Query agent - writer in disguise?

Art Wright · May 15, 2010

I am 1/3 of the way through writing a time travel novel, "Arrow of Time". As an avid Sci Fi reader and first time novel writer, I am convinced that my plot is unique and has many elements of which I am very proud, and very protective of. My question for you fine folks is, do I write a banal query letter, which probably won't make it past the secretary of an agent, or do I spice it up with plot elements, and risk sending said query letter to a fake writer's agent, who is data mining for ideas for his own drowning career.
Thank you much for your time...

CACTUSWENDY · May 15, 2010

lol

My, my....I don't think I ever thought of that happening. That would make a good story line.....

I think this is why you send your query to folks that are well known and would never risk losing their name or rep from such shoddy affairs.

Will be interesting to hear what others think.

Cyia · May 15, 2010

Art Wright said:
I am 1/3 of the way through writing a time travel novel, "Arrow of Time". As an avid Sci Fi reader and first time novel writer, I am convinced that my plot is unique and has many elements of which I am very proud, and very protective of. My question for you fine folks is, do I write a banal query letter, which probably won't make it past the secretary of an agent, or do I spice it up with plot elements, and risk sending said query letter to a fake writer's agent, who is data mining for ideas for his own drowning career.
Thank you much for your time...

Say you did stumble across someone "data mining". So what?

If you're querying, your book is finished. Anyone seeking "ideas" from a query would 1st have to plot, then write, then edit the book. Then they'd have to shop it around, garner interest, get an agent/publisher, etc.

If you haven't found someone to handle yours in the time it took them to write theirs, then there's something wrong either in the concept or the presentation.

(BTW - Google "arrow of time" + Stephen Hawking. The name, at least, is nothing new.)

PoppysInARow · May 15, 2010

Ideas are nothing new. Ideas are a dime a dozen, and I guarentee next to no one will steal your ideas, because it takes far too much work to write a book from a stolen idea. Especially if there was no guarentee it would sell.

When you become as big as JK Rowling or Stephanie Meyer, then you can worry about people stealing your ideas or work. If you're not that famous, no one really cares.

Amadan · May 15, 2010

Art Wright said:
I am 1/3 of the way through writing a time travel novel, "Arrow of Time". As an avid Sci Fi reader and first time novel writer, I am convinced that my plot is unique

I'll bet you a gazillion plubits that it isn't.

and has many elements of which I am very proud, and very protective of. My question for you fine folks is, do I write a banal query letter, which probably won't make it past the secretary of an agent,

I think you've answered your own question right there.

or do I spice it up with plot elements, and risk sending said query letter to a fake writer's agent, who is data mining for ideas for his own drowning career.
Thank you much for your time...

Seriously, you actually believe published writers go looking for query letters from unpublished writers from which they can steal ideas to "save their careers"?

It's not brilliant ideas that sell books, it's brilliant writing.

Maryn · May 15, 2010

Remember, too, that if you do your homework, you will know which agents are the real deal, and who their clients are, and to what publishers they've sold their clients' books. Those agents are not about to face financial ruin and the collapse of their agency in order to steal your idea, write a novel using it themselves, and market it to publishers.

So while the previous answers are all solid, the onus is on you to sort the agents, scammers and incompetents from professional agents whose excellent reputations are deserved.

Maryn, glad to meet you

Art Wright · May 15, 2010

Amadan said:
I'll bet you a gazillion plubits that it isn't.

I don't know what a plubit is, but you're on!

I think you've answered your own question right there.

Seriously, you actually believe published writers go looking for query letters from unpublished writers from which they can steal ideas to "save their careers"?

It's not brilliant ideas that sell books, it's brilliant writing.

Where did I say the agent/writer was published? And a brilliant idea helps immensely if you have writer's block... Take brilliant writing and make a best seller out of a Chili's menu...

PoppysInARow · May 15, 2010

Art Wright said:
Where did I say the agent/writer was published? And a brilliant idea helps immensely if you have writer's block... Take brilliant writing and make a best seller out of a Chili's menu...

If the author isn't published, no idea, no matter how IMMENSELY BRILLIANT OMIGAWD AWESOME that you have, will send his career through the roof. Because he still has to write the book, edit, and everything that Cyia said.

You have some options here. 1) Send queries out blindly 2) Don't send queries out because you have an irrational fear that someone will steal your work 3) DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Yeah, you might hit scammers if you don't do your research, but they're more likely going to try and make money off of you than steal your idea.

Ideas are worthless. It's putting them together into a book that makes them important. Even if someone stole your book, it's copyrighted to you the moment you write it. Ergo, theft of literature/ideas are exceedingly difficult/impossible and won't happen to you. Especially if you do your research.

Also, writer's block isn't a blocking if ideas, it's a lack of flow in the words an an innability to pound out sentences. At least that's how I know it to be.

Miss Plum · May 15, 2010

Art Wright, you art wrong. How many bestselling authors or even mildly successful authors are former agents-in-disguise? Name one.

Ruth2 · May 15, 2010

Art, if you go over to "Query Letter Hell" in "Share Your Work", you'll see folks telling query writers not to put in so many plot points, that their queries are stuffed with too much information. If you write a good query, it'll sparkle with original writing but won't be so overloaded with info that someone could steal your premise and write your book out from under you.

So polish your query nice and shiny and send it out.

RoseColoredSkies · May 15, 2010

Actually the bes thing to at this point is finish writing the book first. Worry about agents and such after you revising the heck out of it.

scarletpeaches · May 15, 2010

Amadan said:
I'll bet you a gazillion plubits that it isn't.

I see your gazillion plubits and raise you eleventy bajillion quatloos.

colealpaugh · May 15, 2010

Art Wright said:
risk sending said query letter to a fake writer's agent, who is data mining for ideas for his own drowning career.

In all seriousness, Art, that's sorta sounds like tin foil hat land. Really.

Old Hack · May 16, 2010

Do not under ANY circumstances pretend to be an agent, representing yourself. It'll backfire horribly. Your deception will be obvious to everyone you submit to and it'll get you rejected before they've even looked at your writing. I've seen it happen several times and it's heartbreaking and embarrassing and awful.

Just finish the book, revise it carefully, and then write a stunning query letter. It's how the system works.

E. S. Lark · May 16, 2010

Don't worry about queries or the subbing race right now. You aren't even done the book yet and who knows if you'll ever finish? There are a lot of projects I started and thought 'this will be great' but then I lost interest.

Once you finish writing, edit it. Look for crutch words, -ly words, passive voice, proper sentence structure, dialogue tags etc. Once you edit all of that and rid the MS of any unnecessary data (backstory and of the like) then find yourself 2-3 beta readers and have them look it over. Once they send back feedback, edit the MS again based on their notes.

Then you want to read the whole thing allowed, print it out and edit it one last time. THEN you can worry about agents. When you're ready for that, join querytracker.com - they list agents - but always, always do your research as the genres they have up on QT aren't always right. And always double check submission guidelines.

Miss Plum · May 16, 2010

Old Hack said:
Do not under ANY circumstances pretend to be an agent, representing yourself. It'll backfire horribly. Your deception will be obvious to everyone you submit to and it'll get you rejected before they've even looked at your writing. I've seen it happen several times and it's heartbreaking and embarrassing and awful.

Gawd, I hope Art isn't thinking of doing this. Publishers could sniff out a phony in a second (especially one as green as Art seems to be), and the word would quickly spread among agents, who function in an industry in which everyone knows what everyone is doing.

Art, please post in to let us know you're taking us seriously. And tell us your age, too.

eqb · May 16, 2010

Art Wright said:
My question for you fine folks is, do I write a banal query letter, which probably won't make it past the secretary of an agent, or do I spice it up with plot elements, and risk sending said query letter to a fake writer's agent, who is data mining for ideas for his own drowning career.

Lock the manuscript in a lead-lined box, then bury it in an undisclosed location. That's really the only way to keep your ideas safe.

Wayne K · May 16, 2010

Jamesaritchie · May 16, 2010

Art Wright said:
Where did I say the agent/writer was published? And a brilliant idea helps immensely if you have writer's block... Take brilliant writing and make a best seller out of a Chili's menu...

Define brilliant idea and brilliant writing. The truth is no one out there cares a damn about brilliant writing, or about a briliant idea. It's all about story and character. Ideas mean less than nothing, and brilliant writing is something darned near every MFA student in the country can whack out at a moment's notice.

Albannach · May 16, 2010

Jamesaritchie said:
Define brilliant idea and brilliant writing. The truth is no one out there cares a damn about brilliant writing, or about a briliant idea. It's all about story and character. Ideas mean less than nothing, and brilliant writing is something darned near every MFA student in the country can whack out at a moment's notice.

LOL Oh, SO true!

Art Wright · May 16, 2010

Where to start...

I am 47 years old. How old is the plum to be calling me art wrong? I haven't heard that one since grade school... Yes, I am "green"; this is my first attempt at writing since high school. In my life experiences, I have been: a U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Plant Operator, a successful wedding and portrait photographer (until the recession, that is), cook and dishwasher, Equipment Maintenance Engineer for TI and Intel. etc. While none of that qualifies me as a writer, it doesn't hurt either. Also, I have been thinking about this time travel novel for almost fifteen years. I could never find a technology that was plausible enough to build my time machine around... Until now. I have done a year and a half of research, compiling notebooks and a big ol' pile of Post It notes that represent my subconcious musings that will become a trilogy.
I don't remember who posted about me trying to represent myself as an agent. It isn't true, and I hope someone just misread a post.
And, Plum, I take this seriously. There is more that I don't know at this stage of my career than that I do know. I hope that some of you fine people will be willing to give a gentle nudge in the right direction.
And, Colealpaugh, you would be crazy to think it couldn't happen. I have met a LOT of devious folks in my life...

djf881 · May 16, 2010

I hereby decree that this thread is officially hilarious.

Incidentally, the design for my time machine was much easier. I was standing on my toilet, and I was hanging a clock, and I fell, and I hit my head on the sink. And that's when I came up with the idea for the Flux Capacitor.

Amadan · May 16, 2010

The thing is, even if you do have a brilliant idea, there is no idea so brilliant and original that all by itself it screams, "Instant bestseller!" Everybody has good ideas. Any fourteen-year-old can come up with original ideas that would make a good trilogy, or a Hollywood franchise... if someone can write it. When writers suffer writer's block, it's not lack of ideas, it's lack of ability to put words on paper. Your brilliant idea won't "save" another writer. On the rare occasions where intellectual property theft does occur, it's not the high concept idea summarized in a 250-word query letter that gets stolen, it's an entire manuscript/screenplay, or large chunks of it, because producing that is the hard work that someone in desperate circumstances might be tempted to steal -- and even that happens a lot more rarely than you seem to think.

Art Wright · May 16, 2010

That's why I joined AW, sober, rational info about the writing industry. I hope my "brilliant" idea is backed up by at least adequate writing. I am seven chapters into the book, and just over 14,000 words. Time is my enemy, as I still have a very well paying day job, where I have no possibility of working on my novel. I spend ten hours plus a day working and driving to/from work in Maryland. I live in Virginia...

Mishell · May 16, 2010

One of the first bits of advice I give to people just starting out in writing is, "Even if you're desperately afraid that someone is going to steal your ideas, never never say so aloud where professionals can hear you." I don't mean to be cruel, because you have no way of knowing this. But honestly, it is a flashing sign around your neck that says "amateur" and although amateurs can break in, they only do so by appearing NOT to be amateurs.

Once you've given that impression, agents will not take you seriously no matter how brilliant your idea is, because they don't want to work with someone they have to explain the very basics to. One of those basics being:

No one wants to steal your idea.

What the floundering and failing writers want to steal is the months and years and talent and sensitivity and skill it takes to write and revise a salable novel. And that's just tough luck for them.

Query agent - writer in disguise?

Art Wright

CACTUSWENDY

An old, sappy, and happy one.

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

PoppysInARow

Book Reviewer y'all

Amadan

Maryn

Baaa!

Art Wright

PoppysInARow

Book Reviewer y'all

Miss Plum

Ruth2

Tam, na Koncu Drevoreda

RoseColoredSkies

It's a long and winding road

scarletpeaches

colealpaugh

"Bear trumps Elephants!"

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

E. S. Lark

Editing all the time

Miss Plum

eqb

I write novels

Wayne K

Jamesaritchie

Albannach

AW Addict

Art Wright

djf881

AW Addict

Amadan

Art Wright

Mishell

That Clarion chick!