Success Story Interview - Kate Curtis Lucas

An Interview with Kate Curtis Lucas (katecurtislucas on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Amy Moore-Benson of Cooke McDermid Literary Agency.

05/21/2025

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
All My Own Stunts is a suspense novel about a famous actor and his long-suffering stunt double, who share an uncanny resemblance to each other. After the actor mysteriously vanishes from the set of his new movie, his double sets out to track down his whereabouts—with the help of his biggest superfan. The idea of a double story had been bouncing around since I read Star Island by Carl Hiaasen back in 2017, and years later, I ended up turning it into a choose-your-own-adventure game for a college assignment. After finishing the game, I realized there was more to this story I wanted to tell, so with encouragement from friends I started writing a novel.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I've been writing my whole life, but I finished my first novel when I was in high school, which was ten years ago now. I wanted to be a science fiction author, but after writing two or three books in that genre that didn't feel ready to query, I took a break and came back with something totally different: All My Own Stunts, the first novel I'd ever seen through to the second draft!

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I can't believe it, but about three years, on and off! I started writing it during the summer of 2022, if you don't count the time this story spent as a text adventure before it was a novel.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
Yes, actually. When the movie The Fall Guy was announced last year, I was devastated, because the pitch sounded similar to what I'd been writing. It felt absurd to think that my unpublished manuscript could compete with a Ryan Gosling movie, so I almost threw in the towel and scrapped the idea altogether. I'm glad I kept going!

QT: Is this your first book?

Kate Curtis Lucas:
Kind of! I've written several science fiction novels, but none of them made it past the first draft stage.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I have an English degree and I work in publishing.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I do my best to wake up early and write for an hour or so before work, longer on the weekends. Getting out of bed is the hard part. Once I start writing, I'm always happy I took the time, even if I only got a few sentences down.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I did four passes: one for developmental edits, one to resolve betareader comments, one for line edits, and one for proofreading.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I had several, including my mom and a handful of friends, who helped me tremendously!

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I used to outline a book within an inch of its life, but with AMOS, I just wrote whatever scene I was most excited about at the time, mostly in an effort to get myself to write, and eventually those scenes fell into place within a larger story.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
All My Own Stunts is the first book I have queried. I've been querying it for just over two months.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I sent 39 queries before receiving an offer of rep from my agent.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I looked for agents who wanted books that were a little offbeat and weird, who enjoyed reading stories with queer characters, who liked some of the themes I was working with, and most importantly, who wanted to see commercial books in the genre I was writing in. I also tried not to query anyone who strongly disliked sci-fi, because although AMOS isn't in that genre, I could see myself writing it in the future, and I wanted to find an agent I could have a long and happy partnership with.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
I actually did not tailor each query to the specific agent, though I did take care to select agents I thought would enjoy the book, and to write a letter which told them everything they'd want to know about it. Publishing is an industry of relationships, but in my own experience working in editorial, if a story I really connect with comes into my inbox, it doesn't matter to me whether the letter is tailored or not. I wanted to be very straightforward and concise about querying, because in the end, you fall in love with the book, not the letter.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
Don't let your rejections (or lack of responses) get you down! Publishing people work very hard each day to summit Email Mountain, and sometimes things move slowly. A lack of response doesn't mean they aren't reading. A rejection doesn't mean they think it was bad. Keep on trucking.

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

Kate Curtis Lucas:
Happy to!

Query Letter:

Dear Amy,

Matt McHugh might be the luckiest stuntman in Hollywood. Thanks to his uncanny resemblance to rising star nepo baby Jake Hylander, he’ll never have to struggle to find work again. The problem is, his doubling job doesn’t end when the cameras stop rolling. Matt reluctantly assumes Jake’s identity whenever he’s asked to, whether it’s for charity work, a trip to an inpatient facility, or Thanksgiving dinner with his girlfriend’s family. Over the years, their working relationship has deteriorated, as Matt’s self-image has become irreparably intertwined with his famous boss. So when Jake suddenly goes missing from the set of his new movie and a troubled production threatens to see Matt recast as the lead, he sets out to retrieve their star.

To this end, Matt reluctantly joins forces with Shy Osterloh, Jake’s biggest superfan, a tenacious teenage runaway intent on meeting her hero. The novel is a road trip story at its heart, an adventure down I-95 from Burlington, Vermont to the Florida Everglades, which turns perilous when they realize they are being followed by a mysterious white Porsche. Along the way, Matt and Shy investigate their leads, and each other. Why has Matt stayed in a job where he’s constantly mistreated? Why does Shy believe she is indebted to someone who doesn’t know she exists? And above all, how well do either of them really know the man they are trying to find?

ALL MY OWN STUNTS (94,000 words) is an offbeat contemporary suspense novel of life-consuming obsessions, fallen heroes, and completely healthy coping mechanisms. It will appeal to readers of high-concept LGBTQ+ fiction in the vein of Samantha Allen (Patricia Wants to Cuddle), as well as the sharp humor and quirky roadside Americana of Zee Carlstrom (Make Sure You Die Screaming).

I am an editorial assistant at Macmillan, an alum of William & Mary and the Columbia Publishing Course, and a lifelong fan of cross-country drives and culty internet niches. I grew up in Central Florida but I’m now based in Manhattan, and All My Own Stunts is my debut novel. I am currently working on my second book, about a young woman who, after meeting a fascinating stranger on an online roleplay forum and bonding over a shared love of fanfiction, becomes drawn into her web of increasingly fantastical lies.

This is a multiple submission which has already received full requests from Aevitas Creative and InkWell Management.

Thank you so much for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kate Curtis Lucas
(she/they)