New strategy at QueryShark

I had a blinding moment of inspiration this week, prompted by the query letter posted at #252. Here's how it happened and what it means for QueryShark readers and writers.

As some of you know, I run the ChumBucket Query Experiment for writers querying me for real. I really loved doing that when I was open to queries; the interaction was fun and instructive for both the writer and for me.

Some of you might remember a blog post I did about assembling a book shelf.  That bookshelf led to the QueryQuestion.  (As a side note, that book shelf did not survive the month-long paint job I'm embroiled in. When I tried to move it, the thing collapsed in exhaustion, had to be ripped apart and send to the curb for New York's Strongest to remove in their smoking belching rolling pits of fire)

Thus it was when I received the query that became #252 and the note from the writer after the query that I had blinding moment of inspiration.

What if, along with the query, writers could ask questions or offer explanations for the choices they were making when they sent material to QueryShark?  Wouldn't that be more helpful than "this doesn't work, start again?"

And then I remembered the knock down drag out fights that we (we means my authors and I) have had with copy editors recently.  Copy editors are an invaluable resource and publishing would be very much poorer without them, but their mission is not style it's correctness. Thus when a writer breaks rules for style, the copy editor often has to be alerted, or soothed, or vanquished depending on the ferocity of their red pen.

That made me wonder if I was perhaps doing much the same thing here at QS: assuming error when it was a style choice.

Hmmmm..

So, let's try something new and improved and see if it helps.

Starting now, you should send a BRIEF paragraph with questions, or explanations of choices, along with your query shark entry.  You still must include the permission line as well.

If your QueryShark entry had an Order of Service it would look like this:

1. Permission line: By submitting this query, I agree it may be posted and critiqued on
the QueryShark blog and included in the archives for the life of the blog.

2. Question/explanation paragraph of NO MORE THAN 100 words.

3. Query



The order is important.  I want to know what you're asking before I read your query.

Ok?

The first query with this is posted at #252.