I made a conscious effort to copy the style of openings of other novels that are out there. What better example could there be than that which succeeded?
While a couple of agents peruse the pages of my historical fiction, I thought I'd try out a piece of contemporary stuff. After a year of rewriting and editing, a year of reading other author's debut novels, I had to run a test. Have I improved, have I learned more about how to write a novel? The only way to know is to query agents.
Now, this may not be the best time of year to send out queries, what with holidays and parties and other such distractions, but if something was really intriguing, they'd ask for pages at any time of year.
Turns out that the contemporary fiction isn't all that irresistible.
Those pages pasted in to the bottom of the query letter just didn't draw Andrea Somberg in. It's her standard rejection, boilerplate language.
Basic commercial fiction, nothing deep or probing, but still the opening lacks a strong hook or the main character isn't all that appealing. As if that isn't bad enough, my query was filtered through her spam folder. My brilliant words, received as spam. Low spam, to be sure, but spam nonetheless.
Onward and upward, waiting on agents who showed interest in a different project, and waiting on the select few agents who have been sent a query for something new. Can't make progress without moving forward, head down, shoulders set.
I've got two more agents whose names I culled from acknowledgment pages. Can't hurt to really personalize that query.
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