Querying is a lot like writing the script. How many rewrites do you go through? How much research? Finding a new narrative approach. How much information do you need? How to disguise the exposition? How to make it *FEEL* personal, even if you don't know the reader from Adam? 1/

How to convey the essence of who you are, what your writing is like, what *your* story is within a tiny scintilla of space.

Then you share it w/one individual who has power to say yes, or no, or to ignore you entirely. They don't owe you a read. They don't owe you a thing. 2/

And it's nothing personal. It's business. As it should be.

Not every story is for every person. There are a zillion stories. All stories are free until you make yours undeniable.

Is each query something they can't ignore or forget? (Mine aren't, yet. I'm working on it.) 3/

If you're at the query stage, don't treat it like a BS part of the journey. It IS the journey, just as writing the script is the journey, and once you're repped, that's the new phase of the journey. It doesn't stop. Treat it with the respect and care it needs and deserves. 4/

I say this as much for myself as anyone else. Right now it feels like a trudge through the desert of Silence & No.

Go after it w/the same gusto you do your story and character research. Make it an exciting hunt for truth & treasure.

The rep that wants you b/c of the words 5/

you write in your letter is out there, just as the reader who will connect to your script in a deep and intimate way is out there. You're writing for them. Make it worth their time, & be true to this part of the journey. /fin

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