Writing query letters is hard work— it can drive you crazy! You search for literary agents who may have an interest in your genre.  You craft a letter, hit “Send” to email it out, and then — you wait. Some agents have a quick turnaround, which is appreciated. Some literary agents tell you up front it’s a 4, 6, 8, or even 12 week wait for a response. Others say, no news is no news. Some agents allow you to give them a “nudge.” Others say don’t bother to “nudge” – we’ll tell you if we are interested or not, just leave us be. 

And then, there’s a reward for all your hard work. An agent will ask to see more. Or, in my case, an agent will send a great letter of rejection. Below is the actual feedback I received from an agent:

“While I found the premise intriguing, the story's opening didn't hook me in the way I had hoped — I would have loved to see a little more action and showing rather than the heavier exposition/telling I encountered in the beginning, as I feel like this would have more quickly immersed me in the overall story. However, I would be open to seeing this project again in the future, as I really enjoyed your concept!”

Now, I could have read that and said, “What does she know?” and gotten angry that she wants me to redo a portion of my great American novel. But I didn’t. I was able to see my work through her eyes, and I realized that she was correct. 

I am now reworking my beginning. I’ve come up with a much better introductory sentence which helps set the stage for the entire story. I’ve removed about 4,000 words of exposition from the beginning, and will use some of that for backstory as necessary. The story is an historical fiction work, and although I didn’t think I was “info-dumping,” my beginning really was just that. There was a lot of extraneous information which didn’t need to be there. It scared the heck out of me to cut it; but in the end, the story will be shorter, tighter, better. 

Sometimes you really can’t see the forest for the trees. I’ll be forever grateful to the agent who took the time to tell me why she was rejecting my story. I look forward to [hopefully] working with her in the future to navigate the path of traditional publishing and get my story on the bookshelves!