if your supporting characters are more interesting than your main character.
19. If you're writing a mystery, your killer needs to have motivation. Unlike killers in real life, who sometimes just murder people for the sake of murdering people, fiction needs motivation.
20. If you're going to put quotes at the beginning of every chapter, make sure they're relevant.
21. SHOW, don't TELL.
22. If someone requests a partial, send a decent amount of pages. If your first three chapters only go to page 20-something, it's probably a good idea to send the first 50.
23. Your average human being doesn't have fuscia, purple, yellow, or red eyes.
24. Black clothes, tattoos, and an earring do not a bad boy make.
25. You probably don't need a prologue.
26. For those embarking on collaborative projects, make sure your voices blend seamlessly.
27. Be open to feedback. If any agent gives you suggestions on how you could improve your story, and offers to look at the manuscript again if you make them, it's worth considering.
28. 30,000 words is not a novel. 200,000 is a monstrosity. 60-80,000 words is generally a safe number to strive for.
29. Characterization is SO important. Even if your plot is The Greatest Thing I've Ever Seen, it won't go anywhere without characters who are well rounded and believable.
30. I can tell when you basically rewrote a movie.
31. Proofread.
32. If you're going to write about an actual town/city/school/place, do your research. If your facts aren't accurate, someone's going to notice.
33. Unusual names are fun. Indecipherable ones are not.
34. If your female character has a male name, make sure you let readers know, right away, what her gender is. Same goes for men with feminine names.
35. Never send out your first draft.
36. If you're going to use foreign words in your manuscript, give some context clues.
37. Keep the text speak to a minimum, and make sure people can understand it.
38. Watch out for shifts in tense. You don't want a sentence to start off in present tense, then switch to past tense by the end.
39. Multiple punctuation marks are not necessary.
40. If one of your characters has an accent that's actually written into the story, make sure you're consistent.
41. 'Anyways' is not a word.
42. Always give away the ending in your synopsis.
43. Setting: you need to have one.
44. Don't spell real people's names wrong.
45. A synopsis should always be written in present tense.
46. Be careful of leaving things out. If your character is outside one minute, and the next minute they're walking around the kitchen, you need to mention that they actually went back inside the house.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Inappropriate Intern?
Many of you have probably heard about the great debate over former twitter user InternAmie's use of the hashtag #queryslam to document her current slushpile finds. Sadly, the backlash she received forced her off twitter and, from what I can tell, has opted to turn her blog private.
This, dear readers, saddens me greatly. Twitter has been a great place to connect with fellow interns, and I feel as though there's a quiet bond between us, even though we don't know each other very well. (For those of you who enjoy following industry people on twitter, interns included, I have a growing list here.)
I'm sure Amie meant no harm by her comments; from what I've seen, many others believe she was just trying to be helpful. I've always found agents/interns who use the #queries hashtag to be incredibly useful. I myself learned a lot from that thread, and adjusted my query letter accordingly. Much of what's been said over the past few months has been nothing but helpful to me and my fellow querying writers.
That being said, I think we interns walk a fine line when trying to offer our help. After all, we're still learning, too.
Because I don't read many queries - I spend most of my time reading manuscripts - I've never felt the need to participate in the #queries hashtag. Obviously, I have nothing to say. But even if it were the case that I could add something to the conversation, I doubt that I would. From experience, I know how personal queries are to a writer. You've slaved over it for weeks, maybe even months. You know it inside and out, and I'm pretty sure I'd be able to pick my query out of a supposedly ambiguous reference online. I wouldn't be bothered by it because I'm always open to critique, but I know many others don't feel that way. And in this case, I think it may be best to err on the side of caution. Perhaps it might be best to follow that age old saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." We don't always have to learn from others' mistakes; we can learn from their successes as well.
The fact that I religiously read SlushPile Hell probably makes me a raging hypocrite. Oh well.
However, I'm pretty sure that those tweeting queries never meant any harm by it. I've done my best, as an intern, to offer help when I can. I've been using the #interntips hashtag to continue what I did here on my blog all summer. With all the backlash about #queries and #queryslam, I was afraid that maybe I'd crossed that boundary, too. I've spoken to a lot of my writer friends about this, and they've assured me that what I'm doing is fine. I've tried to keep my tips as general and free-of-association as possible. Many, MANY authors make the same mistakes, so the things I've said always apply to more than one person.
However, I want to ask you, dear readers, what you think. Do you think #interntips (both here and on twitter) crosses that thin line? Because I don't want to offend anyone, and if I have, then I profusely apologize.
I'll leave you with this endearing article from agent Janet Reid: Not All Interns are Idiots.
This, dear readers, saddens me greatly. Twitter has been a great place to connect with fellow interns, and I feel as though there's a quiet bond between us, even though we don't know each other very well. (For those of you who enjoy following industry people on twitter, interns included, I have a growing list here.)
I'm sure Amie meant no harm by her comments; from what I've seen, many others believe she was just trying to be helpful. I've always found agents/interns who use the #queries hashtag to be incredibly useful. I myself learned a lot from that thread, and adjusted my query letter accordingly. Much of what's been said over the past few months has been nothing but helpful to me and my fellow querying writers.
That being said, I think we interns walk a fine line when trying to offer our help. After all, we're still learning, too.
Because I don't read many queries - I spend most of my time reading manuscripts - I've never felt the need to participate in the #queries hashtag. Obviously, I have nothing to say. But even if it were the case that I could add something to the conversation, I doubt that I would. From experience, I know how personal queries are to a writer. You've slaved over it for weeks, maybe even months. You know it inside and out, and I'm pretty sure I'd be able to pick my query out of a supposedly ambiguous reference online. I wouldn't be bothered by it because I'm always open to critique, but I know many others don't feel that way. And in this case, I think it may be best to err on the side of caution. Perhaps it might be best to follow that age old saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." We don't always have to learn from others' mistakes; we can learn from their successes as well.
The fact that I religiously read SlushPile Hell probably makes me a raging hypocrite. Oh well.
However, I'm pretty sure that those tweeting queries never meant any harm by it. I've done my best, as an intern, to offer help when I can. I've been using the #interntips hashtag to continue what I did here on my blog all summer. With all the backlash about #queries and #queryslam, I was afraid that maybe I'd crossed that boundary, too. I've spoken to a lot of my writer friends about this, and they've assured me that what I'm doing is fine. I've tried to keep my tips as general and free-of-association as possible. Many, MANY authors make the same mistakes, so the things I've said always apply to more than one person.
However, I want to ask you, dear readers, what you think. Do you think #interntips (both here and on twitter) crosses that thin line? Because I don't want to offend anyone, and if I have, then I profusely apologize.
I'll leave you with this endearing article from agent Janet Reid: Not All Interns are Idiots.
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