In the previous post I shared with you some things writers should not put into a query letter to an agent or publisher. Now let's look at what you should include:
1. An intriguing but not overly gimmicky first line or two that include the title of your book, its genre and something about the basic idea or plot. Example: "My thriller novel, Dead at Birth, is the story of how things go dangerously wrong when a adopted young woman goes in search of her birth mother."
2. A brief synoposis. Since you're going for a one page letter (or equivalent length email) there's no way you can tell the whole story in any detail. Try to let the tone of the synopsis match the tone of the book. If it's a comic novel, make your letter amusing. If it's a thriller, make it sound thrilling. However, don't use a lot of adjectives to just affirm the qualitites of the story (e.g., "in a hilarious confrontation," or "in a thrilling and suspenceful encounter").
3. No more than one or two character names. For the example above, you might write, "The young woman, Caroline Maddux, begins her search the day after she turns 21." For the rest of the characters referenced, it would be best to stay with descriptors like "her birth mother," "her adoptive mother," and so on. If you give them all names it can be confusing to remember who's who.
4. The ending--although opinons on this differ. I think most agents want to know at least in a general sense how the story ends. For instance, you might write, "Caroline risks her life to get evidence of her half-brother's crimes by breaking into his house. Unknown to her, he's hiding there and they have a final showdown that ends in his death."
5. Only the relevant information about your life. For example, if Caroline was raised in a Quaker family and one of the story elements is that she has to choose between her beliefs and the need to defend herself, then the fact that you grew up as a Quaker would be germane.
6. Credits or awards if they're impressive enough. If your short story won first place in a national short story contest, mention it. If it got honorable mention from your writer's circle annual competition, probably not.
7. An offer to send either the full manuscript or the first few chapters.
It's not easy to fit all that into one page, but this could be the most important page you write. If it intrigues agents or publishers they will want to see more and the process continues.
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(For more tips, see "Your Writing Coach," published by Nichoals Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers.
