Success Story Interview - Lydia Mathis

An Interview with Lydia Mathis (LydiaMathis on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Mariah Stovall of Trellis Literary Management.

04/30/2024

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

Lydia Mathis:
The book is a short story collection about women and their bodies and how those bodies crumble and bleed and strike out. There’s a mix of genres and moods throughout the collection.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Lydia Mathis:
I’ve been writing since I was a child, but I didn’t realize that was what I was doing. I used to write songs I believe in elementary or middle school, then that turned into writing poems. I used to post the poems on Yahoo Answers to see what other people thought of them. Then sometime in high school when I really became an avid reader, I firmly believed that I was just a reader. Writers need readers, and that’s what I was. Then I came back to writing in undergrad and a professor, novelist Alan Grostephan (and later another professor, Christine Cozzens), encouraged me and gave me the push to write, but I didn’t get true confidence in that I’d be a writer until my MFA when I took a class with Joyce Carol Oates and she liked my writing. My other MFA professors then nourished that (thanks Hannah Tinti, Idra Novey, and Brandon Taylor!)

QT: How long have you been working on this book?

Lydia Mathis:
I started writing one of the stories my second semester of my first year in undergrad, which was the spring of 2016, so a little over eight years.

QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

Lydia Mathis:
All the time. I didn’t even know if my writing was good, and I definitely thought my professors were being nice when they complimented my work. It wasn’t until I started querying agents and they told me that I was a talented writer that I started to believe (without wavering) that I was a good writer. What helped me stay on course was that there was nothing else I wanted to do.

QT: Is this your first book?

Lydia Mathis:
Yes.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Lydia Mathis:
Yes, I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature with a minor in classical civilizations, and I have a master’s in creative writing.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Lydia Mathis:
I wish. When I was writing the collection, what got me writing was that I was doing it for a class. I wrote the bulk of the collection (20k words) in my final semester of my Master’s. I need deadlines, hard ones with repercussions (like graduating). I’m trying to push myself into a routine though so it’s not taking me as long to get first drafts. Currently, I’m working on a novel and I’m making myself write at least 500 words a day for the month of April. I’m giving myself no choice in the matter. It’s going well. I have a little over 15000 words written (it’s the 22 nd as I’m writing this).

QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

Lydia Mathis:
I edited each story numerous times so I can’t say for sure. Some stories got edited more than others by a lot though.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Lydia Mathis:
I would say my classmates and professors were the beta readers.

QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?

Lydia Mathis:
I mostly write from the hip. Sometimes though I’ll have a full idea of how I want a story to go and I’ll write out plot points for it, but mostly I just write until I get to the end.

QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?

Lydia Mathis:
Almost a year, technically. My MFA program had an agent day in May of 2023. I sent of a few queries in the fall of 2023, but then I got serious about it in January 2024 and started sending out dozens.

QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

Lydia Mathis:
Including referrals and in-person meetings, 73.

QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

Lydia Mathis:
Mostly I picked people who represented literary fiction, which is my genre. I did pick a few agents because they represented authors I love.

QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

Lydia Mathis:
For some yes, for some no. I base personalizations on who they represent and how my book has similar elements to the ones those authors explore, and/or what the agent has in their bio or Manuscript Wish List. So, if they say they like speculative works or a book by a certain author, I’ll include that my book has speculative elements or is similar to the book they mentioned.

QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

Lydia Mathis:
It’s all about persistence (and hobbies to distract you when persistence inevitably isn’t enough). Persevere!

QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?

Lydia Mathis:
Yes.

Query Letter:

Dear ______,

I admire the work you’ve done representing [author(s)]. I love the ___________ in [author‘s] novels. I feel elements found in [author’s] work are similar to one's I explore in my own, and I hope you will consider my short story collection, Desperate Bodies, for representation.

Desperate Bodies is a collection of stories about women and their bodies and the ways in which those bodies crumble and bleed and strike out. Each story captures the fragility and grotesqueness of our physical selves, but also the humor and power in owning and utilizing them. In “Empty Apartment,” a lonely woman is plagued by a ghost that is determined to clean her apartment. In “The Growing Oak Tree,” a woman disconnected from and lacking life finds it in the wrong man. In “The Long Sleep,” a young girl reminisces on her relationship with her mother after discovering (and spending time with) her corpse. As in the stories of Carmen Maria Machado and Ottessa Moshfegh, Desperate Bodies takes a frank look at women's relationships with their families, lovers, and themselves, and the ways they must struggle and fight to survive in a world that is often set against them.

Bio: Lydia Mathis has an MFA in fiction from New York University. She earned her BA in English literature with a minor in classical civilizations from Agnes Scott College. She has worked as a teacher for Teach for America in Memphis and as a teaching fellow at Coler-Goldwater Hospital in New York City. She is the recipient of A Public Space’s 2023 Editorial Fellowship. She has stories and essays forthcoming from or published in Stanchion, Southeast Review, Five on the Fifth, and oranges journal.

[I've attached a story from the collection.] If you have any interest in Desperate Bodies, I would be happy to send along the full manuscript for your review.

Thank you. 

Sincerely,

Lydia Mathis