Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Kevin Loughrin

Success Story Interview - Kevin Loughrin

An Interview with Kevin Loughrin (KPLoughrin on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Shannon Snow of Creative Media Agency.

06/05/2024

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Kevin Loughrin:
THE DEER is a four-POV literary horror novel about a dark modern-day Neverland set in the deep woods of northern Michigan. I think I was reading Peter Pan at the time, and so that certainly inspired the work. But I knew a long time ago that I wanted to write a book that could capitalize on how creepy I find deer to be. I always get the willies when I walk past one on a hike or drive by one on the side of the road, especially around twilight, and they are staring right at you like you caught them doing something they shouldn't be doing. As I was in the early writing phases, I found myself writing a section where one of the POV's brother's was being lured into the woods by a small fawn, and that's when I felt the story start to take off.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Kevin Loughrin:
I have always dabbled in creative writing. I'd written a few short stories that I liked, but never really tried to get them published. When I turned 30, I was laid off from a job that I kind of hated. In between interviews, I started writing again. It gave me energy and joy and that balanced out the job hunt, which was pretty torturous. Shortly after, my wife told me she really wanted to go back to work, so we swapped stay-at-home parenting roles and I started writing a lot more.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Kevin Loughrin:
I started writing THE DEER in 2019. I think it took me a little less than a year to finish the first draft.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Kevin Loughrin:
On writing? Honestly, no, but that isn't a virtuous statement. Writing just makes me happy. I think it's therapeutic. Writing helps me process things I can't process on my own because I don't quite know that they are there until I put them onto a different character and explore that character for 300 pages. I like discovering things about characters and putting them through things and seeing how they respond. I like sharing those discoveries with people. It's just fun for me. It's easy when it's fun.

As far as querying is concerned, I think I got enough positive response, even to the earliest drafts of this book that I felt like I might have something with legs.
QT: Is this your first book?: Kevin Loughrin:
It's not. My first book was about a global pandemic that took out 98% of the world's population, leaving Elliot and Justine to wrestle with the haunting of grief caused by the loss of their three sons. It was a real perky, happy novel, as is clear from the pitch. I queried it for a short time, but never got many responses. I think something happened a few years back that soured people on the subject matter. Maybe I'm imagining that. Maybe it was just a bit ahead of its time.

Oh, also there were zombies.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Kevin Loughrin:
Not really. I took some writing courses in high school and college, but only the things that they made you take to graduate. I believed the stuff I'd always heard people say: If you're not going to be a journalist (which I wasn't) then there is no future in it. So, ten-years later, after making the practical career choice, here I am.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Kevin Loughrin:
I have three kids. I am the primary caregiver to those kids. One of them is three. He just dropped his nap. The other day I had to dismantle our toilet to make sure the bath toys he flushed when I turned around for thirty-seconds made it all the way down the drain. So, no, I don't have a routine or a schedule.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Kevin Loughrin:
I am always editing it, but I think the current version is the sixth draft. Some of those drafts came with more significant edits than did others, but each of them made major shifts in the quality of the book.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Kevin Loughrin:
I had a few, yes. I don't consider the friends that I sent it to early on beta readers. They like me too much. I swapped beta reads with a few people I met at conferences, and that was really helpful. It's also just so special to be invited into someone else's writing process. I always find it really rewarding.

This wasn't a beta read, but an agent who read my full-manuscript gave me some feedback after she passed on the manuscript. I had cold-queried her and she responded by passing, said she didn't rep the horror-genre but it sounded good. I thanked her for the response. Then I saw her on a panel at a conference. I sought her out and thanked her again for her kind response. Later on, after getting some feedback saying the book might be more speculative than horror, I reached out again to say that I just made some major edits and wondered if she'd wanted to give it a second look. I thanked her again for her initial response. She asked for the first seventy-five pages, then the whole novel. The feedback she gave me when she passed on the book was really hard to hear, but she was right, so I implemented it. The first person who read the manuscript after making her changes made an offer of representation. The second offer came soon after that.

I asked her why she offered feedback (she realized about halfway through that it was more horror than speculative, so it still wasn't her genre). She said she did it because I was kind and professional and she appreciated that. I think of her as my most valued beta reader. And I still thank her often.

No one should be kind because "it pays to be kind." Just be kind. But sometimes, yes, it pays to be kind.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Kevin Loughrin:
Oh, I write from the hip. I used to do improv theater at iO in Chicago. The Harold (look it up) is my writing style. I let it fly and whatever happens, happens.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Kevin Loughrin:
I started querying it in 2021, I think, but I went really slow. The best advice I got (and I took it very reluctantly) was to send out small batches and wait to see if I got any bites. I sent maybe 8-10, then waited six months. Then I sent 8-10 more and waited again. I got a few requests over the course of the first year and a half, but the book wasn't ready. It was too long. I finally cut the word count down about 20K words, and started querying it again. I think in the first few years, I sent about 50-60 queries. When I cut the word count in October, I sent out another batch. I got a few requests, and then a few more in the next batch. Over the next six months, I sent out maybe 100 queries. Last month I got two offers of representation. It's really hard to take your time, but my book wasn't ready early on, even though I was POSITIVE it was ready. Yours might not be ready either, and sending out a thousand queries right away only narrows the pool of agents you can reach out to when it is ready. Take your time.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Kevin Loughrin:
I think I sent about 150.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Kevin Loughrin:
Sometimes I was really specific, but one time my criteria was simply the fact that QueryTracker told me they responded to a lot of queries in a very short amount of time. That one was pretty much just to see if I still existed in a world that wasn't completely disconnected from time and space, and I think sometimes we need that.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Kevin Loughrin:
Sometimes, I would, but I think the majority were pretty standard in their wording. I don't think I ever saw a significant difference in the responses I received from personalized versus non-personalized queries. I mean, change the name, of course, but that's about as personal as many of them got for me.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Kevin Loughrin:
I've always heard that success in anything takes a combination of time, skill, and luck. Make sure you have the skill by asking people who will be honest with you to assess your work. Take your time. And pray to whatever gods or force or fairies or unicorns or turtles that you will get lucky at some point down the road. I think I got lucky to happen to be writing in a genre that for whatever reason is in really high demand right now. I can't write other things. I just can't. That's lucky. I am also lucky that Shannon Snow found my pitch at a Twitter pitching event, pressed the "like" button. Control what you can control, try your best to let go of everything else, and be gracious with yourself when your best is smashing your head relentlessly against the keyboard.

Success Story Interview - Kevin Loughrin

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