Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Izzy Grace

Success Story Interview - Izzy Grace

An Interview with Izzy Grace (izzygraceauthor on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Lauren Gardner of Bell Lomax Moreton Agency.

11/10/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Izzy Grace:
I've had a little bit of an unusual path to securing an agent. I initially set out querying my novel RUNELIGHT BURNING, which is a Norse/Roman inspired romantasy about a smuggler with magic to hide and a mercenary searching for a lost loved one, working together to cross an enchanted border between realms before the smuggler is turned into a weapon for war.

My agent initially found me on social media and asked me to query her, later requesting a full, but when she asked to set up a call she was also keen to hear about my next project SCALE, which I'd posted about on socials. SCALE is a gothic romantasy about a maiden betrayed on the eve of her wedding, who sets out for revenge and enlists a charming criminal to help, only for her quest to unravel the ugly truth of a trade in wyvern scale and a long-awaited prophecy, forcing her to choose between vengeance and justice.

On the call with my agent, we both agreed that SCALE was the novel I wanted to (hopefully) debut with. I was more excited about the story and its potential, and more confident in its ability to stand out in a crowded market. And my agent was really keen to work with me on this moving forward. So while I initially queried her with one book, that novel is now shelved (for now).

The idea for SCALE came from a single image. A woman in a wedding dress, torn and muddied from running through a misty forest. I also knew I wanted to write a story with unexpected twists on tropes. So there's lovers to enemies, a chosen one as the villain, and the wyvern storyline is not about riding them but about how they are used for trade (at least in the first planned novel in the series!)
QT: How long have you been writing?: Izzy Grace:
I've been writing seriously for about a year and a half, but before then I always dreamed about it. I wrote a few scripts while at university studying drama, and failed to finish a few books in my early twenties before I properly sat myself down and committed to doing it.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Izzy Grace:
I worked on RUNELIGHT for about a year before querying, and I've been writing SCALE for a couple of months.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Izzy Grace:
I've never wanted to give up, but there were absolutely times when it felt incredibly hard to keep going and I really doubted myself. The writing community has been amazing. I went to the Jericho Writers festival in London this year and made so many great friends. Talking to people going through the same struggles and who understand your passion has been a great motivator. Also my close friends and my husband have given many pep talks when needed!
QT: Is this your first book?: Izzy Grace:
The first book I finished was a terrible regency romance that I wrote in a month. Doing that proved to myself I could actually write something novel length. After that I took writing more seriously, properly plotted, figured out the genre I wanted to write in, and took some online courses.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Izzy Grace:
I'm a Jericho Writers member and watched a lot of videos through them! I also undertook their Self Edit Your Novel course which was a six-week online course. Other than that I don't have any formal training.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Izzy Grace:
I work four days a week, so every Monday is a dedicated writing day for me. Other than that I just try and write most days. I've found writing sprints of around 20 minutes help me to focus and get the words on the page whenever I need a boost.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Izzy Grace:
I did 4 drafts of RUNELIGHT, including one major rewrite of pretty much everything. I'm currently working on the first draft for SCALE and am about halfway through.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Izzy Grace:
Yes, I had some wonderful beta readers for my first book, both close friends and those I met in the writing community and it was super helpful to have that feedback.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Izzy Grace:
I'm an outliner. I generally do an overarching plot plan, then write down a rough approximation of what scenes will happen in which chapters, however I treat this quite flexibly. Sometimes as you're writing ideas for new scenes pop up or you realise something needs to be restructured, so I tend not to worry if I can't get something to align exactly with my initial plan. I'll just make a note in my phone on what I need to tweak.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Izzy Grace:
RUNELIGHT is the first book I've queried. I started in July and signed with my agent in November.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Izzy Grace:
I sent out over 100 queries in the end. I had 5 full requests and over 80 rejections, but when I got my offer I withdrew a lot of my outstanding queries.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Izzy Grace:
If they were from a reputable agency, they were accepting queries in my genre, and if their manuscript wishlist suggested that they'd be a good fit.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Izzy Grace:
I did if there was something really relevant in what they were seeking or who they repped, but otherwise I didn't.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Izzy Grace:
It's true what they say that it's about finding the right agent at the right time. I was getting a lot of feedback from agents that they thought my writing was strong, but they didn't think the hook for RUNELIGHT would cut through the noise in a saturated market. One of the main reasons I signed with my agent is that she wanted to champion not just one book, but my career as an author. She saw the potential in what I'd written already and what I was writing next, which goes to show that sometimes it's worth sharing snippets of your writing journey online. You never know who might be looking!
QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?: Izzy Grace:
Sure! This query got me a handful of requests for RUNELIGHT, though in the end I signed with an agent on the basis that we'll be working on my next book together.

Success Story Interview - Izzy Grace

Query Letter: