Query:Giving Away the Ending

I think those people will soon learn that agents don't have time to deal with them. An agent needs to know the ending, to know if the story is viable -- or even complete.

Have you considered that some authors withhold the ending only when they post on AW which is, after all, open to many members. Maybe they're scared of having their stories stolen.

Actually I will have to disagree here. All the agent blogs I look at, especially when they dissect queries, show endings akin to "but first Angela must face her fear of heights, or she will never be able to kill that mouse." I have always read that when it came to QUERIES you end with a bit of a cliffhanger ending showing where the story will probably go. In SYNOPSES you tell everything.

I don't know why. I'm not sure it matters that much. But it's the tradition I have noted in all query letters I have read, from both published and unpublished authors.

I think it depends on what you call "the query".

If you're talking about the query letter and the tiny blurb that goes therein, then my experience is that you don't need to give a full-indepth description of the book. Just a tease-line has always been sufficent for me to get a request for a full off just a one page query.

If you're talking about something in addition to the letter, like a synopsis of any length, then you most definitely need to include the outcome of the book.

Toothpaste said:

Actually I will have to disagree here. All the agent blogs I look at, especially when they dissect queries, show endings akin to "but first Angela must face her fear of heights, or she will never be able to kill that mouse." I have always read that when it came to QUERIES you end with a bit of a cliffhanger ending showing where the story will probably go. In SYNOPSES you tell everything.

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What Toothpaste Said. The query is a teaser--think the kind of plot teaser you see on the back of paperback books. The synopsis tells all.

- Victoria

I agree with toothpaste and victoria- the synopsis is the one you don't want to leave them hanging on- the query is as Victoria stated a teaser to get them interested- they don't want the whole plot just an idea of where you are going, most agents already assume the work is completed or you would not be sending it out to begin with.

What Toothpaste, victoria, and shead said.

Yep. Query is for the hook. The synopsis is where you have to give the ending, not the query.

What Toothpaste, victoria, scope and shead said, Tri also sez.

Tri

Me six...

Carmy said:

Have you considered that some authors withhold the ending only when they post on AW which is, after all, open to many members. Maybe they're scared of having their stories stolen.

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Fabulous point!!!!! So my question is ..... what was post #2? It's deleted.....and I have a feeling it set the pace for the rest of the posts to follow.......hmmmmmmm?

So do we or don't we tell the ending? In private, of course, to the agent directly.

Um . . . I thought this thread already attempted to answer that question. Don't give away the ending in the query - think of it along the lines of the back cover of a book - but tell all in the synopsis.

As to post 2, I do not recall, but my post was responding to the OP.

Toothpaste said:

Um . . . I thought this thread already attempted to answer that question. Don't give away the ending in the query - think of it along the lines of the back cover of a book - but tell all in the synopsis.

As to post 2, I do not recall, but my post was responding to the OP.

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Ok, it's time for THE DUMBEST QUESTION OF THE DAY....are you ready??? Are you sure....it's pretty dumb.....here goes....

If the query is for the Agent, and the back cover of a book is for the readers/buyers (obviously), who the heck is the synopsis for????? If the ending is revealed in it....who wants to read it? Who's more important than the agent - that they need to know the ending?

No such things as dumb questions. We are talking about submitting to agents. Synopses happen at different stage from the query, but are always for the agent/editor, not the readers.

Basically it works like this. You send off a query letter to an agent. In it you give a taste of what your book is about, like the back cover copy of a book. If the agent goes, "Hmm this sounds interesting" they will ask you for the first 50 pages of your book to judge the quality of your writing, and they will also ask for a synopsis to judge the quality of your plotting, and story. If they like those 50 pages and synopsis then they will ask for the full manuscript.

Later if the agent signs you and sends your work to an editor, it is a slightly different process, but quite similar.

Toothpaste said:

No such things as dumb questions. We are talking about submitting to agents. Synopses happen at different stage from the query, but are always for the agent/editor, not the readers.

Basically it works like this. You send off a query letter to an agent. In it you give a taste of what your book is about, like the back cover copy of a book. If the agent goes, "Hmm this sounds interesting" they will ask you for the first 50 pages of your book to judge the quality of your writing, and they will also ask for a synopsis to judge the quality of your plotting, and story. If they like those 50 pages and synopsis then they will ask for the full manuscript.

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Yowsuhs......I better work on my plot. Thanks!

Or you can get a request only for the full and NOBODY asks you for a synopsis

Some agents will want a query and a very brief synopsis in the body of an email, in that case what I did was use a snappy query hook as an opening paragraph and then briefly outlined the novel in the main paragraph. I think that's the only time the ending was "given away" in the actual query itself.

Generally my format was Genre and Length info, Query hook, Synopsis if requested, First 5 - 30 pages if requested. If the agent didn't mention whether or not they wanted a sample of my writing, I'd just paste in the first five pages at the bottom of my email with a note mentioning it in the query.

I tried to keep my queries very short and business-like and as Pike and others have said, rather like the cover-flap of a novel.