Q383: This romance edges a little too thriller for me. Pass. #500queries

Q382: This thriller isn’t SF enough for me to rep it. Pass. #500queries

Q381: I can’t rep an already-pubbed book. Pass. #500queries

Q380: Now THIS is the type of C YA love story I’m looking for! So many things make it feel really special to THIS story and THIS character. Request. #500queries

Soooo...this query is interesting...I have no idea who the main character is by the first few pages. I don’t even know her name, and all I know is it’s a “she”. No idea what she’s doing where she is, and I know more about the people she’s watching than I do her...#tenqueries

I’m really not a fan of alternate timelines manuscripts. To me, it’s very, VERY difficult to write two time lines where one is way in the past (over 100 years ago) and the other is in the present. Why are we even connecting the two? I don’t get it...#tenqueries

What does your character want to do? What’s their goal? What’s their drive? Establishing this immediately makes them relatable AND immediately ups the tension because we now need to know how they get from point A to point B in order to get what they want. #tenqueries

#tenqueries I’ve realized more and more that many writers fail to establish a character’s drive right off the bat. If we don’t know what they want or are trying to do by the time that first or second page ends, we won’t be able to relate. Even if it’s just getting to the office,

One of my biggest pet peeves that A LOT of writers struggle with is sentence structure. Natural voice ebbs and flows. It has fragments, and maybe it has run-ons too, but it’s not repetitive. Vary your sentence structures and play with your noun/verb placements! #tenqueries

Instead, it’s usually, “There’s not a car in sight,” or “There’s no cars around here.” If you’re not writing your voice how you would normally speak or think, it won’t be fluidly read and relatable/fluid to your readers either! #tenqueries

I have a really hard time connecting to voices that are super proper. If you’re not using contractions, I think you’re lying to yourself and your readers. 😂 Most people speak and think in contractions. We don’t take the time to say, “There is not a car in sight.” #tenqueries ...

Ohh...nice query. Solid opening pages...intriguing, and a main character you hate to love and love to hate...

Going to save this one for another day and come back to it. I have quite a few submissions in my box and want to get that down a bit before requesting more. #tenqueries

When you ask for a 1-2 page synopsis and end up with a three sentence one instead...and then spend your entire query talking about yourself, not the book...Oy... #tenqueries Might want to work on that and refine that...

One thing I’m not a fan of are books that start by addressing this is a story:
-It all started with a phone call.
-If I knew back then what I know now.
-I never knew what was coming for me that day.

Just jump in! This is subjective, but your story doesn’t need it! #tenqueries

Q379: Not addressed to me. Pass. #500queries

Q378: I always think I’m not going to be drawn in by cults in queries, and I always, always am. Request. #500queries

Q377: I like the idea of this contemporary fantasy, but really disliked the tone of the query, so pass. #500queries

Q376: perfectly fine query, if a little long, but this SF didn’t grab me. Pass. #500queries

Q375: I liked the pitch of this YA F, but was missing the world. Pass. #500queries

Q374: This is litfic with a speculative bent, not SFF. It’s also meh. Pass. #500queries