Jakob Lingaas 📚 Querying Writer

@jlingaas.bsky.social

148 Followers 99 Following

Aspiring fantasy author currently working on a Whalepunk heist novel inspired by some ungodly mix of Lies of Locke Lamora, Dishonored, and Six of Crows. 🐳

Query tracker stats: 32 queries sent 3 form rejections 1 full request
Moodboard for Wavewaker: a Whalepunk fantasy heist. Grimy, 1890s Victorian.
Two books: 1. Leviathan (Scott Westerfeld) 2. Perdido Street Station (China Miéville)
A notebook with a teenager's handwriting: Day one Three reasons why I want to write a book. 1. To be able to show my perspective and opinions with the world 2. The longing to feel pride because of something I did. 3. To feel closure by finishing something in my life Day two
Moodboard of a grimy, whalepunk fantasy heist novel called Wavewaker.
Screenshot of editor's email to me: I strongly disagree that Al is the only really well-written character, especially as you've moved through rounds of revisions. I think there was a time when it was mostly the Al show, but you've moved past that. The good news is, this feeling is normal. You're tinkering with teeny, tiny details and you're focusing on those details rather than the book as a holistic whole. This work is necessary and important and will pay off in the end, but remember that the *whole book* is what really matters. You're doing the work of making sure emotional throughlines show up in each scene, that every character has a real motivation and arc, and that those motivations and arcs are demonstrated (at least a little) on the page. That's good and I'm impressed by the progress you've made. BUT. Just because you've made progress doesn't mean the previous version was bad. A professional athlete continues to train to improve their performance, but they were already a professional athlete. Same goes for musicians. They can keep practicing and refining, but you would never say that they were bad just because they were a violinist with the second best orchestra in the world. You're a good writer. You have a good story. You have the ability to make a career of this. Of course you will continue to improve your craft and refine the product as you go. But that does not mean the previous drafts were poorly done.
Editor's feedback on Wavewaker: "I think you can rely on the appeal of the tortured bad boy trope. He has the same appeal as Robin Hood--and girls are attracted to him even when he's a literal cartoon fox."
Picture of Copilot in a blank Word document.
Moodboard of a grimy, whalepunk fantasy heist novel called Wavewaker.