Question about epic fantasy query

Fizgig said:

My current WIP is an epic fantasy and, as I near completion of the first draft, I've found that writing a query letter helps me focus my editing. But, I have been struggling far more than usual to construct a query letter for this manuscript because it is so....well, it's epic. Lots of characters, vast continents with diverse locals, etc.



To get an idea of how to even write a query for an epic fantasy, here's part of your problem, because epic fantasy isn't in any way "magically speshul." See the list below, but do bear that in mind. Having seen your query, part of the problem is you just don't "want to" focus, and given the confines of 200 words, you can be every bit as bound up if you were writing about three people in a single room.... I read the few online queries I could find and a million book covers (I know, not exactly the same as a query but I wanted to see how they're being marketed/presented to the public).so, soooo not the same. I've found that they almost all start with "In a world where..." kind of construction, which I've been told is a terribly cliched no-no for queries. Virtually all advice is to narrow the focus onto the MC and I've tried that as well, but I've found it impossible to explain her goals/the stakes without some mention of the larger goings on. NOTE: you were told to focus on the mc. you concluded that means you can't talk about the rest of the book, which is a faulty conclusion. You just mention it obliquely....instead of your back-story infodumps, you mention what your character feels and breathes, because she may know a thousand years ago, in The Great Wars, fyremages came on giant wooden boats from a distant land and enslaved all of Chickfilatopia, but she doesn't think in terms of abstract history lessons, she thinks "she'll make every last fyremage pay for the thousand years they've enslaved her people." There is a huge difference in that construct and your initial inclination, the "in a world where..." version....in one of them you're telling us about your book's history, in the other you're telling us about the MC.

Tell us about the MC.

Especially since her goal changes dramatically at the first major turning point in the novel. perhaps end the query there. if not....see the list below again

So, my latest thought is to basically write my query about the first 30 pages or so, because it provides a clear emotional and concrete goal for the MC. But, I feel like this is verging on misrepresenting the book because it is a goal that quickly becomes moot for the MC and it loses the major thrust of the overall story.unless it goes into an entirely different genre, etc (only detailing Larry the Accountant's life-goal of banging his intern because the portal in your portal fantasy comes at Page 32, for example) you are fine--remember the query isn't a synopsis, it is a flash-fiction summary/teaser, and once the agent is 30 pages in, the query is forgotten and moot.

I would love any and all advice/thoughts on this. I know the ultimate goal of a query is to interest an agent enough to request pages, but I'm flailing like a baby giraffe here.

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quicklime said:

Fiz,
TKO, because he has a globe-spanning query he got down to really nice and tight....but after a LONG time where he was wrestling with character-soup, globetrotting, and generalities. Can't recall his title, sadly, but he only has a few queries in qlh I believe, and may be kind enough to point you to the one I am referring to (Dark Clouds?)

Quick

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