Doing a Query with multiple main characters....

I know how you are feeling on this one. I've got three main characters in my novel. Writing that damn query was the hardest thing. I took the two strongest characters and tried combining them together in sentences describing the plot. I then used a sentence pulling in the third character along with the other two, describing their importance to the plot. It was difficult to sum up all the plot lines and pull the characters together in a couple of sentences. The next novel I swore I would not write myself this problem. Writing the query was harder than writing the whole book and editing it. Four months later and I'm still not quite sure I'm happy with it. Good luck.

Try standing off to one side and writing the query and synopsis as an omniscient onlooker. That way you can avoid going into any of the characters' POVs but still tell the story.

Look at some of the queries from Miss Snark's last Crapometer. I know she specifically addressed this issue on several of them.

I had the same problem, but managed to create a good query that garnered a lot of requests for reads and eventually landed me an agent (who I adore.)

I distilled it down to writing about the conflict, not the characters (since I tell the story from 8 points of view.) I described it as "an escallating crisis of culture clash between several well-intentioned people with opposing viewpoints" or something like that. PM me if you want a copy of my query letter - I'll share it with you.

This just made me think about how difficult it would have been for the writer's of Dawson's Creek or On Life To Live to have ever pitched such twitsed plots! This makes me glad I'm a picture book writer! =) Try asking this at the Novels Forum too. These guys are all likely to be in the same boat.

Good luck and God bless!

Bookends just discussed multiple character hooks today.
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2007/08/question-about-hooks.html

Project nachonaco said:

The problem is, I have around 6-10 main characters.

Click to expand...

I have 4 protags and 2 antags that are important enough to have sections in their POVs. I also have two large story arcs going on at once, which is hell on my plot description.

I'm in editing right now, but I've been brainstorming about queries for awhile. I have a feeling my query will mention my main antag, one protag, and stick to the story arc between the two of them (since the book basically begins and wraps up with that one). The 2nd antag I have no problem leaving out, but the other three protags are ridiculously important, and probably about half the story. They will likely be mentioned in passing, but from what I've heard, a query isn't a synopsis, just a hook for getting them interested in your story. I figure if I leave out some of the most interesting parts/people and it's still a good hook, then it's probably not a bad thing.

I could, of course, be very very wrong. LoL. I'm sure that's just loads of help.

My suggestion would be to focus on your strongest character. Develop a query around that character, drawing in a very limited number of other characters. Most queries work best if you limit it to three characters, possibly four. You might want to go over to SYW and look through query letters there. You'll see a bunch with multiple characters. Most of the time, the final version ends up focused on one.

A query is not meant to cover everything in your book. That's what a synopsis is for. A query is merely to convince an agent/editor to look at some more of your work.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe