u/Ididsomethingbad_ada

Dear Agent,

EULOGY OF THE UNNAMED is an Upper YA High Fantasy standalone complete at 110k words.

I am submitting this to you because [Agent Personalization].

Three years ago, after a bitter falling-out with her revenge-obsessed sister, Maeve fled her homeland to fulfill her mother’s dying wish: retrieve three ancient tourmalines that hold the last breath of two gods and destroy them. To do so, she plans to unite the most formidable magic wielders in the world.

Every fifty years, an individual is favoured with unique magic in each of the five empires. They are the ones Maeve must find to succeed. But she is no hero. Maeve is willing to kidnap a crown prince who can teleport anyone anywhere and break a thief out of the world’s most secure prison.

The last individual is the Empress of Maeve’s lands, whose intentions oppose hers. While Maeve wants to destroy the stones, Kamali wants to use them to fulfill her hunger for power.

When a single miscalculation throws Maeve and her cadre off the path, Maeve must decide whether she wants to sacrifice her new family and her own life to destroy the tourmalines.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Yours sincerely,

[Name]

_____

Hello everyone, thank you for reading this!

I didn't add the comps because I have a question. I've had beta readers for this draft, and it has been positively compared to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I know we aren't supposed to use famous or old titles as comps, but I must admit that SOC was an inspiration for me while writing the novel. Would it be okay to add it?

Hello!

I have a draft that I’ve been working on for over two years. I’ve received feedback on various versions, and I think I am close to a final draft.

I have a standard summary that I wrote a while ago. However, when I initially got the idea for this story I wanted to reveal the ending in the summary or on the first page. The message I wanted to send is, "The journey is more beautiful than the destination." However, I’ve been very active on this sub and can see how hard trad publishing can be. I ended up changing my mind about revealing the ending, yet I can’t shake off the idea.

The story would remain the same whether or not I change the summary, but the main goal is to make the readers read it for the journey. There are foreshadowing through the book that hint at the ending.

Can someone help me figure out if this is a good idea or a bad one? I don’t want to lower my chances of getting an agent because of something that can be flexible. Basically, I want to know what agents would generally think of this.

The books that follow this pattern that I know of is 'A Secret History' and 'We Were Villains'. And I believe this is not a standard query or summary.

Context about the story: High fantasy, multiple POV, standalone, and a very sad, tragic ending.

We’ve all heard the phrase 'separate the art from the artist' whenever a controversy arises. I wonder, though—would the artists themselves actually want to be seperated from their work?

As a writer, I would rather take a sword to my stomach before being separated from my story. What about you?

I saw a video long ago that has stayed with me. In it, a woman told a man 'I love you' and waited for his reaction, there was none. Then, she asked if he would feel the same if it were his wife standing there saying those words. I don’t remember his reply, but the message was clear.