I don't know if there are any published authors on this board, but as many of you well know, I am trying to join those ranks. I have completed a query letter for my novel for the purpose of getting an agent. I have a love/hate relationship with this letter. I struggled a lot to write it, and hate the query format, but I think it does a decent job of getting the point across. Any comments would be helpful, but I fully expect this thread to plummet and disappear.


There are legends of how things once were for the three races. The Vampires were said to have no aversion to sunlight. They were able to gain vitality through the blood of the animals they hunted affording them great strength, agility, and immortality. Lycans could control their transformations, and control the feral instincts of the wolves they became. Human beings wielded a mastery over the four elemental forces. The three races each flourished in their own way until they grew large and began to infringe upon each other. Squabbles increased, wars broke out and bloodshed became commonplace.

Angered over the violence perpetuated by their children, The Creators punished the three. Vampires were confined to the cold dark climates, their use of blood turned from an advantage into a debilitating addiction. The Lycans were stripped of their control, doomed to transform at the advent of each full moon, wandering as beasts. Human beings lost their elemental prowess, forced to endure the harsh climates in which they lived, to survive by their own devices.

Ender, a Vampire with unique powers and a link to the history of the three races kidnaps Ellie, a human girl with secrets of her own. This sets off a race against a tenuous alliance between Jareth, a power-hungry Vampire and Turk, a Lycan desperate to save his people from extinction. According to legend, shedding the blood of Ender, Ellie, and the chosen Lycan together will lift the curses levied upon the three races.

Jareth wishes to unite the three believing if it is his hand and his hand alone that draws the blood of the three, then the Vampires will rise above all others. Turk is hell bent on lifting the disease which has caused the destruction of his people, regardless of what it means for his son Evander, the chosen Lycan. Ender, Ellie and Evander travel across New York seeking the answers to their existence, the reasons they're being hunted, and above all else, survival.

Should Vampire Story (I know, I need a better title) interest you, the completed manuscript of 88,000 words is available upon request. For your convenience, I have enclosed a SASE.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I wish I could help you out, but you're in a realm I know nothing about except what the Google tells me.

Thanks, same here, haha. I'm actually reading a book on getting your work to agents/publishers. It's not as abysmally boring as it sounds believe it or not.

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I took some time to read it, and thought that you conveyed the idea of the novel pretty well. I don't know anything about query letters, but I take it they basically preview the novel (correct me if I'm wrong). It reads almost like the back of a book, where the author/publisher tries to grab the readers attention and give a brief preview.

One resource that I've found helpful with writing is Linkedin. They have a writing and editing section where you can ask questions and industry professionals will help and answer you. Heck, you may even find a publisher or other author that can point you in the right direction to get your novel off the ground.

If I knew more about query letters I'd be of more help, but as of now I'm working on writing about high-end cars and the automotive industry. Hopefully later on in life I'd like to write a novel. Keep me updated on how things go, and I wish you the best of luck. I hope my thoughts helped a bit for you.

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I did run across this, if it helps you at all. Says you should follow a predefined format and try not to deviate at all, plus include a section that has a little bio about yourself.

http://www.agentquery.com/writer_hq.aspx

Thanks, I didn't know that about Linkedin. Honestly I haven't used it much.

Your impression of query letters is fairly accurate. There are a bunch of different formats you can use, but they all contain the same info.

As far as writing a novel goes, you might want to start sooner rather than later. For one thing, it is much more work then you can imagine. Mine came off of a concept that I wrote in 2006 and forgot until last year, and it took almost a year to write and edit the whole thing.

Plus (and this is only what I've heard), younger authors tend to have an easier time getting contracts because publishers and agents will want consider that author's career and ink them for more than one work.

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The how-to guide I'm reading has four different types of query letters. I chose the "hook" style, where you start right in on the details of the story. I thought it best, the book being dramatic, plus it gives a bit more space to write. I'm going to go back tonight and try to work in some more genre/market info a bit more artfully.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual