How to craft a query: a step-by-step guide. The purpose of this thread is to help you create a starting point/query template upon which you can build! And customize! And generally spectacular-ify! Starting in 3...2...1... #querytip #amwriting Queries should usually open with "Dear Mr./Ms. [agent's last name]". Some agents are okay with "Dear [agent's first name]," but I'd say to default to the former just in case. DO NOT open with "To whom it may concern" or "Dear agent." Don't be overfamiliar or unprofessional.

As an editor specializing in YA and MG, I tend to see a lot of portal fantasies (stories where the protagonist finds themselves in another world, where most of the conflict then takes place). And I've found that sub-genre to have some very common problems. A short thread! The most common problem I see with portal fantasies is that the conflict is impersonal. The protagonist is transported to another world, one they usually didn't know existed, then required to save and/or escape it. My question: why should they (and therefore we) care?

Time for another writing craft thread! Since I only have limited time today (and am still recovering from a sinus infection), how about something broad? Say, the top 5 story problems I see as an editor! Number 1 problem I see most frequently in manuscripts: lack of agency. Agency = character's ability to push the plot forward with their actions/choices. A character with no agency is basically a pinball in an arcade game: reactive, without true power to drive their own story.

So I talk a lot about big-picture problems I see as an editor (telling vs. showing, character arcs, villains, etc.), but how about we talk about the micro scale of writing craft for a bit? *pulls out megaphone* TIME FOR A THREAD ON SCENE CRAFT! When I was a new writer I'd never heard of scene craft, but when I learned how to apply it, boy howdy did my stories LEVEL THE HECK UP. Have you ever read a scene where nothing particularly Big happened, but you were still riveted as a reader? That's good scene craft.