Crafting a query letter: focus on world-building, character conflicts, and voice.
Author John Galligan challenges writing rules, emphasizing connecting with readers for effective storytelling.
Diversifying character voices and perspectives enriches narrative depth and empathy in storytelling.
Deep dives
Aliens and Teenage Troubles - Quirky Middle Grade Sci-Fi
Young average human Grayson faces a mundane life until his summer takes a twist with an alien defense agency opportunity. As he uncovers a real alien threat, he loses his friends while trying to prevent invasion. The challenge escalates as the aliens prepare to claim Earth, prompting Gray and his friends to show their capabilities against the impending danger.
Elemental - Devastated Future and Intriguing Choices
In a future where humanity is reduced to survival in space, 'Elemental' follows Aya and Hendrik on Earth, revealing a discovery that challenges their beliefs. The character dynamics between Aya and her twin Hendrik create tension as they navigate a divided society and dwindling resources, setting the stage for complex conflicts and revelations.
United Societies Dawn - Atmospheric Sci-Fi Setting
Set in a post-meteorite strike Earth, the novel delves into the struggle of characters facing a die-off crisis. Annie St. Lara and EIN Gerard navigate challenges on Earth and in space politics, highlighting personal and political tensions. The narrative blend of environmental themes and political intrigue promises a compelling exploration of survival and alliances.
Use of Prologue in Bad Day Breaking
John Galligan defies the conventional advice on utilizing a prologue in his book Bad Day Breaking by presenting an extended prologue that sets up the intricate background of the story. Despite recommendations to keep prologues concise, Galligan's strategic use of a lengthy prologue effectively establishes the core criminality and the setting crucial for the plot of the book.
Narrative Voice in Third Person Perspective
John Galligan demonstrates a nuanced approach to narrative voice in the third person perspective, emphasizing the importance of narrative distance to reflect individual character voices. By tailoring the language, sentence structure, and viewpoint to match different characters, Galligan creates distinctive voices within the third person narrative, enhancing the depth and authenticity of each character's portrayal.
In today's Books with Hooks, we're joined by guest agent, Emmy Nordstrom-Higdon from Westwood Creative Artists who looks at four submissions. During the segment, Emmy discusses executing the world-building in a way that’s accessible to readers, and ensuring you’re also covering your characters' conflicts, goals, stakes, etc. in a query; keeping your query letter under a page; ensuring something happens plot-wise and that there’s voicey-ness in the writing sample; having wonderful line-level writing but focusing on the wrong things on a scene level; an efficient query letter formula; differentiating the voices of the characters; including enough voice in the query, but not as much as what’s in the pages; and a fantastic example of an MG query letter and opening pages.
After which, Bianca chats with John Galligan, author of Bad Day Breaking, about following and then breaking the “rules” of writing; the 'show, don’t tell' lightbulb moments; how to stop talking to ourselves and start talking to our readers; getting into the psyche of your characters; what genre has the most effective prologues and how to know you’re doing it right; using adjectives and adverbs the right way; creating character voice in third person; and tips for crossing gender, race, etc. boundaries to create empathy in characters and in readers—without crossing lines.
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