Success Story Interview - M. Milton

An Interview with M. Milton (amoeba on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Uwe Stender of Triada US Literary Agency.

10/23/2023

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

M. Milton:
It’s a dual point of view YA speculative (mystery/sci-fi/noir) centering the kidnapping of a crime family’s golden boy. For my tech, I read an article about how pacemaker batteries work, and the rest took care of itself.

QT: How long have you been writing?

M. Milton:
I’ve been writing books seriously since I was thirteen (so a whole 17 years). But I only really started writing with the aim of seeking representation eleven years ago when I met my CPs in early university! They helped me go from writing for me, to writing for an audience.

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

M. Milton:
This is a loaded question because I’m a writer that reuses characters/settings/beats from ‘dead’ projects. But I’ve been working on this iteration since 2017. I’m a slow writer.

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

M. Milton:
Only constantly: I’ve been querying this book for two years. I often asked myself if this story was worth it/good if it was so slow coming out, especially because I was getting CNRs and forms. Several things helped me get through it:

1) Loving my story to bits and being super stubborn about seeing it through to the end.
2) “Get back on your horse”. My mom used to do horseback riding when she was little, and when her horse kicked her off, her instructor told her not even to give yourself time to be afraid and to climb back up immediately. Get a rejection? Send out another query. Apply for a grant/residency/mentorship. Submit to an anthology. Plan a revision or new book.
3) I’d think about what I’ll do if this book doesn’t work out. I wrote myself a pep talk and decided what fun new thing I’ll work on and got hyped about it. My goal was to be disappointed I didn’t get to do something no matter what happened.
4) I had CPs/fellow writers suffering alongside me/commiserating with me. This was probably the most important thing.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

M. Milton:
I have a BA in English literature and a certificate in writing and drawing for graphic novels and comix. I took many 200 level writing classes in university but they never showed me anything I hadn’t already researched myself. My biggest jumps in writing quality were through mentorship (I was an AMM mentee), critique exchanges, and online conferences.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

M. Milton:
I’m an all or nothing kind of writer, which is probably explained by my ADHD. If I’m obsessed by a project I write in every spare moment and get mad if I’m pulled away. If I’m burnt out or stuck, I’ll take weeks off to mull the plot over.

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

M. Milton:
Two times pre Author Mentor Match, then twice with my mentor, then once with my R&R—about five times. Lots of plot changes, one genre shift.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

M. Milton:
Yes, my CPs and my mentor. I took a year and a half on my R&R and couldn’t bear waiting longer, so I risked submitting it without anyone looking at it because I was feeling confident.

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

M. Milton:
Both. I wrote the outline, didn’t follow it, adjusted the outline, rinse repeat. Because I’ve got two mysteries tangled together in this book, eventually I had to make a timeline/murder board to make sure the right information got delivered at the right moment.

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

M. Milton:
Two years and a few months, most of that time was me putting querying on pause to work on my R&R and another book I’d received a grant for.

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

M. Milton:
My offer was my 7th query, but by the time I got my R&R (and then later my offer), I was 38 queries in and near the end of my list.

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

M. Milton:
I only made sure to address the agent by name at the start of the query, but otherwise kept it the same.

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

M. Milton:
The querying landscape has changed a lot since pre-pandemic, so while old query advice is still useful, some of it might be out of date. Lots of writers I know right now are talking about either doing larger query batches (15 or so at a time, as rejections come in send more), or shotgunning your whole list at once. Definitely talk to people querying at the same time as you. I’m not sure what’s best, but I was personally planning to do larger query batches with my next project.

Query Letter:

Dear XX,

Blood is power: in veins, and in generators. Seventeen-year-old Mousie Leadbitter builds vampiric tech for her criminal family, because when you live in a city powered and funded with human blood, murder is lucrative.

When her tech genius cousin is kidnapped on his eighteenth birthday, Mousie’s ordered to keep her head down and focus on her insect-like murder robots. But the crime scene screams inside job, and there are too many red flags to ignore. With her own family on the suspect list, she turns to sixteen-year-old Jule, who’s in deep shit for taking drugs at school days after a very public breakup with Mousie’s cousin. When Mousie offers to clear Jule’s record in exchange for help finding his ex, he can’t say no. Problem is, Jule doesn’t know about the Leadbitter’s criminal activities, and hates blood thieves for destroying his neighbourhood and murdering his parents. If Mousie can’t keep the right evidence in the dark, no amount of history, kissing, or bargaining could stop Jule from exposing their secret.

The teen sleuths have seven days to find Mousie’s cousin before he’s drained of all his blood, and everyone’s a suspect. Because in a city run by criminals, the only folk that survive are the ones that bite back.

DRAINED is a 99,500-word YA sci-fi, featuring dual POV bisexual protagonists and cyberpunk elements. It’s a standalone novel with series potential that is an un-paranormal sci-fi take on vampires and late-stage capitalism befitting a Black Mirror episode, and will appeal to fans of Joan He’s The Ones We're Meant to Find. This book was selected for round seven of Author Mentor Match. I’m a bisexual author living in Vancouver, Canada, and when not writing I can be found nerd-hunching over my Nintendo Switch.

Content warnings: addiction, substance abuse, gore, murder, assault, references to suicidal ideation and suicide.