The Query Letter
I think I have
spent nearly as much time on this one-page letter as I have on the whole novel.
It is the short version of your story meant to hook an agent into reading the novel. It is difficult to condense a 400 page book down to one page. Most agents and
editors suggest no more than 250 words. I would appreciate any ideas or
questions that might help me refine this. Does the following pique your
interest (if you don’t like fantasy novels, your opinion isn’t as valuable,
sorry) or do you need more information? What questions do you need answered
before you would be willing to read the book to find the answers?
The Devoted of
Imshalel
Shannon values
her hard-won independence from her judgmental, critical family and a dead
marriage but falls for Ian, a member of the centuries-old, concealed society of
the Devoted, and is asked to tie her fate to theirs as Imshalel, the woman they
protect while she fulfills her destiny to sow seeds of environmental balance.
108,000 words, The Devoted of Imshalel
is a contemporary fantasy.
Shannon meets
Ian’s friends, Lee, Liu, and Fael on the isolated island of the Devoted and
fights a disconcerting connection. The Devoted attribute foresight and the
ability to sway minds to her—intuition and a regrettable compulsion to control,
to her thinking. Informed Imshalel marries multiracial husbands to ensure the
diversity of her children who, as adults, further their mother’s work amongst
various cultures, Shannon decides to fail the test for Imshalel, the Imperiatu.
The two-story cube, however, enthralls and pulls her into fulfilling its tasks
of strategy, courage, and endurance. She acknowledges her love for Ian and his
friends who have swiftly become essential to her well-being. For their sakes,
she agrees to be Imshalel. Accepting the unearned reverence of the Devoted and
Imshalel’s destiny is the iffier proposition.
The Devoted pray
that Imshalel accepts her gifts and their help to protect her and her children
from men thwarted by her husbands, during Devoted human-relief missions, from
exploiting people devastated by natural or manmade disasters, foes who plot to
use Imshalel in retaliation.
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