Hello, dreamers. So, I’ve sent out my first round of queries. Now, the waiting game begins.

Querying, as I’ve said previously, is not a rapid process. It can be the work of years. The chances of any of my initial queries being successful is remote, to say the least. I’ll likely get straight “no’s”, and I’ll still need to wait a minimum of four weeks to get them. But I have no plans to sit on my laurels until then. So now, my attention turns fully to a question I began asking late last week: What’s next?

With that in mind, here’s what I’ll be up to this week:

The “Pioneer Sessions”

After I finished the first draft of Pioneers, I tried to move right on to the next installment in the series. My primary takeaway from that process was that I just wasn’t ready to move forward yet. Looking back, I now see that was because I just wasn’t finished with Pioneers.

Now, I am. Now, I’m ready.

But as I mentioned last week, a lot has changed. Writing Pioneers altered my original plan for the series considerably, to the point where looking back at my original concept notes is good for a quick laugh. The fact is, Pioneers changed everything. Over the course of the story, I made a lot of decisions that inadvertently altered the course of the entire Pioneer arc. Now, I need to reassess, and plot a new path forward.

This is a project that I’ll admit I’ve seen coming for years, and have kept putting off. Because it’s daunting. It took years to plot out the bare bones of the Pioneer arc. If there’s any silver lining to all this, it’s that bare bones is all I really have. Looking over my notes, scattered now across multiple folders and unfinished (or abandoned) projects, I feel like I’m looking at a machine that’s been smashed to pieces. Some of it’s usable, some of it’s beyond hope. And I’ve spent years trying to make the individual pieces work by themselves, which was a recipe for failure.

I’m in dire need of a redirection. I’ve learned a lot over the past year alone, and I’m eager to put all of that to work on the next story in the Pioneer arc. But to do that, I first need to get back to basics. I need to return to my original concept, and revise for the new direction.

To that end, I’ve decided to devote the coming months to what I’m calling the “Pioneer Sessions”.

I’m going to take time out each day of each week to work on parts of this concept. I’m going to tear it down, rebuild what I have to. I’m going to break stuff. I’m going to blow stuff up. And the result will be a new, better story more reflective of where I am now.

It all starts this week. For the first week, my theme is “Macro to Micro”. I’ll start by zooming out, examining the state of humanity in 2155 (the start point of the next novel). Over the course of the week I’ll be expanding on my core concept, boiling things down until I get to the individual characters and how they’ll factor into the plot. I’ll also be making weekly posts about the Pioneers Sessions, so readers can follow along as I dive back into the Dotiverse.

Querying The Ursa Frontier

So first, a quick note: hawkeyed readers may note the change in title. I’ve made several changes to the title of my novel over the past few years. For the sake of simplicity (and continuity) I’ve continued to use the title I’d used after completing the first draft: Pioneers. However, in case anyone involved in my queries might be reading my blog, I’ve decided to begin using the current title. I’ll be putting out a new “Dear Sir or Madam” post this Friday to explain more.

With my first round of queries out there, the waiting game begins. However, I’ve already cleared the first hurdle, however short and unimposing it was.

As I’ve said before, modern literary agents are extremely busy people. They’re often buried under a mountain of queries, most of which are unlikely to go anywhere. I’ve learned that many agents, in an attempt to cut through the noise, will at least give a passing glance to every query soon after it comes in. If it doesn’t look remotely intriguing – bad concept, poor wording, unprofessional, half-assed, etc. – they’ll pass on it immediately. If you can’t be bothered to do your best to grab their attention, they can’t be bothered to hear you out.

Essentially, the query is your first chance to demonstrate an extremely important skill in modern publishing: marketing. You’re not just trying to get an agent interested in your work; you’re trying to prove to them that you can. As first-time authors are often expected to do a lot of the legwork selling their debut novel, agents are looking for someone who can effectively communicate their ideas.

Well, it’s been a week, and of five queries sent out, I’ve received zero rejections. At this stage, that means almost nothing. But that almost is not inconsequential. So, a minor moral victory, if nothing further. If nothing else, at least it means all the agents I’ve queried in this first round are willing to give me a fair hearing.

Now, as I’ve said, I’m nowhere near vain or deluded enough to believe one of these first queries will lead to a representation offer, or even a full request. So I’m already looking ahead to the next round. One week from today, I’ll begin prepping for the next round of queries. I’ll be revising my query letter, and selecting my next round of agents. Until then, I’m going to try to step away from the story, and focus on moving forward.

Short Fiction

So last week I did, in fact, return to short fiction. However, much of my writing time was spent delving into the Dotiverse. In particular, my work focused on what I’ve been calling the “Bridge Period”: the events occurring between The Ursa Frontier and the next, as of yet untitled novel. Though obviously this didn’t yield any marketable work, it was a rewarding experience.

This week, I’ll be revisiting my extant short fiction projects, hoping to knock one or two off by the end of the week.

Also, I received some encouraging news last week. In the final hours of 2024, I submitted my novelette Prishelets to Writers of the Future: a prestigious quarterly contest for science fiction writers. I’d entered twice before, and it went nowhere. But this time, I received an Honorable Mention. Apparently they’ll be sending me a certificate.

It’s the latest indication that I’m finally making headway. I’ve already entered another story, Casual Brutality, in this quarter’s contest, which ends on March 31. With any luck, I’ll have some good news to look forward to in mid-June.

New Content

As I mentioned, this week I’ll be starting a running series of posts on the Pioneer Sessions, which will drop each Wednesday. I will also be posting a new “Science in Fiction” on Thursday, and both a flash fiction piece and a new “Dear Sir or Madam” on Friday. So keep reading, and dare to dream. – MK