Queriversary

One year ago I began my attempts at getting CONFLUENCE published. I sent out seven query letters, opened my facebook AUTHOR profile, and started to think seriously about publishing. I was SURE I would find an agent, then a publisher in a matter of months, and worried what I would do for insurance, because obviously I would want to quit my day job and writer full time after I was offered some $50K for my book.

Oh, MAN, was I in for a series of shocks.

My seven queries led to six rejections and an echoing silence. One of those rejections came within half an hour (a woman I would STILL love for an agent—we are soul mates; I KNOW IT. I just wish she did, too, but apparently I am not communicating adequately...

So after I excitedly peed myself, sending these early queries, I met a woman, though a neighbor of mine, who is a local writer. I asked her to look at my query and she quickly spotted the sticking point.

-----> 200,000 words.

Did you see it, or was it too subtle for you? Never mind that I happen to prefer my books upward of 500 page. Apparently debut authors have about the probability of a snowballs chance in HELL of publishing that long a book. I quietly stuffed the knowledge that one of the successful people at this, Elizabeth Kostova, shares my city limits. It doesn't happen to REAL PEOPLE. Because HONESTLY, The Historian hit that Vampire wave before it really even started, so someone with LITERARY fiction skills (and I say that in both the positive and the negative—The Historian was a GREAT book, and VERY dense, in my opinion—I have a hard time believing all the Americans who bought it were actually capable of reading it *cough* Sorry—snob moment there). So my cult of nuts isn't apparently the next vampire wave... No 200K book for me.


I spent the summer shortening the book, got it down to 150K and in August tried again. I sent fifteen, I think, ONE of which resulted in a request for 20 pages. Two got responses that were “no thanks we're not taking ANYBODY” (though websites had not said that)--I think I got 10 or 11 rejections and a few no response... hmph.


But near the end of August, when the queries were out, I went on my wild ride of writing LEGACY in just six weeks, then began ILLUSIONS, then took a brief break for NaNo and wrote DENIABILITY, then FINISHED ILLUSIONS in December... in 4 months I wrote 3 books. None of them is yet POLISHED to querying point, but it is NUTS how fast that all went.

In December and January, I then turned to a further polish of CONFLUENCE so I could enter the Amazon contest (had to be under 150K)--and got it down to 137K. In January I queried once again. THIS TIME, I had three interactions where agents wanted to see more, one of them 75 pages. It was a MUCH better ratio. But I have decided since that time, that while I love CONFLUENCE, I think it is really complex enough that it is a hard sell as a first book. It is the kind of book someone will say is their favorite one day, but it is too hard to describe to get a reader to pick up when they've never heard of me. I want to sell (maybe two) other books of mine before trying with CONFLUENCE again. I want an established success record.

So on this queriversary, I want YOUR opinion on which book I should polish first. The following descriptions are not polished pitches—that will come and will take time, but I would love to hear where you think I would be best off dedicating my next round of editing time.

LEGACY: Nine year old Peter hides and watches as his father is executed by invaders. Thirteen year old Athena narrowly escapes the drug dealer her mother has traded her to for a heroine high. Peter and his siblings hide in the attic of their family home as Athena takes to the streets of Portland. A chance meeting at Pioneer Square brings these children together, only to find that the Legacies they've inherited from their parents are intertwined and include spying, smuggling, and the politics of a country on the other side of the world. They decide unraveling this legacy is the only way to shake off the criminals who are now after them, and might lead the Popescu children to their missing mother. Sometimes though, you get more answers than you've bargained for. (this is the first of my trilogy)

DENIABILITY: Liza Dahlmer works for a super secret branch of the CIA charged with keeping operatives paranoid by exposing their vulnerabilities. She is a Watcher.. She tracks, photographs, steals from, and entraps the best and the brightest in American intelligence. Unfortunately, nobody knows—and she's not telling. When she is arrested for murder and taken before the intelligence committee to determine where she ought to be tried, she has nothing to say for herself, but psychiatrist, Philip Landauer believes there is more to the story. He begins an investigation, sometimes with Liza's cooperation, though usually without, as she is convinced her life will end if he unravels the wrong thread. The two play a game, he determined to save her, she determined to just go to prison and bide her time, until the powers that be decide she has shared anyway, and the two have to run for her life. This psychological thriller explores how nothing is ever really buried for good, and how sometimes the best way to get away, is to confront the thing you are running from.


For the former, I've been reading art theft tales. For the latter, I've been watching back episodes of Alias and La Femme Nikita. I think I am ready to dive into the next iteration of either one, but I'd LOVE to choose the one you think has the best shot of MAKING IT as a debut novel.

So THANK YOU for any help or insight you can give on where I ought to start! Happy Queriversary!