Well, hello again. Today's post is all about me and my fiction. (As opposed to the lovingly crafted missives I usually compose about Dominican orphans. (Which is not at all funny.))
As some of you know, especially if you follow my Twitter grumblings, I'm on round 56,324 two of sending my manuscript, The Mating Habits of Fireflies (formerly titled The Goodness of Meredith Beam) out to literary agents.
The query letter is very important to this process. A well written query can open the door, so to speak, can cause a busy agent to consider your work. Or it makes them gag and cross shred your dreams into their recycling bin.
Either way. You have to have a good query.
I loved my Round One query. And it had a great response ratio. Something like 50% of the agents who read it asked for partials (the first three chapters) and several even asked for fulls.
My novel has changed pretty drastically, though. So my query had to change too.
Two thoughtful women have critiqued this for me already,
Bethany and
Tricia. But I'd love anyone else's opinion. Especially on the section where I've summarized the plot.
So, here goes.
Dear Fancy NY Literary Agent:
Meredith Brown has always taken her goodness for granted. She’s been a respectable wife, a decent teacher to her gifted students, and a biddable daughter.
Until recently.
Overwhelmed by infertility, the responsibilities of trying to sober her mother-in-law, Leola, of a Xanax addiction, and the downturn of her relationship with her pathologically steadfast husband, Jay, Meredith does something she shouldn’t. She runs away.
Schlepping along for the ride is Jay’s brother, Brian, a mercurial slacker who has a substance abuse problem of his own and a fixation on Meredith that threatens to pull her marriage past the point of no return.
Instead of gaining the perspective she hoped for by fleeing, Meredith quickly realizes that her entire identity is at stake as she enters a labyrinth of temptation and reexamination of her black and white views of the world.
A little about me: my short stories have been published in Phoebe, The Florida Review, The Colorado Review and Night Train. The Mating Habits of Fireflies, in an earlier form, was a contender in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award and received a highly favorable review from Publisher’s Weekly.
The Mating Habits of Fireflies (which I like to think falls into similar niches as The Dive from Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer and Good Grief by Lolly Winston) is complete with a word count of 80,300.
I have enclosed a few sample pages for your perusal.
Thanks for your consideration
Angie M., Extreme Wannabe