The Painful Art of Crafting Queries

My memories of crafting my first queries are unpleasant at best. Trying to decipher which plot points were necessary while infusing emotion and a sense of urgency into 250 short words often had me slamming my laptop closed and cursing writing altogether. Practice, the critiques of a few seasoned writers, and a large dose of self-confidence was what if finally took for me to craft one worthy of a request. That was over five years ago, and I still find myself cringing at the the thought of ever having to write one again. That said, in the spirit of giving back, I'm over at Brenda Drake's blog today doing query critiques. I don't pretend to be an expert, and God knows it took me months before I could even grasp the concept of a first-line hook, but hopefully what I've said has been helpful.