Success Story Interview - Tracy Hoagland

An Interview with Tracy Hoagland (tl_hoagland on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Bernadette Baker-Baughman of Victoria Sanders & Associates.

04/06/2023

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

Tracy Hoagland:
The concept for my novel was "what happens after Hamlet?" I was curious what Horatio was up to after losing his best friend (and pretty much everyone else in the play). What would that look like if Horatio was a woman? What would it look like if the setting was a small coastal town in Oregon? I also really wanted to dig into how our experiences when we're teenagers manifest years down the line. At the heart, my novel is about finding your home again, whatever that might look like.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Tracy Hoagland:
Since I can remember! As a kid I loved to worldbuild and create and consume stories of all kinds. It wasn't until the pandemic though that I put my butt in the chair and committed to finishing my first novel.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
I worked on this novel for about a year. I'm a fairly quick drafter. I think I finished the first draft in about three months, then spent around a year revising with critique partners, beta readers, and a wonderful developmental editor that I met through a Book Aid for Ukraine event. (Shout out to Sarah Lawton!)

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

Tracy Hoagland:
Once I finished my first novel...no. I think your first book will always be the hardest, but once you get past that huge hurdle, the second is easier, then the third, etc.

QT: Is this your first book?

Tracy Hoagland:
This was my third novel. My first two were fantasy and I made the conscious decision to change genre as fantasy is incredibly competitive these days. Writing a contemporary mystery/thriller was daunting as it felt like I had a whole new set of rules and tropes and reader expectations to learn!

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Tracy Hoagland:
I have a bachelor's degree in English literature as well as a writing minor. I'm also very involved in my local Willamette Writers group which hosts tons of writing focused workshops, speakers, and an annual conference.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Tracy Hoagland:
No. I am chaos. I don't have children and I have a very flexible, wfh job, so my writing happens whenever inspiration hits. I find during the daylight hours I'm mostly revising/editing what I worked on the night before, then after 10pm, when the world is quiet, is when I really dig into drafting.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
I did around three large revisions over the course of a year.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Tracy Hoagland:
Yes, I have an amazing and supporting circle of critique partners and beta readers.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
I write from the hip! I definitely keep in mind the story beats that I know I need to hit (Save the Cat! is one of my favorite resources) but I cannot sit down and outline. This makes it harder when revising, but I don't think I could finish a book if I banged my head against the wall trying to outline it first! I'm one of those people whose characters get away from them in surprising ways. My characters always, always come first and I let the story evolve from them and the tense situations I put them in.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
I queried this book for about a month. My previous fantasy novel I sent around 30 queries before shelving it to focus on this one.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
I sent around twenty queries for this novel.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
I'm quite exacting when building an agent list. Response time is important to me as I feel it speaks to a base level of respect an agent has for the writers querying them. I also have a Publisher's Marketplace account and keep track of agencies specifically that are making sales in my genre. My agent in particular used to live in my home state, so I felt she was uniquely suited to 'get' my book as the Oregon coast setting is a huge piece of my story.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
Only for the few that had very specific things in their MSWL that spoke to my novel (Shakespeare retellings, Millennial stories, etc) or that I'd met previously at pitch events.

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

Tracy Hoagland:
Focus on your hook! Dig into what makes your novel unique, and more specifically why you're the person to tell this story. Always have another story that you're working on, it makes getting rejections a bit easier to stomach when you know your next book will be even better.

Query Letter:

Hamlet meets Fleabag with a small-town twist, THE FARWELL WRECK is an 90,000-word psychological thriller that will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn’s twisty plotting and Paula McClain’s emotionally intense WHEN THE STARS GO DARK.

Harry Farwell is a runner, but not in the healthy way. For seventeen years, she’s been bouncing between one-night stands and tattoo gigs and avoiding her picture-perfect hometown of Alsea Bay. She likes to blame her dead mom and missing dad for her inability to hold down a relationship, job, or apartment, but really, it was Will Larsen’s death that drove her to run and never look back. Finding your overdosed best friend isn’t something a couple therapy sessions can fix. Even if Harry could afford therapy.

A week before Christmas though, Will’s mom calls Harry, sharing the lurid news that a body’s been found buried out past the old sawmill, and odds are it’s Harry’s missing dad. A murder investigation mixed with a Christmas party isn’t Harry’s idea of a good time, but she always knew Alsea Bay would catch up to her eventually.

Despite her misgivings, Harry returns to the coastal Oregon town. She knows the keys to surviving are knowing your exits and prioritizing: Bury dad. Say ‘hi’ to Will and mom in their graves. Find a murderer. Don’t hook up with the ex-boyfriend turned sheriff. Or the mysterious new lighthouse keeper.

But Harry can’t shake the feeling that Will Larsen is trying to tell her something. She knows she shouldn’t listen to the ghosts—her mom followed one off the cliff above town—but what else is there to do during winter on the Oregon coast with a killer on the loose?