Earlier this year, I decided to be supremely brave and sent my query to the very scary Query Shark. I believed I had a good story and a decent query.
I was overjoyed to get my query picked, with very helpful comments from Query Shark and her contributors which I then applied (or thought I did) to my revision.
After the first revision, Ms Great White said:
"I'm thinking the problem here is not the query, it's the book. Don't revise the query. Revise the book then work on the query."
My immediate reaction was "Hrrrrmph!!". It only lasted a few seconds before I knew that Query Shark was right.
Ever since then, I have worked on revising my novel and am very happy with the progress. Many parts have been re-written and I now have a much better story. It will be months before I finish it but I just wanted to say how helpful it has been to be told that the problem lies with the story.
For those who are regular contributors on QLH, perhaps you would have told me the same thing had I posted my query on QLH. I read Query Shark's archives thoroughly. I read the winning queries several times. I never thought I'd be told I got the story wrong.
Has anyone had a similar experience? I am sharing mine in the hope that anyone who has trouble with the query, might consider reviewing the story itself.
My query #241 is here.
I was overjoyed to get my query picked, with very helpful comments from Query Shark and her contributors which I then applied (or thought I did) to my revision.
After the first revision, Ms Great White said:
"I'm thinking the problem here is not the query, it's the book. Don't revise the query. Revise the book then work on the query."
My immediate reaction was "Hrrrrmph!!". It only lasted a few seconds before I knew that Query Shark was right.
Ever since then, I have worked on revising my novel and am very happy with the progress. Many parts have been re-written and I now have a much better story. It will be months before I finish it but I just wanted to say how helpful it has been to be told that the problem lies with the story.
For those who are regular contributors on QLH, perhaps you would have told me the same thing had I posted my query on QLH. I read Query Shark's archives thoroughly. I read the winning queries several times. I never thought I'd be told I got the story wrong.
Has anyone had a similar experience? I am sharing mine in the hope that anyone who has trouble with the query, might consider reviewing the story itself.
My query #241 is here.