Query Letter Writing - First and Last

Last week, I went over how to write your first and last sentences in your query blurb. In a bare bones query, with the first and last paragraph, you could send your query out later this afternoon. So the next step in the query letter writing process is crafting the first and last paragraph.

Let's examine.

First paragraph: Opinions vary on this, but I opened with a sentence about why I was writing the agent. Anything from basic: "I think you'd be interested in my young adult dystopian novel."

to more personalized:

"I read on your website that you're looking for "young adult fiction with strong female leads." Because of this, I believe you'd be interested in my young adult novel."

That's all you need for the opener.**

Closing paragraph: After the blurb, I give the title, the genre, and the word count. (I also compare my novel to similar titles. I've heard some say NOT to do this, but I went George and did it.) Include a brief bio. And an invitation to request more.

Like this:

"A dystopian novel for young adults [genre], CONTROL ISSUES [title] is complete at 75,000 words [word count]. Fans of Lois Lowry’s THE GIVER and Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER GAMES will enjoy similar dystopian elements, and a strong teen voice. [comparison]

I am an elementary school teacher by day and a contributing author of the QueryTracker blog by night [brief bio]. If you would like to consider CONTROL ISSUES, I’d be happy to forward the complete manuscript to you. [invitation for more]
Thank you for your time and consideration,

Elana Johnson
[all contact info, including address and telephone number]"

They'll have your email address. And I use a signature on my email that has my personal blog address, my website address, and the QT blog address. (****I totally recommend the whole signature thing over pasting your blog stuff in the email.)

So with my two sentences [that sum up my book from beginning to end] this is what my potential query looks like:

Dear Personalized-to-Agent,

I recently read on the Markson Thoma website where you say you’re looking for “beautiful writing that immediately draws you in, and stories that stick with you long after you’re finished reading.” Because of this, I believe you would be interested in my young adult novel, CONTROL ISSUES.

In a world where Thinkers brainwash the population and Rules are not meant to be broken, fifteen-year-old Violet Schoenfeld does a hell of a job shattering them to pieces. When secrets about her “dead” sister and not-so-missing father hit the fan, Vi must make a choice: control or be controlled.

A dystopian novel for young adults, CONTROL ISSUES is complete at 75,000 words. Fans of Lois Lowry’s THE GIVER and Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER GAMES will enjoy similar dystopian elements, and a strong teen voice.

I am an elementary school teacher by day and a contributing author of the QueryTracker blog by night. If you would like to consider CONTROL ISSUES, I’d be happy to forward the complete manuscript to you.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

I seriously sent this query letter out to literary agents. I had multiple fulls requested from just those two sentences, an opening graf and a closing graf.

So no matter where you are in the novel-writing process add these pieces to your query! (Cuz you're crafting the query as you write the book, right? Right?? Right.) Next week I'll go over the dreaded middle. But by then, you'll have everything in place, and it'll be a piece of cake. Cake, baby!

What do you think? For a more in-depth look at "Everything Else" that should be in a query, I wrote a post for the QT blog way last year, and just recently The Author Bio.


**Special note: Some agents say to open with the title and word count. I cannot emphasize enough to do your research and arrange your paragraphs accordingly.