Sunday, February 28, 2010

Query Me This...

I just finished my read-through and edit of the first draft of Branson Heights! Now my fabulous 2 first readers are going through it before I give the book to Amazing Ashley--who will no doubt tell me all the things I've done wrong. From there, I'll have a few more beta readers go through it for me, do a final edit, and start to query. Really though, I feel great about this manuscript because of how much I learned from writing and editing Eternal Starling.

I decided to start drafting my query letter, thinking the experience would be as long and painful as writing my last query letter was. So I was shocked when my Branson Heights query seemed to just flow onto the page. The query for Eternal Starling took me about twenty drafts, several phone conversations with Amazing Ashley, as well as advice from an author friend before I got it right. It was truly harder to write than the whole book! I'm not sure what the difference is this time around. Maybe it's because I know what I'm doing now and what agents want, or it might be because Branson Heights came together better and that made it easier to summarize the book in 250 words? But it's nice to know that I learned something and that the more practice I have, the easier it gets.

What about you guys? If you've written more than one novel, do you feel like the whole process from writing to querying is easier with each additional project?

6 comments:

  1. Love your blog, I'm already loving the information and look forward to following you!

    I myself have just started in the writing world and found my first novel Finding Me that I am currently working on. I haven't had to do any of the hard work yet but I know that I have several people to look towards when ready!

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  2. Hi Jen!

    Thanks for following my blog! It's nice to meet you and I'm glad the information is helping you out. :)

    I read your blog post about Finding Me. It sounds like you're moving right along! Congrats on starting your first book!

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  3. Excellent blog!!

    http://balapertotarreu.blogspot.com

    Frank

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  4. I am finding that the process is easier, only because I know in what order to do everything. The writing isn't necessarily any easier, but with each new project I get know my characters. They are like new friends I have to spend time with, but that's the fun part for me.

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  5. Shain-I agree! And I think getting to know your characters is one of the best parts of writing!

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