Do People Like Writing Query Letters?

Query letters are strange animals to me.

On one hand, I love talking about my ideas. I can spend hours expounding on what each character and interaction represents. In fact, I think I am more eloquent talking about my stories than I am actually writing them. Ask me for a summary and I will come up with a thousand new ways to describe the plot and the message. You would think that means that I am eager to write a query letter, but it just gives me too many options. I have two different synopses and I am certain both of them are too long. But that does not stop me from putting together a letter nearly as long as my first chapter. Summing up everything in a tidy manner is somehow a massive hurdle.

Meanwhile, I have the opposite issue on the biography section. I only talk about myself when I am asked specific questions. Not saying my life is secret but I usually need a reason to dig on the past. But as I look for agents, I see most of them are as interested in the wordsmith as they are in the words. That is not how I want it to be. When you read what I write, I want the reader to look into themselves. I don’t need them thinking about my ethnic background or my political opinions or my perceived intentions. Big proponent of death of the author over here. I prefer discussions over differing interpretations instead obsessions over authors’ background.

All that is to say, my query letters are severely unbalanced. Long meandering synopses with barebones biographies hanging on for dear life. The eagerness to sell the story my way somehow puts me at odds with people I am trying to sell it to. I am working at a better balance. Play the game or go home.

I am reminded of the Livestrong yellow plastic bands from back in the 2000s. You gotta wear it to show you are cool, hip, and into doing good. What kind of monster doesn’t want to fight cancer, right? I will never understand how such superficial displays of culture awareness keep ending up the main focus. But as I ponder that, you better believe I will be wearing the yellow band. Now, back to the query list.

Today's Song: YouSeeBIGGIRL/T:T by Hiroyuki Sawano

I will be honest, I was living my perfectly normal life yesterday and the title of this AOT track got stuck in my head. Not the song. The title. So I ended up listening to it all day. That is all.