Success Story Interview - Morgana Bourggraff

An Interview with Morgana Bourggraff (mbourggraff on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Alexander Cochran of C+W.

07/22/2024

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
Lady of the Lake is a 75,000 word literary myth “pre-telling” of the lady of the lake’s iron age, bog-body origin story, based on the early Celtic myths that would one day become the legends of King Arthur.

I visited the Moesgaard Museum during a road trip around Denmark in 2021 and they have an amazing exhibit about the iron age centred on the Grauballe Man, a bog body found in central Jutland. I was already interested in this era of history and bog bodies, but after that visit I was obsessed. I wrote a (not very good) short story on the trip home that ended up forming the base of chapter one of Lady of the Lake. The idea sort of niggled at the back of my head after and I knew I had to expand the story. I live near some impressive Gaulish ruins that inspired me to set the story during the Gallic Wars (Gaul v Rome, Vercingetorix v Caesar, 50s BCE). It wasn't until chapter four that I realised my protagonist is the lady of the lake.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Morgana Bourggraff:
Since I could hold a pencil. (Apologies again to all the innocents who were forced to act in and watch the plays I prolifically wrote ages 5 to ... embarrassingly old.) In my final year of secondary school I wrote a humorous short story collection and started countless novels in uni but only "got serious" about writing during the mass what-am-I-doing-with-my-life-? of 2020.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
I know this is an annoying answer (and I promise I'm a nice lady!) but I started this book in January 2024, so six months. My previous book took four years.

QT: Is this your first book?

Morgana Bourggraff:
I (unsuccessfully) queried an epic fantasy last year. It was rough to have to shelve that project but in hindsight, I'm so glad Lady of the Lake might be my debut and I obviously grew a lot as a writer through the labour of that first book.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Morgana Bourggraff:
I'm currently working through a diploma in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford and took creative writing courses in uni, though that was... a few years ago.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Morgana Bourggraff:
Not really. I have a baby and a very demanding "day" career so I do what I can when I can. I almost exclusively write during nap times on weekends and late at night when everyone else in my house is asleep. I wrote most of Lady of the Lake when I was still on maternity leave so my writing schedule was whatever my infant's sleep schedule was. That he shares my penchant for sleep is the real reason I was able to draft this book so quickly.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
Once... but this is a misleading answer! Despite all good advice I am incapable of writing a draft zero. It takes me longer than a lot of writers I know to first-draft a book because I linger over every sentence and revise as I go. It's a terrible way to work, 0/10 do not recommend, BUT it does mean that my "first" draft turns out pretty clean. In the second pass I changed the ending and so made sure everything was consistent with that throughout and incorporated some feedback I had received.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Morgana Bourggraff:
yes! I have two lovely critique partners I met through the WFWA who alpha read it and then another two beta readers.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
I outlined my book in this absolutely gorgeous 50 page word document with clear headers and subheaders, internal references, links to an index of my research, and the results of a program I wrote to help me keep track of the assumptions I used in recreating the Gaulish language...

...and then I got to chapter two and the narrative completely went off the rails. I want to be a plotter so badly but chaos inevitably reigns supreme.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
I "hard launched" Lady of the Lake at pitdark (though I did not get any industry interaction, fyi!) and got my first offer exactly one month later. I also had a surgery in that month so it took me a good week to send out the MS to the first agents who requested. I did soft launch a few queries out earlier to agents with notoriously long response times and to check how the pitch was performing.

I aggressively queried my previous novel for 6 months before laying it gently in a velvet-lined drawer while Danny Boy played in the background.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
I queried very broadly. If they repped (one of) the genres and seemed legitimate, I probably queried. I also queried a mix of agents, from industry titans to the freshest of faces.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
Mostly no. If I had previously interacted with the agent (they requested the first manuscript, we met in person, on twitter, a client referred me etc.) I mentioned it and I did refer to a few of the agents' clients where it was especially relevant.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
Query W I D E. With my first MS I was meticulous in only querying agents whose MSWLs were an absolute perfect fit for my novel. I received no requests until I started querying MSWL-blind and then racked up requests. Of course, you need to make sure they rep your genre and they don't have any hard-no criteria (do respect agents' triggers and 'don't send me's!) but if you're clear there, go for it. Most of my requests on both books came from "send me what you have and we'll see" agents.

Also, don't be afraid to aim high. I agree that we shouldn't have dream agents but I do see a lot of writers self-rejecting. Don't! I received offers from agents I never actually thought would give me the time of day, but I shot my shot anyway. You and your work deserve the chance!

At the same time, don't hesitate to query new or young agents. I have interacted with so many incredibly lovely, smart, and qualified people new to agenting and would not hesitate to recommend them for their passion, insight, and drive.

As writers, it's hard for us to know who's going to be the best fit until there's an offer on the table and we get to have that call. Don't short-change yourself.

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

Morgana Bourggraff:
Absolutely!

Query Letter:

Dear Alexander,

LADY OF THE LAKE is a 75,000 word literary myth “pre-telling” of the lady of the lake’s iron age, bog-body origin story, based on the early Celtic myths that would one day become the legends of King Arthur. In the vein of other popular literary myth reimaginings like Circe by Madeline Miller, LADY OF THE LAKE proposes an origin story for a little-understood goddess, but in a Celtic setting like that of Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan and Sistersong by Lucy Holland. Given the appetite for myth in this category and (what I see as) an Arthurian trend, I'm hoping the market is ripe for this story.

Celtic Gaul, 1st century B.C. - Donra's world shatters when her warrior brother falls to Caesar's legions and she is sacrificed to the bog in her tribe's bid for the favor of the gods. She has seen the tortured ghosts of the Otherworld all her life but despite her fear of their fate and the heartache of losing a life with her love, the guilt she feels for her part in her brother’s death drives her under the surface of the lake. But the black water of the Otherworld is nothing like the druids said it would be, and the gods do not intervene in the wars of men, no matter how much she pleads. Unwilling to leave her tribe to ruin and let her sacrifice be in vain, Donra sets out on a quest to resurrect her hero brother to lead the revolt against Caesar’s men.

But Donra’s grief and guilt are all-consuming as her journey forces her to confront the lifetime's worth of choices that led her down this path, especially her affair with her brother’s political rival. As she learns to traverse the border between worlds, every step she takes tears the veil between realms, unleashing a litany of horrors and uncovering a destiny that will transcend centuries.

When my mother named me Morgana, she cursed me (or blessed me?) to become an amateur scholar of Arthurian legends, and the Gaulish ruins in my backyard in Luxembourg similarly cast their spell on my obsessive-historian’s mind. I am currently enrolled in the Diploma in Creative Writing program at the University of Oxford and am also a member of the British Fantasy Society and the Horror Writers Association.

Please find my synopsis and first three chapters attached. Thank you very much for your consideration and I hope to hear from you.

Best regards,

Morgana