Success Story Interview - Miranda Freeman

An Interview with Miranda Freeman (mirandaf on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Barbara Poelle of Word One Literary.

10/10/2024

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

Miranda Freeman:
I got the idea for this book from an article in the New York Times, which talked about a decades-old murder that was solved because a woman in the community (who had been a girl at the time of the crime) had written her suspicions about the killer down in her diary. Years later, she found the diary, handed it over to the police, and they were able to catch the guy who did it. My story begins with a woman who finds her own old diary in which she'd suggested she'd once known what had happened to a girl who disappeared from her town. That's where the similarities to the news story stops, though!

QT: How long have you been writing?

Miranda Freeman:
I've been writing books with the goal of traditional publication for about 11 years, though I dialed back on the writing time while working in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Miranda Freeman:
I began drafting this book in February 2024 and sent it out to the first agents in August 2024.

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

Miranda Freeman:
Saying "yes, all the time" wouldn't be fully 100% accurate, but--yes, a lot of the time! This is my fifth completed manuscript, and there have been a few others that I abandoned before finishing. It's hard to spend so much time writing when you know how sharply the odds are stacked against ever getting an agent or getting published. I think I kept going due to a combination of stubbornness, love of reading, and a highly impractical belief in my own abilities.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Miranda Freeman:
Nope!

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Miranda Freeman:
Not really. I try to write every day when I'm working on a first draft, but I ended up taking a few weeks off of this one in the middle due to some personal circumstances. I can get a lot of work done in a focused 15 minute period, so I try to squeeze those in wherever they'll fit between my job and my kids.

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

Miranda Freeman:
I did one edit after the first draft by myself, and a second edit after getting feedback from critique partners.

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

Miranda Freeman:
I can't outline to save my life. I actually tried to outline this one, but ended up giving up and diving right in. This led to several unexpected POVs and a plot I totally didn't see coming. I love surprising myself like this (but always need to go back and edit out plot threads that ended up going nowhere!).

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

Miranda Freeman:
I queried my last book from about December 2023 to June 2024. I've queried other books for even longer than that. This book was an anomaly in that I sent it first to two agents who'd asked for it after reading the last book I sent them. A month later, I sent out a batch of about 10 cold queries. I had my first offer of rep from an agent in those 10 cold queries within the week. Right before her email, I got an offer from one of the two agents who'd had the book for a month. It was a wild conflux of events after spending the last 11 years with minimal agent interest.

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

Miranda Freeman:
10 cold queries, plus the 2 agents I emailed the month before I began officially querying (my agent actually asked me to send the full directly so she wouldn't see the spoilers in my query!).

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

Miranda Freeman:
I filtered by QueryTracker agents in my genre and narrowed them down further by checking sales in Publisher's Marketplace (took out a one month subscription), checking out MSWLs, reading interviews, etc. I also generally make it a point to know who's agented books/authors I love, and those agents were at the top of my list.

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

Miranda Freeman:
I tailored a query when I had something to say. For example, my agent represents one of my favorite suspense authors, which I mentioned when I queried her with my last book.

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

Miranda Freeman:
Hearing "no" (or nothing at all!!) so often can be difficult, but just think of these as opportunities to practice getting better at the super important skill of embracing rejection. And if you haven't had the success you want yet, hang in there and write another book!