yes, it applies to queries... i'm sure you'd find, if you polled them all, that the vast majority of agents and editors do NOT want to be teased and DO want to know how the story or book ends... it's a waste of their valuable time to be left hanging and be forced to have to request the full ms to find out what happens, so they can decide whether it's worth taking on, or not... they much prefer to have it laid out from the get-go, so they can save time...
I've also noticed that the only queries I've seen online don't include the ending. It might be that the few agents and sites that do put examples up are the exceptions to what most agents want. I suppose it would make sense for them to want the ending. It does make the task of writing a short letter considerably more difficult though. But Maia, they wouldn't have to request the full ms to find out what happens, just the synopsis, which could be as brief as page if they specify that. I agree though, S-wo needs to reveal a heck of a lot more than what he did in his current query. If the ending is good then he should include it. But if its weak, say weaker than the rest of the book, why not just showcase the beginning and middle of your book? Afterall as far as I know, a query is to get them to read the first few pages of your book so they can be blown away by your writing. When they read the synopsis after that, they might be a bit more forgiving of the weaker aspects of your plot. But then again in most novels I've read the the middle can get a bit boring, but the ending is the best part. So S-wo its probably in your best interests if you do include the end. You should flesh out this plot of yours and repost. Its amazing what outsiders can see in a query which the writer simply can't.
At first I thought it was going to be easy including the middle and the end in the query, but now I think I just made my query letter. Worse. It's over a page now when it should be just one page and I can't decide what specific plot points I should put in order to reduce the length of the letter.
it's the same thing, tj... they still have to take that additional step and suffer a letter-exchange-caused wait to find out how the thing ends, which is a waste of their time and money, for busy agents...
I noticed that the address headings take up some space. Is it necessarry in email queries for me to put the date and my own address because I see a lot of different examples online?
it should still look like a professionally written business letter, no matter how you send it... to save space and to come across like a pro, put your contact info in an attractive letterhead format...
