So, this has to be pre first draft or pre, pre, pre... You get the idea. I'm still going through revision and stuff. But I am applying for some grants and stuff where I need anything from a paragraph to five pages on my current project. The Two application that I'm working on now both want a one page overview. My 1-pager that I sort of wrote query-letter style is 9 pages. I don't see how this is going to work. I'm also submitting the first 10 or 50 pages of my novel. I need more pages. Everything has to happen sooner. This is hard. I'm hoping that through this I have the perfect query letter because It really is very similar the way these places tell you what they want in a single page. Grrrrr... I know every writer must struggle with the query and that there are just so many important things we feel we must add. Any tips or tricks to make this easier? Especially when looking to cut down in length?
I wouldn't sweat it if you're submitting a one page query with a chapter or two of the novel. You'd have to really butcher the query for somebody to be like, oh hell, fuck no am I reading the sample chapters after this dreck! They're going to read the whole thing so long as it's competent, and I have a hard time imagining an editor being like, these chapters are really good... too bad the query that nobody but me will ever read is so bad! Query only submissions are another story. Then it's query or bust, which is positively frightening. I remember back in the snail-mail days when it felt like most agents were query letter only. As if one 1 in 500 wasn't hard enough. I'm a little out of practice so I'm not sure what it's like now, but I feel more people have moved away from the query only paradigm. I'd say confidence in your sample chapters. If your shit's good, your shit's good. So long as the query isn't terrible you'll get a look-see. There's also a vetting process targeting the professionalism of the writer at the submission level. Can they play the game? Write a competent query, a synopsis to spec, get the margins and fonts right, and follow basic instructions? The gatekeepers have to deal with those 1 in 500 0dds too, and their profit margins and production capabilities are so tight they need to weed out the amateurs and pain-in-the-ass artists.
