Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews T.S. Parnell

Success Story Interview - T.S. Parnell

An Interview with T.S. Parnell (tsparnell on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Kristy Hunter of The Knight Agency, Inc..

03/09/2026

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: T.S. Parnell:
It's a bit of an upmarket/romance/women's fiction with a speculative twist story where a children's psychologist starts falling for her patient's dashing imaginary friend whom she unexplicably can see. It started as a short story. People liked it, but there was some general feedback that readers wanted to see what it would look like as a novel, so that's what I did.
QT: How long have you been writing?: T.S. Parnell:
I've always loved writing stories since I was a kid, but I didn't really start taking it seriously until about two years ago.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: T.S. Parnell:
I wrote the short story in April 2025, then started the novel version in May 2025. It was finished in January 2026.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: T.S. Parnell:
I don't think I ever felt like giving up on it, but I never really set my expectations too high in the first place. I just wanted to write a story that hopefully people would want to read and enjoy. I assumed some of my friends and family would like it, and maybe they'd share it with a few of their friends too, but I didn't anticipate much more than that. I think the thing that helped me stay the course on days where the writing and editing were harder than others was just my love for the characters. I wanted to see where they were going to end up at the end of all of this.
QT: Is this your first book?: T.S. Parnell:
I've written several short stories and one novella, but I would consider this my first book, yes.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: T.S. Parnell:
No. Nothing more than creative writing classes in high school and college.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: T.S. Parnell:
I write every day, usually first thing in the morning. I try not to stop until I hit 2,000 words, but I'm not overly strict about it. Some days are more, some days are less. If I can just get some words on the page, I count it as a good day.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: T.S. Parnell:
Two drafts and a polish.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: T.S. Parnell:
Yes. Just a handful---four or five. And they were all people I knew personally, not paid beta readers or folks from internet forums or anything like that. I just tried to make sure they were fans of the genre more than anything before I asked them to beta read.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: T.S. Parnell:
I don't outline, but I don't entirely write from the hip either. I like doing this thing I learned from Ashley Poston's blog, where I essentially write a zero draft in third person where each chapter is kind of like a little vignette. I do all of that off the cuff, just trying to let the story spill out fast. That ends up being anywhere between 70 to 100 some odd pages. Then I use that to write the actual novel, changing everyting into first person POV for this one specifically. Things will continue to change along the way, but I've found it to be the best way to write a full length novel for me personally.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: T.S. Parnell:
I started querying this book on February 9th/10th and received my first offer on February 20th. It was a total shock. My head was kind of spinning at how fast things went. I had queried a previous novella to only a few agents a couple years ago with all rejections and one partial request that turned into getting ghosted.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: T.S. Parnell:
45 total, but about 20 of those I sent out quickly after my first half got a few full requests and I got my first email asking for a call.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: T.S. Parnell:
I preferred a US based agent just for communication's sake, being in close proximity time zone wise. But I spent most of my time looking closely at every agent's MSWL. I looked for people wanting stories that fell specifically into commercial romance, speculative fiction, magical realism, women's fiction, book club, and upmarket. I started with querying agent's that had fast response times to guage quickly if my query letter and sample pages were working.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: T.S. Parnell:
Only a couple. If an agent had something specifically mentioned on their submissions page that I felt like my story connected with on a deep level, I'd mention it briefly toward the end of my letter. Otherwise, I kept a very standard format. The main thing I contually changed was the genre I described the book in at the beginning of the query, since it touched several. Sometimes it would start with "...an upmarket speculative love story..." or sometimes "...a women's fiction speculative love story..." --- things like that.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: T.S. Parnell:
Take the time to dig into agents' wish lists. I think a vast majority of rejections come from submitting queries to agents that just aren't looking for that particular genre. Beyond that, don't forget that it is ALL subjective. It's crucial to remember that. I had agents that offered to represent me that had nothing but praises for the story and others that rejected it the same day I queried them.

Success Story Interview - T.S. Parnell

Query Letter: