Well... I honestly have no clue. LOL. But I'm participating in a contest on the other side of the fence this time. I get to read all the entries and decide what I think an agent would like. OH MAN. When Deana asked me I stopped for a second and thought-Do I really want to hold someone's future in my hands? Then I got a grip and realized I was being a little dramatic. But it still is pretty intimidating.
My group blog is also one of the host blogs for this contest-GUTGAA. And I had to help post the entries over the weekend. Guess what I did? I read them. LOL. It was hard not to. SO many amazing stories.
But an agent reads query after query after query. What makes yours stand out? Same with a bookshelf. There are rows upon rows of books. What makes your book different from the rest? How does your story stand out? Why do I want to read it? Is it the gorgeous cover? The superb plot and story line. The beautiful language?
The query and blurb only give you so much to entice the reader or agent. What does yours say about your book. The entries I was drown to the most were the ones that gave me a complete sense of the character in the book. That darn VOICE that we hear so much about.
Vampires, magicians, earth wielders, a boy and a girl falling in love. They've all been done. So how do you make yours different? From my teeny tiny experience in the pretend agent's seat? YOU! LOL. The heart behind the characters. You the writer bring the difference and your characters reflect that. And so should your query. Nothing trumps great writing of course. But when you line 40 great writers up next to each other it's the voice behind each one that can make the difference.
But I could be totally wrong...
So I'm offering up a challenge. Go read as many entries as you can. Give some positive feedback. Support your fellow writers. And while you do it think about what it was about the entries you really, really like that made you stop and go-WOW.
Then come back and tell me. ;0)
Here is the link to my group blog FFF-http://falling4fiction.blogspot.com/. All the other host blogs are listed on there.
After going through helping almost 200 queries this summer, I have mad respect for agents that I didn't have before. :)
ReplyDeleteI have read some really AMAZING queries I would totally want to read the manuscript. How an agent can look through so many in such a short time beats me!
ReplyDeleteI love the points you make here. The query really does stand out most if it's got that voice and character (and a unique concept doesn't hurt). Queries are so tough, but so important!
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine reading queries all day long everyday. I think my brain would explode :) Sometimes people look at agents as bad guys, but they are simply doing an important job.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading a ton of gutgaa entries these last weeks and honestly I don't have a clue on offering great advice. I had a hard enough time with mine. So I've just resorted to pointing out things I like. Big help I am!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Angela, I think my head would explode if I had to read queries all day long. I really can't guess what makes some stand out, but I like your idea!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading the gutgaa entries, thanks for the heads up! :)
I think you hit the nail on the head. There have been so many iterations of so many different stories - but the characters are usually what we read for :)
ReplyDeleteBut how to capture that in a stand-out query? Now, that's the tricky part...
Holy moly! I wasn't following you either! We are ridiculous. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post Jen. For me its either the voice or a hook that makes me go, "oh heck yeah! I wonder how THAT is going to go!"
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