Writing a Query Letter

As I began researching my first attempt at a query letter for my newly finished book about teenagers, dragons, and faeries called Blood of the Dragon, I was shocked not at the estimated length (400 words), but the number of hours agents and other writers said it takes to craft an excellent query letter.

Twenty hours. Wow.

I spent about four hours on my rough rough draft trying to get the worm on the opening hook to dangle just right and wracking my brain on how to summarize the plot without explaining. I ended up taking Peter Jackson’s approach to Lord of the Rings: capture the essence of the tale and don’t worry if it doesn’t match the original perfectly.

I sat on it for a week, knowing the ideas are good, but the writing not smooth. My three primary editors have since all taken a look. I don’t know how much time they added, but I’ve spent another hour or so adding in their edits, fine tuning my letter.

It’s a rough draft now, ready to be exposed to my writer’s group. Hopefully, in another week or so, it’ll be ready to send it out and start building my collection of rejection letters. LOL!