Kat's Write
asked
Charlie N. Holmberg:
How long did it take you to write The Paper Magician, and how long did you have to query it for to get an agent? Could you perhaps share your query letter as a pointer?
Charlie N. Holmberg
Hey Kat's Write,
I don't recall how long the planning phase was (I'm an outliner)... maybe 1-2 months? It took me one month to draft it. TPM is a short book; at the time I queried it, it was only 56k words long. At publication, I believe it was 65k.
I didn't query it for very long--maybe a month-ish. (I lucked out, there.) And I have so problem sharing my query letter. This is my general one for TPM, without any personalization:
Dear AGENT,
Nineteen-year-old Ceony never wanted to be a paper magician. After all, she didn't attend the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined to enchant paper for the rest of her life. But when a shortage of Folders takes away her dreams of be-spelling metal, she's forced into an apprenticeship under the peculiar Emery Thane.
Though Ceony's first impression of her teacher pins him as possibly mad, she soon discovers there's more to the man than paper spells. But just as she begins to appreciate Magician Thane, a woman barges into Thane’s home, rips his heart from his chest, and leaves him to die. Acting quickly, Ceony crafts Thane a paper heart, but the weak organ only grants Thane a couple more days of life at best.
Despite her fledgling abilities in paper magic, Ceony is determined to take back Thane’s heart before the paper replacement fails. But what she doesn’t expect is that to reclaim the heart, she’ll have to literally travel through it—and if learning Thane’s darkest secrets isn’t jarring enough, one wrong move may leave her trapped inside them.
THE PAPER MAGICIAN is a 56,000-word young adult fantasy with sequel potential, and is inspired by Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle. I hold a degree in English and editing from Brigham Young University and currently work as a technical editor in Moscow, Idaho.
Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
-
Hope that helps!
I don't recall how long the planning phase was (I'm an outliner)... maybe 1-2 months? It took me one month to draft it. TPM is a short book; at the time I queried it, it was only 56k words long. At publication, I believe it was 65k.
I didn't query it for very long--maybe a month-ish. (I lucked out, there.) And I have so problem sharing my query letter. This is my general one for TPM, without any personalization:
Dear AGENT,
Nineteen-year-old Ceony never wanted to be a paper magician. After all, she didn't attend the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined to enchant paper for the rest of her life. But when a shortage of Folders takes away her dreams of be-spelling metal, she's forced into an apprenticeship under the peculiar Emery Thane.
Though Ceony's first impression of her teacher pins him as possibly mad, she soon discovers there's more to the man than paper spells. But just as she begins to appreciate Magician Thane, a woman barges into Thane’s home, rips his heart from his chest, and leaves him to die. Acting quickly, Ceony crafts Thane a paper heart, but the weak organ only grants Thane a couple more days of life at best.
Despite her fledgling abilities in paper magic, Ceony is determined to take back Thane’s heart before the paper replacement fails. But what she doesn’t expect is that to reclaim the heart, she’ll have to literally travel through it—and if learning Thane’s darkest secrets isn’t jarring enough, one wrong move may leave her trapped inside them.
THE PAPER MAGICIAN is a 56,000-word young adult fantasy with sequel potential, and is inspired by Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle. I hold a degree in English and editing from Brigham Young University and currently work as a technical editor in Moscow, Idaho.
Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
-
Hope that helps!
More Answered Questions
Amy Koomen
asked
Charlie N. Holmberg:
Hi! I have truly enjoyed your Paper Magician books. I find myself wishing, however, that I could also read the entire series from Emery's perspective. There is so much that takes place when he is away from Ceony that it would be fun to fill in those gaps. I'd also just love to know what he's thinking when he stays up all night folding paper dogs and snowflakes and such... :) Do you have any plans to do that?
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