Success Story Interview - Helen

An Interview with Helen (helsavcrotty on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Katherine Odom-Tomchin of Folio Literary Management.

07/20/2026

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

Helen:
My novel is speculative, queer horror following a family reunion that goes horribly wrong. I started writing it during COVID lockdowns, when my own family was talking about how to get together after restrictions lifted---it was an escape, primarily, at least at first.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Helen:
I've been making stories and writing in some capacity forever, but I've only been working on it seriously for the last seven or eight years.

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

Helen:
From first pages to offer, I've been working on this novel for four and a half years.

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

Helen:
Of course lol. I often got distracted by other writing projects and life events or the futility of trying to do this herculean thing. But I thought about how many people talk about their novels---how many people try to write---and how few actually finish a book. I did my best not to think about publication or querying while I was working. I tried to keep my attention on writing a whole book, start to finish, and knowing that that would be exceptional in and of itself.

QT: Is this your first book?

Helen:
It's the first one I finished! :)

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Helen:
Not really. I've participated in a few workshops but no MFA or other degree.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Helen:
No. I find that if I'm out of the book for more than five days it's really hard to get back into a flow, so I try to touch the book every day or every other day, even if that's just a paragraph. That said, I wiggle around my work and family schedules first. I'm a teacher, so I do have large chunks of time built into my year where I can dedicate time to writing and blast through several thousand words at a time.

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

Helen:
I have four printed "final" drafts gathering dust on a shelf. On top of that, I did an R&R with my now-agent.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Helen:
Yes! I gave them a form to fill out to address specific questions I had and looked at their collective feedback for patterns and trends to figure out where to focus my energy.

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

Helen:
I find that if I outline in detail I get bored and stop drafting. Generally speaking I usually have a few of the super climactic scenes vividly imagined before I start working and then write towards those.

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

Helen:
I queried this book for 10 months.

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

Helen:
I sent 90 query letters.

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

Helen:
I looked at preferred genres, MSWLs/favorite book lists, and books they'd previously represented, looking for authors and books that I admire or inspired my work.

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

Helen:
Not really. The only things I changed were the names and I used genre language that they had specifically referenced; so if they said they were seeking horror, I described the book as "queer horror" rather than "speculative" in the first paragraph, though I always made sure I was accurately describing the book.

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

Helen:
This process is so, so hard. Remember that it is dependent mostly on things outside of your control----the market, the political environment, agents' current workloads, even who's currently working in your genre. The process is as much luck as it is skill, maybe more so, and a no for now is not a no forever.

Query Letter:

Dear [AGENT],

Carmilla meets Arrested Development in EAT ME ALIVE, a speculative horror novel complete at 73,000 words. It combines the visceral satire of Mona Awad’s Bunny with the tense introspection of Ayesha Manazir Saddiqi’s The Centre, incorporating found media along with the prose.

Rita Roy has won. Or she will have, once her girlfriend Nick has a ring on her finger. Nick is all the things Rita wants: beautiful, independent, tough as nails, a little scary. If they can survive an international reunion with Rita’s tight-knit family, there’ll be a wedding to plan, and Rita will never have to be alone again.

But Nick doesn’t seem to have the same goals in mind. She’s prickly and distant throughout the trip, and when she’s attacked by a colony of bats on the rental property and begins acting strangely, Rita’s quirky, self-involved relatives become irritated. When Nick disappears overnight, leaving only a note and two of her teeth behind, they’re happy to believe she’s jumped ship.

Rita embarks on a frantic effort to keep her world intact, following a bloodsoaked, ravenous Nick across the Tuscan countryside. The family’s lukewarm acceptance of Rita’s side quest turns to hostility when a cherished family pet is found gruesomely murdered. Stretched in two directions by loved ones who demand her complete devotion, Rita starts to worry that she’ll have to make a choice between them—or that one might be made for her.

When not writing, I spend most of my time working as a children’s librarian and crying about college basketball. I am an alum of Pioneer Valley Writing Workshop’s year-long novel first draft and revision programs, and a 2024 resident at Trillium Arts.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my work.