Success Story Interview - Libbi Heath

An Interview with Libbi Heath (LibbiHeath on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Marissa Brown of Pippin Properties, Inc..

11/09/2026

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

Libbi Heath:
Doublewrought is a romantasy about Nyeki of Calandra, a sun-elf bard who has spent a hundred years living with an illness the healers call an affliction. Sometimes, she wakes to discover that her hands have done unspeakable things. What she doesn’t know is that these acts are the work of Ysane, a god hiding in the back of her skull. When Nyeki meets Renault, the god of death, he promises her a cure. There’s just one complication: Ysane was his wife three centuries ago.

I began writing Doublewrought after finishing a few drafts of my first novel, which explores much darker themes and took a lot of mental energy to complete. I wanted to write something fun and lighter, so I drew on things I loved: Baldur’s Gate 3, Greek mythology and experiences from my own life. From that, Doublewrought was born. I never expected it to be as funny as it is, and I certainly never expected to query it -- let alone find representation!

QT: How long have you been writing?

Libbi Heath:
I’ve been writing for as long as I’ve been able to. I loved it at school and was always making my English teachers read the novels I’d written! I stopped for a year or two while I was at college, but when I started my apprenticeship at Tate in London, my creativity and passion for writing woke up again. That was three years ago, and I’ve been writing every day since.

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

Libbi Heath:
Every day. There were so many tears shed throughout writing and querying, and because I struggle with anxiety and self-worth, it was particularly difficult at times.

For me, keeping busy helped. I kept writing, even if it was just a hundred words a day. I reminded myself that I was doing this because I love writing, and that being an author is my biggest dream. Even when it was hard, it was something I wanted enough to keep trying.

Also, a lot of chocolate.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Libbi Heath:
No, I don’t — at least not in creative writing. In my day job as an Internal Communications Executive, I write news articles, policies and other formal content, which has helped me strengthen my grammar. Everything I’ve learnt about creative writing has come from writing, rereading and revising my own work. Reading other books constantly has taught me so much, too!

And I still can't spell properly despite all of this!

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

Libbi Heath:
Honestly, I rewrote and edited Doublewrought about eight times. There were parts of the plot I wasn’t happy with, and then I realised I had a habit of overexplaining. Someone who read the book called my writing pretentious, so I cried and then edited it again.

But I truly feel like I’ve become a completely different writer through that process. Weirdly, knowing what it taught me, I’d do it all again.

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

Libbi Heath:
Completely from the hip. I had no idea what I was doing until I reached the last page, sat back and thought, “Oh. I want to take this seriously.” Then came the editing, where I worked through the plot details and fleshed out the worldbuilding.

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

Libbi Heath:
I began querying Doublewrought in June, so a total of 5 months before my offer of Rep.

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

Libbi Heath:
Twenty-nine in total.

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

Libbi Heath:
Keep going, but give yourself a break when you need one. I know how hard it is when rejections arrive every day. I once had four in a single day and felt like the world was ending.

Tracking my queries in Excel helped me feel more organised. I kept notes on form rejections and personalised responses, including any feedback. Be open to that feedback, but remember that it reflects one agent’s taste and opinion. If several agents are highlighting the same issue, though, it’s worth taking a closer look.

Try not to measure your chances against someone else’s full requests. There’s no magic number you need to reach. Ultimately, you’re looking for one agent who loves your book and shares your vision for it.

Query Letter:

Nyeki of Calandra wakes on a prisoner's wagon, bound for the block for killing a woman with a fork. She doesn't remember doing it. She never does.

For a hundred years, the sun-elf bard has been losing time. At first it was minutes, then hours, and most recently two whole years. She checks her hands every morning. So, when monsters tear her execution apart and a red-eyed sellsword named Renault drags her out of the chaos, she can't afford to refuse his offer. There is a scholar in the far north who can cure what she is: doublewrought.

She goes north with a man she doesn't trust and a dwarf monster-hunter who adopts her on sight. Later, a grieving healer joins them, along with a marrowcat who eats shepherds and has decided she's his. Renault, it turns out, is no sellsword. He is death itself, walking in the body his mother gave him. And the thing Nyeki carries is no affliction. It is Ysane, a being with its own mind and its own plans, and three hundred years ago it wore the woman Renault married.

Ysane is done hiding. Using Nyeki's hands, it forces the goddess of growth to kill her own husband, then takes his power for itself. His widow swears to tear Ysane out of Nyeki, even if Nyeki dies with it. The goddess of love turns an entire city's devotion into a weapon. Beneath the earth, something ancient has been waiting for a gap to open among the gods, and every god that falls makes one.

The cure is real. It is also the one door Ysane has spent two years steering her towards. To be free, Nyeki must open it and fight for her body in the dark of her own mind, where no god can follow. If she wins, she finally gets to be only herself. If she loses, Ysane walks out wearing her face and carrying the power of two dead gods, and the man who has only just let himself love again loses her to the same monster twice.

DOUBLEWROUGHT is a romantasy, complete at 112,000 words. It is the first in a planned series, and will appeal to readers of Rachel Gillig's THE KNIGHT AND THE MOTH and Carissa Broadbent's THE SERPENT AND THE WINGS OF NIGHT.