Success Story Interview - Emily McCosh

An Interview with Emily McCosh (emilymccosh on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency.

06/08/2026

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

Emily McCosh:
HEDGE AND THORN is a romantic fairytale about a knight cursed never to take off his armor, and the last unicorn left in the world (and possibly a cute goblin child). I adore atmospheric, lyrical fairytales and fantasy, as well as fully character-driven books, and this book wraps up many things I love about that particular hopeful yet dark fantasy vibe with some inspirations from The Last Unicorn.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Emily McCosh:
I’ve been a daydreamer coming up with stories for as long as I can remember. I’ve been writing since I was about fourteen and very seriously since I was sixteen.

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

Emily McCosh:
The idea for it began coming together in late 2024. I wrote about 10k words of it immediately, then set it aside until returning to write it in full starting March of 2025. I finished the rough draft by the end of April 2025 and edited it from there.

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

Emily McCosh:
I’ve thought about giving up on publishing more times than I can count, never on writing. Writing is too much a part of me, but it’s easy to get discouraged with both self and trad-pub. Fortunately, I am very stubborn, and here we are!

QT: Is this your first book?

Emily McCosh:
Definitely not! I’ve self published over fifteen novels and novellas since 2020 and have a few more coming out this year.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Emily McCosh:
Not really. Though I have an Associate’s Degree in English, I wouldn’t consider any of the classes I took to be helpful with creative writing. I taught myself to write by studying short stories and learning to write them until I could get published in professional magazines. That was by far the most helpful thing for learning to write!

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Emily McCosh:
As much as I’ve tried getting myself into routines, I have a pretty standard ebb and flow of drafting and editing that I always fall back into, and I don’t tend to write at any particular time of day, and with no set word count goal. I’m very much a mood writer.

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

Emily McCosh:
I technically re-wrote the first 10k words or so of Hedge and Thorn, though most of it stayed the same. From there, the rest of the draft didn’t need any rewriting. After drafting, I gave it 2-3 full editing passes before querying.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Emily McCosh:
Yes! They were extremely helpful (though I will say that a good portion of the feedback consisted of talking about how cute the goblin is).

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

Emily McCosh:
I have a combination of outlining and “pantsing”, as they call it. I tend to write a brief outline of bullet point plot points I’ve decided on, as well as a few paragraphs describing the atmosphere I’m aiming for. Usually, I’ll add into this outline as I draft, sometimes not, but it’s never a detailed breakdown of the plot.

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

Emily McCosh:
This is the first book I’ve queried. I sent my first batch on October 1st of 2025, and sent out batches sporadically until I’d gone through my list, and received my offer on May 19th of 2026.

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

Emily McCosh:
I sent 98 queries for Hedge and Thorn.

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

Emily McCosh:
Of course, I queried any of my dream agents who were open (including Jenny!), and otherwise, I selected by client list, Manuscript Wishlist, and Publisher’s Marketplace.

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

Emily McCosh:
Not usually. If an agent listed a particular wishlist comp or trope that happened to align with Hedge and Thorn, I would mention it briefly. I likely only did this with 10-20 of the 90+ queries I sent, and I did not include any personalization in the query that eventually got me an offer.

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

Emily McCosh:
Find yourself some writer friends/a writer group. Mine is on Discord, and I yelled at them constantly throughout the querying process, it was great emotional support.

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

Emily McCosh:
Of course!

Query Letter:

Dear [Agent],

I am seeking representation for HEDGE AND THORN, my 58,000-word stand-alone fantasy romance—for those who crave the magic of The Last Unicorn with a dash of the huntsman from Snow White, wrapped in a fairy tale of a knight cursed never to shed his armor and look into the eyes of another person. It will appeal to readers of the upside-down fairytale of T. Kingfisher’s Nettle and Bone, and the raging transformation of body, mind, and beliefs through love and devotion present in Rachel Gillig’s The Knight and the Moth and Alix E. Harrow’s The Six Deaths of the Saint.

From beneath a thorny hedge, a queen uproots a Knight with no name nor past. He becomes her devoted servant, her most feared weapon, bound never to remove his armor before anyone save her.

Dutiful of his debt, he takes his body, now scarred and twisted from a lifetime of battle, and his favorite sword through the endless forest, to fetch the horn of the unicorn his queen so desires. There he finds the creature, in castle ruins at the end of the world, everything he expected and not. Where one moment there is a unicorn with her horn to cut free, the next there is Amalia, merely a woman, with the entirety of the forest beneath her skin and eyes that do not shy from his. Within her closeness and soft words, there is no fear of him, but a hint to his past, and a taste of companionship he has ached for since he was first found beneath the thorns and mud.

With Amalia’s gentleness haunting his steps and a once-familiar goblin child following them through the ruins, the Knight must face not only a forest that does not wish him to leave, but a monstrous boar bent on killing him and his two unexpected companions, impossibly bearing the eyes of the queen he is no longer certain he can serve.

I am the author of over a dozen novellas and novels, the most recent of which being The Wind and the Wild, a romantasy published in August of last year after a successful Kickstarter. My short fiction has appeared in many pro and semi-pro magazines including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Galaxy’s Edge, Flash Fiction Online, and Nature: Futures.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration!

Emily McCosh