Raspberry Cordial (And Other Bad Decisions)

#amquerying

Hello friend,

I’m querying a novel.

Now! Before you get excited, it’s not Glengarry Book 2. That is my next project (promise!). This is actually the book I wrote after The Fate Date that I dusted off in January for a good polish, and I’m pretty proud of it. When I say “I’m querying” it means I’m sending a pitch to literary agents. If they like it, they would offer to represent you and sell your book to a publisher. Publishers (at least, the bigger ones) will typically only take pitches from agents, and agents also help with the negotiation piece too. From what I heard, it is a very challenging process.

Here’s the pitch for Raspberry Cordial (And Other Bad Decisions):

Free-spirited orphan Cordelia “Cory” Robertson moves to a small town in Prince Edward Island to research her birth family, but when she finds a set of letters detailing her parents’ forbidden romance, Cory’s very existence threatens to re-ignite a deadly decades old feud in the community in this open-door, contemporary upmarket romcom inspired by Anne of Green Gables.

Graphics by Katilin Collins <3

What’s the Catch? (of course pun intended.)

Well, there’s an aspect of the book that is very unpopular. Like in Anne of Green Gables, Jane Austen, Lord of the Rings, I make use of something called “free indirect discourse”, or head-hopping. Not only is it written in multiple POV, but within a chapter, it will shift to another character’s perspective. Including from the perspective of a car (Annette is a station-wagon and she’s a total girls girl).

Now, to be clear, I don’t go ping ponging about the page. Yes, I know it’s unpopular (read: hated, reviled, disparaged). No, it’s not confusing, though that is a common challenge with this point-of-view. Yes, there are contemporary, successful examples of this being used, and Yes, those books are sometimes dragged for using this device. Yes, I have a boat load (I’m sorry. I can’t stop.) of reasons for writing it this way that I will elucidate in a later post.

And I’m sticking with it.

I don’t know what the outcome of querying will be (the stats are not in my favour, neither are my POV choices). And it’s challenging to put my work out there, with no telling what the future will hold, especially when the POV might cause further scrutiny. A little eyebrow raise. A “Don’t you know you’re doing this wrong?”

But I can’t help but feel that I’m doing this right—at least, right for me and my story, right now.

And I’m so excited for when I get to share this very special book with you, no matter how it’s published.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share a few behind the scenes about querying. I even have the posts drafted! I thought it might make the process a little more fun if I could share about it. This will ensure:

a) I can be held accountable and not chicken out.

b) maybe help someone learn through my mistakes (or breakthroughs).

In everyone I’ve talked to, people are pretty tight-lipped about their querying experiences, and I’ve often speculated it’s out of self-preservation—understandably. But for some reason, sharing this news makes it a little less scary. Dare I say, it might even make it fun.

I could be wrong about all of this. But what if I’m right?