OOh. I'm just waiting for TOOTHPASTE to get in here and tell you her fabulous story about this...
lol! I'm guessing then I've told the story a few times . . .
Well Darzian, let me be a bit different and tell you that yes, I indeed did query without having completed my MS. And as a first time author. As a very silly ignorant first time author.
When I began querying I was under the impression that I would not hear back from any agents for 4 - 6 weeks. I was under that impression because that was what I read in The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook in the UK (a really great book filled with advice, and agent/publisher listings). I had also snail mailed my queries (as is typical in the UK) and so expected that things would move at a slightly slower pace.
I had had a bad bought of writer's block see, and I figured that knowing I would hear back in say 4 weeks would give me the impetus and PLENTY of time to finish the book. I can't quite remember how many words I had left but it was around 20 000 - 30 000.
Well . . . the very NEXT DAY after mailing out my queries I got a request for a full. The NEXT DAY! That's how quick the mail system works in the UK. Actually very impressive. So I said "Sure no problem". Hung up the phone and PANICKED.
This is what I did. Now I edit as I go along, so it wasn't as if this was a rough rough first draft. Still I sent what I had written to my parents (the gods of spelling and grammar - and also just really well read) meanwhile I took three of the longest days of my life to finish writing the rest. My parents emailed me their section back. I then emailed them the end. They looked at it. We talked changes over the phone, I implemented those. And then I was done.
I had got the call tuesday, Friday I went to the Kinkos equivalent and printed up the MS late in the afternoon (because those places were closed weekends where I was). Monday I walked the MS over to the agency.
I never once mentioned to the agent that I hadn't finished the MS, nor even asked if they would wait till the following Monday.
And after two months of them reading it and several rounds of edits, I signed with them.
BUT. I would never ever recommend this process to anyone. Having gone through it I can tell you it was so PAINFUL. Also I am the sort of person who works well under pressure, and for whom her first draft is not very different from her last. So I was able to write an ending that needed little manipulation. In fact, and my parents agree though we both don't quite understand how, the ending is probably the strongest part of the book, despite it having been so rushed. So fortunately I was able to do this, and it worked out. If someone has a similar work ethic, then it may for him too. But it was a huge risk, and I was very lucky, and man. Seriously though? I am never doing that again.