Gennifer Albin’s debut novel Crewel, the first book in the Crewel World Trilogy, goes on sale Tuesday, October 16! Gennifer Albin will be going out on the Fierce Reads tour that same day! Get event details on the Fierce Reads fan page.
Now, check out this fab CREWEL blog tour
Monday 10/15
Tales of a Ravenous Reader
Tales of a Ravenous Reader
Tuesday 10/16
Birth of a New Witch
Birth of a New Witch
Wednesday 10/17
Hobbitsies
Hobbitsies
Thursday 10/18
Cuddlebuggery
Cuddlebuggery
Friday 10/19
Starting the Next Chapter
Starting the Next Chapter
Saturday 10/20
Books with Bite
Books with Bite
Sunday 10/21
Teen Librarian Toolbox
Teen Librarian Toolbox
Monday 10/22
Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice
Tuesday 10/23
Bookalicious
Bookalicious
Wednesday 10/24
Emily’s Reading Room
Emily’s Reading Room
Thursday 10/25
Bewitched Bookworms
Bewitched Bookworms
Friday 10/26
Christina Reads YA
Christina Reads YA
Saturday 10/27
Two Chicks on Books
Two Chicks on Books
Sunday 10/28
IB BookBlogging
IB BookBlogging
Today, Tales of the Ravenous Reader is kicking off the CREWEL tour with Gennifer sharing her query letter and a brief bit about her writing process.
I wrote Crewel in coffee shops and 24 hour diners and bookstore cafes in the wee hours after my husband got home. During the day while the kids destroyed the house, or played as some call it, I did lots of research on agents and query letters. I frequented QueryTracker, sometimes lurking, sometimes giving feedback, while biding my time until it would be my turn.
During that time I wrote a lot of queries for Crewel, and all of them can best be described as meh. The concept was interesting, but I couldn’t capture the unique flavor of the novel. When the chance to get feedback at a WriteOnCon live event came out, I jumped at the chance, feverishly writing queries that I proudly shared with my husband.
He was not impressed.
So he took my computer and for an hour tweaked what I had, and handed it back to me. It was short. Terse even. More of a skeleton of an idea than a query, but it was undeniably genius. It also fit into none of the query rules I’d learned. I took it and played with it for a few hours, tweaking language and adding in details. I shared it on QT and the results were unanimously positive. I earned a spot in the WriteOnCon query event, which led to an offer and then some more, before I signed with Mollie Glick.
Mollie read my query after she received an emailing informing her I had an offer of representation and emailed called to talk with me. She read the manuscript overnight and offered rep the next day. A few month’s ago she said in an article in Writer’s Digest that it her favorite query of all time. Even now it’s the basis for my jacket flap copy.
What I learned? Have your husband help you write your query. Just kidding. Kinda.
Dear Ms. Glick,
Incapable. Awkward. Artless.
That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.
Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.
Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her--tonight.
Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape. Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.
Complete at 78,000 words, CREWEL is a YA dystopian novel that follows Adelice's fight for autonomy and redemption in a world of femme fatales, steel looms, and towered compounds.
I hold a Masters in English Literature from the University of Missouri. I also served as a student editor for Pleaides and The Missouri Review and did some time teaching literature to college students.
Want a copy of CREWEL and a snazzy bracelet then enter the contest below.
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1 comment on "CREWEL BLOG TOUR"
Great post! I loved this novel and I love learning author's writing processes - and I always imaging them writing in coffee shops! >.< So cool that her husband helped like that! I love him! :D
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