letters from the query wars 7/16/2010

[arcaedia]

# of queries read last week: 92

Comments

What I look for in a novel

[anonymous]

I'm looking for a great story that I can justify spending twelve bucks on.

And, as for the knuckleheads that clutter up your in-box, I can't help but encourage them to continue. They only make my hopefully sane query stand out all that much more.

[thecityofdis]

I am looking for what Longinus called "the sublime". I want to find a story that is so moving, so affecting to me personally, has so much heart that I become so immersed in it I either (1) forget entirely that I am consuming some form of media and am not actually right there with the characters, and/or (2) feel like there is something indefinable missing once I finish viewing/reading/listening.

I also have my very specific storytelling "kinks" for lack of a better term, that will make a work more or less likely to be the kind of thing I'd hope or expect to accomplish the former, of course. Those tend to be: strong and well-written female characters, ensemble casts, smart dialogue, at least some action, and high stakes.

I'm a bit of a tough critic, as you might imagine.

[jongibbs]

I just want to be entertained :)

[mizkit]

Me too. :)

[blitheringpooks]

Me, three. Anything else is lagniappe.

However, I must add, the emotional component is key. Unless it's truly just a light romp (which I can enjoy), make me feel something. [Not that light romps can't make me feel something, too, when they're special.]

A little of this, a little of that

[anonymous]

Sometimes I want escape (Dresden Files). Sometimes I want to be utterly engrossed (Ken Follett or Margaret Atwood). A truly good book will do both: sweep me up and take me away and put me back with a few new thoughts in my head or angles on my perspectives. Those are the kind of books I love, so they're also the kind of books I try to write.

What I look for in a novel

[barbaram]

My needs are simple: an engaging story that carries through to the end, one that mesmerizes me so I don't have to force myself to keep reading because I paid for the book or an ARC where I've committed myself into doing a review.