Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Suzanne Albanis

Success Story Interview - Suzanne Albanis

An Interview with Suzanne Albanis (SuzanneAlbanis on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Rebecca Angus of Howland Literary.

03/17/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Suzanne Albanis:
LILAC CREST, is a gothic cottageGORE CARMILLA retelling in which a Green Witch heiress, must save her ancestor’s ghosts from a vengeful immortality seeking cult, uncover family secrets, hide a disturbing necromantic power manifesting within her witchcraft, and avoid falling for the enigmatic night gardener whose family’s past is intertwined with her own. I came up with the skeleton of the idea back when I was in a highschool forensics class, and learned of the term “iliac crest.” I thought it sounded like the name of a manor and that spurned the urge to write a creepy heiress book, at a manor filled with lilac bushes, named after the iliac crest. When I read CARMILLA, I found the atmosphere and story so compelling, I wanted to write a story where Laura was a witch with her own powers, rather than a helpless mortal girl. The two ideas blended, and LILAC CREST was born.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Suzanne Albanis:
When I was a child I used to “write” books, but they were just picture books. I started writing seriously in sixth grade—a story about a girl who finds a mermaid washed up on her beach. I was writing it in a notebook, and had plans to make my mom type it out for me so we could send it to publishers. Eventually I got bored of it, but in ninth grade I got a chromebook for the first time and I still remember opening my google account and deciding that this time I was going to finish a novel. And I did, and I’ve written thirteen books since then.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Suzanne Albanis:
LILAC CREST took me around six weeks to write. Normally, I write slower, but I wanted to get this book in the querying trenches since the first novel I tried querying was dying. I started writing it around the end of March, and finished early April of 2024.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Suzanne Albanis:
I never gave up on finding an agent or becoming an author, but there were times when I nearly gave up on this book’s journey in the trenches. I stayed on course mostly due to blind determination and sheer willpower.
QT: Is this your first book?: Suzanne Albanis:
LILAC CREST was my tenth novel.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Suzanne Albanis:
I am currently a sophomore at Southern New Hampshire University for Professional and Technical Writing, but outside of one basic creative writing requirement for this degree, I am self taught.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Suzanne Albanis:
My schedule is flexible with my classes being mostly online, so I make time to write towards the end of the week when my schooling is completed. Usually I start writing at ten AM, until work in the evenings.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Suzanne Albanis:
LILAC CREST was pretty much a first draft. (Don’t do this, I got eager and started querying to soon—I also edited extensively while writing and I outline heavily, so normally I have a clean-ish first draft). With the help of a friend, I did edit it significantly towards the end of my querying journey after my current agent rejected me and I asked for a revise and resubmit.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Suzanne Albanis:
Two of my close friends in real life read the novel before querying, and a writing community friend helped me halfway through my journey.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Suzanne Albanis:
I outline very extensively and rarely break from that. However, I did end up removing an entire chunk of the outline for this book because I realized it was just meandering at a certain point, and I could skip to the climactic ending.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Suzanne Albanis:
I queried for fourteen months straight before finding representation. LILAC CREST took seven months—I started in May and received an offer in November.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Suzanne Albanis:
I sent 137 queries.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Suzanne Albanis:
I queried widely… so nothing. (I would not recommend this. You should make sure the agencies are reputable and have no serious issues to be concerned with) If their Manuscript Wishlist said fantasy or gothic horror, I sent them a query. If they were interested in queer novels, I queried them. Pretty much anyone who was open to the genre.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Suzanne Albanis:
I did! In my opening line, I would write “Based on your interest in ____” and then I included items from their wish list, or simply the genres they were asking for that my book fell into.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Suzanne Albanis:
Make a separate email address, query widely (to an extent), don’t self-reject based on wishlists, log off of social media, and as my Dzia Dziu always told me, “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.”

Success Story Interview - Suzanne Albanis

Query Letter: