Cortney Radocaj

Y’all.

YA and MG are not the same thing.

I do not represent MG.

Submitting it under YA on my Query Manager and hoping it’ll slip by won’t work. Especially if you still state it’s MG in the query (but even if you don’t, I can tell when a story feels MG).

#querytip

TL;DR give your readers a hot second to get to know your characters before shit hits the fan. The emotional investment and payoff will be worth it, I promise.

#querytip #editingtip #writingcommunity #amquerying #amediting

(Honestly it’s one of my favorite opening chapters ever it had me hooked from the very get go, @veschwab is INCREDIBLE and that opening is incredible ugh)

There are exceptions to this—the one that comes to mind is the opening scene of THIS SAVAGE SONG, where Kate is setting the church on fire.

But even this, in the WAY it was written, allowed the reader a chance to get to know Kate and her CURRENT state of being.

Now, “normal” doesn’t mean “boring”. Bored characters = bored readers. It should still be engaging and enticing—but it should also showcase the MC AS THEY CURRENTLY ARE. As their life currently is. Not AFTER everything has snowballed into change.

We NEED to see the MC before the inciting incident. We NEED to see the steps leading to the inciting incident in order to be invested and care about it. We NEED a semblance of normal for them first.

It’d be like watching The Matrix if it started after Neo has already taken the red pill.

Sure it’d still be cool—but why would we care about him? How would we understand the consequences of this choice? How would we understand the emotional and mental pieces of that choice?

We’re thrown into an (often) emotionally charged situation, one where life changing stuff has gone down and a lot is going on and it SHOULD be exciting and enthralling...

And all the reader is experiencing is confusion and distance from the MC.

It may seem logical to start in the meat of things as it’s ramping up—but it has the opposite effect.

If we don’t get to see the character in some version of their “normal”, if we don’t get to see the inciting incident, why should the reader care what happens to them?

A common theme in my inbox today: beginnings starting in the wrong place.

The query builds a great inciting incident... and then the story begins AFTER that inciting incident has happened. In the aftermath of whatever kicks off the MC’s journey.

#querytip #editingtip

Y’ALL.

If you’re told your query needs to focus on your MC, on their wants and needs, on THEIR conflict and tension (esp if it’s SFF)...

LOOK👏AT👏THIS👏QUERY

#querytip

TL;DR: Don’t throw chances down the drain bc you didn’t do your research, or bc you think industry standards don’t apply to you.

You have to EARN the fans and the reputation that will allow you to break standards.

#querytip

All the established authors you see breaking norms and industry standards?

Most of the time, they’re only able to do that BECAUSE they followed industry standards when they started out. They established a fanbase, a reputation, sales, before they could break standards

#querytip

“But [insert established author here] has a book at [insert high/low word count here] so OBVIOUSLY I can too!!”

No. There’s a HUGE difference between a house taking that risk on an established author with a fan base, than taking on a debut author w/no sales or fanbase

#querytip

There is a REASON those standards exist (shockingly enough, they’re not just there to torture authors I PROMISE). It’s bc those ranges are gauged from what has sold best in the past.

#querytip

Today I’ve gotten two queries at 160,000+ words, one at 180,000+ words, and one at a whopping 385,000+ (!!!!) words.

DO YOUR RESEARCH. Learn what the industry standards for word count for your genre and age category are, or auto rejections WILL happen.

#querytip

Gentle reminder:

When using Query Manager, we’re able to see who else you’ve queried at our agency.

i.e. it’s very, very easy to tell when someone blatantly ignores our guidelines.

Don’t give yourself an automatic strike by not listening to what we’re asking for.

#querytip

#querytip I am NOT the right person for books heavily focused on pregnancy. And definitely do not want an opening scene featuring an intense, painful birth.

A pregnancy in the book is okay! Just stories centered around it and the birth process—not for me.

#querytip Make sure I know why the stakes are important to the MC!!

It’s all well and good to have apocalyptic stakes—but if the MC doesn’t have a REASON to care about them, a reason to fight and risk their lives, it’s much harder to connect and make the tension feel palpable.

#querytip If you’re asked to include the first 5 pages as a sample, don’t pull a random chapter from further into the book instead.

If you sent a mid-book sample bc your MS doesn’t pick up traction until then? Probably a good sign you need to re-evaluate your first pages.