I've been trying to work on a query letter lately. Unfortunately, I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to focus it. Or rather how to write a good hook for it.
It's not that I don't know how to describe my story. I know what my story is about, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to introduce the concept. From what I understand, portal stories are notoriously hard to sell. This is something I've known for almost as long as I've seriously wanted to pursue publication for this particular book. I know that a lot of agents and editors might find it hard to get behind the story. Which is why I know it's very important to hook them early, and show them how great the story really is, even if it is a portal story.
But how do you get them to get past the fact that it's a portal story? At first I thought that describing Alana as a totally normal teen would be a good draw, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that her story isn't about a normal teen getting thrown into fantastical circumstances. That's certainly part of it, but in revising the story, I realized it's more about her overcoming her fear of conflict. It's about her going from being a perpetual flee-er of conflict to someone who will stand up for others, even though it's probably going to hurt her in the end.
Since I spent so much time thinking the story was about a normal girl in extraordinary circumstances, I've never given much thought to how to describe this new idea in terms of a query letter and a hook. So I'm working on how to pitch this idea in a compelling way. I haven't had a lot of success yet, but I've also been really sick lately, so I haven't gotten to work on it as much as I'd like to. Hopefully when I actually sit down to work on it, it will come out right.
Then I just have to find someone to critique it for me. *sigh*
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