Hello, dreamers. Over the past week, I’ve stepped up my query preparations. Gradually, writing new material has taken a back seat to last-minute window dressing. I have a lot on my plate this week. And with that said, here’s what I’ll be up to this week:

Querying Pioneers

As I mentioned last week, I finally wrote a query letter I was pretty happy with. Seeking a second opinion, I passed it off to my editor. I was expecting to hear something along the lines of “This is a good first step. Now, here’s what you should change.”

Instead, I received glowing praise. Which frankly, at first I wasn’t sure what to do with.

If I’m being totally honest, one of the many reasons I held off on querying for so long was simply this: I didn’t think I could do it. I’d written this fantastic novel, everyone who’s read it loved it. But querying seemed so…daunting. It was a monster, with sharp teeth, and I wasn’t prepared to face it. I was sure I couldn’t write even a decent query letter. I was certain I couldn’t adequately synopsize this novel. Was it good? Sure. Was it what anyone would be looking for? I just didn’t think it was.

Now, I look over everything and it feels as though the stars have aligned. The market is looking for just the sort of thing I tend to write. I’ve written a query letter that might actually be good. It feels like I’ve run out of excuses. So, here I go.

At this point, my focus is once again on my manuscript. Over the coming week I’m going to be putting together the requisite materials for the first five agents I’ll be targeting. I’ll also be taking another look at my synopsis (now that I actually believe my query letter is ready). But my primary goal is to make one final pass through Pioneers.

From what I can tell, most agents currently ask for the first five pages of a manuscript as a writing sample. So, last week I made some changes to my opening pages; the first I’d made in years. I began looking more closely at these pages, viewing them now not simply as a prospective reader’s introduction to my story but as a hook. These pages may be the only chance I get to convince a potential agent that I’ve written something they just have to rep.

That experience got me thinking about the rest of the novel.

As I mentioned recently, part of my query prep has been considering my next steps; basically deciding what to do in the likely event my first few rounds of queries fail. A large part of that was a potential major rewrite, shifting the story more toward interiority than it currently is. Now, I find myself honestly considering what an agent will think if they read my full manuscript. So, well…why wait?

As I’ve said for months, my goal in this is to put my best foot forward: to do absolutely everything I can think of to make this novel marketable. For years, I’ve told myself not to make too many huge changes to the manuscript. Don’t get caught in the “perfection trap”. Don’t end up just making endless minor edits and never actually querying the novel. But now, this isn’t an avoidance strategy. It’s a calculated effort to make a very good story as great as it can possibly be.

So, over the course of this week, I’m conducting what I call an “interiority sweep”. My goal is to remove as much exposition as possible, replacing it with interiority. To do all I can to make sure that, whenever possible, one of the characters is telling the story. I’m going to clear up any lingering issues with POV, sharpen character voice. By the end, I want to make sure that through ever single sentence it’s clear which character is in the driver’s seat.

And I have yet more tweaks I’m considering. I’m even once again reconsidering the title of the book, thinking less about what I would like it to be called so much as how to make sure it stands out on a shelf. For the first time, it feels like I’m not thinking about all this like some pitiful hobbyist who wrote a halfway decent Star Trek fan fic.

I’m thinking like an author.

Short Fiction

As I’d expected, over the past week as I shifted my attention to querying Pioneers my short fiction suffered. I’m still writing my daily sketches, and have a slew of works-in-progress. But the limits on time and bandwidth I have for writing came into play. Something’s gotta give.

What little time I spent on actual writing (beyond sketches) last week I devoted to a short story that, frankly, didn’t really click with me. It’s nearly complete, so more than likely I’ll finish it. But I wouldn’t call it my best work by any measure.

Over the coming week, I’ll still be firmly entrenched in query prep. However, I’m currently planning to begin sending out queries in roughly two weeks. Possibly sooner, depending on how quickly my remaining prep tasks go. Once that’s done, I’ll again be devoting time to writing. And hopefully that will shake a few things loose.

New Content

Last week, I put up my first new “Science in Fiction” post in quite some time. This week I’ll again be posting a new Thursday Feature. And next week will mark the return of one of my oldest events here on this site: Short Fiction Month.

For those new to my site, for years I’ve devoted several stretches of each year primarily to short fiction. And for years, I’d dubbed March “Short Fiction Month”. This year, I’m bringing it back. Over the month of March, I’ll be posting short fiction here on the site. In addition to resuming my “Flash Fiction Friday” posts, I’ll be posting several of my best short fiction pieces for free.

So keep an eye out. And as always, dare to dream. – MK