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- Apr 29, 2014
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Hi everyone!
I have an MS ready to query but I'm working on the query letter right now and I'm a little confused.
The story basically happens in a boarding school (it is YA fantasy) but we only arrive at the school in chapter 4. The first three chapters show the main characters discovering their powers, trying to avoid going to the school, etc.
My questions are:
1. What should be the focus of the query? I'm thinking what happens in the boarding school, but should I also include the conflicts at the beginning (that happen in the first three chapters)? I read somewhere that the query should really be focused on what happens in the first three chapters, but maybe that was wrong advice (or maybe I just took it the wrong way)?
2. Also, if the query focuses on the boarding school part, will my opening pages disappoint an agent who has read the query and is expecting to see the boarding school? I had a vague idea that I could include a prologue that shows a later passage from the school (I know prologues are really notorious but I thought maybe it's needed here?)
Any words of advice? Anyone have that experience? I'd be very grateful for any words of wisdom because right now I'm lost!
I have an MS ready to query but I'm working on the query letter right now and I'm a little confused.
The story basically happens in a boarding school (it is YA fantasy) but we only arrive at the school in chapter 4. The first three chapters show the main characters discovering their powers, trying to avoid going to the school, etc.
My questions are:
1. What should be the focus of the query? I'm thinking what happens in the boarding school, but should I also include the conflicts at the beginning (that happen in the first three chapters)? I read somewhere that the query should really be focused on what happens in the first three chapters, but maybe that was wrong advice (or maybe I just took it the wrong way)?
2. Also, if the query focuses on the boarding school part, will my opening pages disappoint an agent who has read the query and is expecting to see the boarding school? I had a vague idea that I could include a prologue that shows a later passage from the school (I know prologues are really notorious but I thought maybe it's needed here?)
Any words of advice? Anyone have that experience? I'd be very grateful for any words of wisdom because right now I'm lost!