Query Letter

My Details

Date

Ms x, Submissions Editor
Some Agents
A street
London POSTCODE

Dear Ms. x,

I'm looking for a literary agent, and I'd like to submit my crime novel for your consideration.

Cynthia is a light-hearted software developer working in the City of London. She doesn't believe in mixing work and romance – until she meets her obnoxious boss's dashing step-son Harold. Unfortunately, said obnoxious boss is murdered just as things are hotting up. Cynthia was fifteen feet away at the time, concentrating on a particularly tricky program. She knows who she'd be arresting if she were in charge of the case.

Feeling like a techie Bridget Jones plunged smack into the middle of an Agatha Christie, Cynthia decides to track down the killer before she's hauled off in a Black Maria. Her friendly co-workers James and Liz volunteer to help with fingerprints and back-watching. Cynthia trawls through her boss's emails and interviews a succession of eccentric colleagues. Absolutely everyone seems to have a motive.

Meanwhile, Harold is flatteringly persistent. Flirting madly over dinner, Cynthia wonders if this is a romance? Or is he just sussing out what she's up to?

Cynthia's enterprise arouses the ire of the enigmatic Superintendent in charge of the case. She can handle that. But then she attracts the murderer's attention.

Stiletto in Old Street is my first novel, complete at 75,000 words. It's aimed at the contemporary crime fiction market. All of the characters are fictional, but I have experienced Cynthia's setting at first hand; until recently I worked as a senior software developer in Old Street.

I have not included an SAE because I am currently based in Ireland. If you would like to see the manuscript, please let me know by email. My email address is above. Thank you for your attention.

Yours Sincerely,





Ita Ryan

Why First-Time Writers are Old

Nathan Bransford's Friday blog post pointed to a very interesting article at Whatever about why first novelists are usually in their thirties.

John Scalzi wrote his first novel at 28, and was published for the first time (with his second novel) at 35.

Encouraging.

Out into the Big Bad World

I've just revised a short story which failed - somehow - to win the competition I wrote it for, and sent it out into the world again. This time I've submitted it to a magazine.

I've another story under consideration elsewhere.

That's it; I'm not querying my novel at the moment pending extensive rework.

It's a good feeling sending a story out. I'm not writing at the moment, but I still have a couple of little representatives flying around. You never know what might happen.

Tips from the movies

Here are five lessons writers should (apparently) learn from the movies.

Ah, now I see where I've been going wrong. Although I always describe my explosions graphically, I haven't included a soundtrack and rarely use slo-mo effects.

Polish, shine, perfect

Nathan Bransford's blog post on Thursday Stepping up your Game hit the nail on the head. Only one agent so far has asked to see my entire MS. Here's a quote from her eventual rejection:

"The market is extremely tight at the moment, and crime fiction in particular is proving difficult to place."

Encouraging, no? No.

But everyone in the business is saying the same thing. Did you think it was hard to be published? Well now it's a whole lot harder! There are only two sensible responses:

1) Polish, shine, perfect.

2) Give up.

Back to page one.

Just before Christmas '07, I went out for drinks with friends I rarely see. I'd been writing for about 6 weeks. I told them I was writing a murder mystery, proudly boasting that I'd written 12,000 words already. I hadn't got to the murder yet though, I added.

"You've written 12,000 words of a murder mystery with no murder?" said one of them. "That doesn't exactly sound riveting!"

With friends like that...

However others were A LOT more encouraging, so I kept writing instead of topping myself.


I stopped submitting to agents a month or so ago. I decided that the novel was just not ready, and I could be harming its chances by sending it out. There were a number of issues churning at the back of my mind, not ready to be verbalised.

The intervening month has clarified one of them for me:

The first 12,000 words of my murder mystery have no murder. Maybe that is insufficiently riveting.


So when I embark on the next round of edits, the murder will be moving from page 58 to page 1. Current pages 1-57 will appear around pg. 4 or 5 and 9 or 10, interspersed with current events.

I'm not over-fond of books that are structured like this. If Agatha can spend 30 pages (admittedly, rarely 57 pages) setting the scene, I tend to think, who are we to introduce time disconnects and where-did-it-all-go-wrong flashbacks?

There is, however, a difference. When you pick up an Agatha Christie you're along for the ride. You know you'll be entertained. You let Agatha take you there how she will. When you pick up one of my books there will be slightly more uncertainty - at least until you've read some of my stuff already.

No poetry

Adorno famously said "There is no poetry after Auschwitz".

That's how I feel after the release of the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in Ireland.

The findings are being discussed all over the country this week. My usual concerns seem inexpressibly trivial in the light of what these children went through.

The report is honest and detailed and its authors deserve praise. But it's too late. Most of the victims are long dead.