Am starting the process of sending queries to agents and wondered if you guys could comment on some pitch ideas: A strong-willed, self-reliant old woman struggles against the weakening of her powers as she gradually loses her memory. Judy, a furiously independent old woman, battles the loss of identity and control of her deteriorating memory. (feels like there might be some grammar issue here!) The novel follows Judy, an independent, aging widow, from the early, mysterious signs of memory loss to her death. Something like that - my, I find this stuff difficult! All ideas gratefully accepted. And huge thanks in advance.

Guys, when you write interiority (thoughts in italics), if the character’s thought is a rhetorical question do you remove the question mark? Or keep it? Thanks 🙏

Hello everyone. Just wondering, do any of you ever do writing exercises? In the past, I've found them fun and useful for freeing up my brain and subconscious etc. I was thinking I should do some, so looking for new ones. Can you recommend any?

Hi everyone! I had a conversation with one of my alpha readers (aka critique partner) around a sentence from my novel. Please see below. "I’m tidying up the last things before heading out. One final look at my inbox, then I grab the trench coat, and switch off the Sonos." According to my alpha reader, grabbing "the" trench coat is not grammatically correct, and the sentence should read "I grab my trench coat." Not having defined the trench coat or not having given enough context doesn't warrant the use of a definite article. Basically, we don't know anything about it, so it cannot be called THE trench coat. If, for example, I'd said "I look for something warm in the wardrobe. I grab the trench coat and leave", that would have worked, because we are already in the realm of clothing and the character is looking into a wardrobe. Now, I can totally see where this is coming from, but to me it feels there's enough context? And I struggle to see how it becomes a plain grammar mistake. The character is clearly heading out, and performs a number of actions typical of who gets ready to leave the office, including grabbing a coat that can just assume is his. I do trust my alpha reader, who is a linguist and a translator, but I wonder whether the precise, academic grammar might have got in the way of what we can and cannot say in fiction? Or I am simply plain wrong, which is equally fine, but I'd like to know why :D What do you think? P.S. I know this is an easy fix and not a biggie at all. At this point, it's mostly an intellectual curiosity for me :)

Hello all, I keep reading conflicting views on what should go into a query letter, so wondered what the group thinks. Should the pitch focus on the inciting incident or the plot climax? And what is the right amount of detail?