A query letter can be such a useful tool no matter where you are in your writing journey. Even if you never intend to query agents!
Writing my first query was an epic journey with a huge learning curve. It took dozens of hours of research, scouring the internet for countless examples, workshopping with anyone that would listen, and going through multiple passes with every one of my very patient critique partners. For many weeks, if not months, honing my query was as all-consuming as drafting or revising.
But I can’t stress it enough—once you have that skill, it’s truly invaluable. Even though I’m lucky enough to have found a great agent, I still wrote a query after I finished drafting my most recent MS. And I’ve already started working on one for my next novel, before I’ve even started writing it.
As a panster-trying-to-turn-planner, it’s been an incredible help to my revision process. It forces you to look at things broadly: helping pinpoint themes, identifying redundancies (or aspects that are lacking), and highlighting issues with conflict, stakes, character, structure.
So, long story short, try to think of queries as another weapon for your writer’s armory, not a burden to endure! ⚔️
And no matter what, query writing could never be worse than the dreaded SYNOPSIS 😩 (@t.a.chan !)
Have you found queries helpful to your revision process?
Comment or DM with any query-related questions! I love talking shop 📝