Dear O'Abby: What is the best time to contact agents?

Dear O'Abby,

I'm about to start querying and was wondering if there is a specific day, or time of year, or part of the month that is best for querying.  I'm guessing Mondays are probably not the best because everyone is snowed under with weekend emails on a Monday, and probably around public holidays isn't great either.

But that's just based on my own experience.  Am I guessing correctly?

Kind regards,

Business Hours

Dear Business Hours,

I can see the appeal in trying to figure this out, but you are wasting your time.  There is no magic formula to when it's best to send a query.  These days a lot of agents use Query Tracker to manage their queries, and they will just log in to look at them whenever they have time, so when you send them is irrelevant. Even those who still accept emailed queries rarely look at them as they come in.  Most agents will have a separate query email address and they will go in to look at those emails when they have time.

And when they have time depends on what their existing clients are up to and what they need.  So it may be that the only time an agent has to look at queries is over the weekend or on public holidays when other people aren't working.

My advice is to write the strongest query you can, and send it when you're ready.  Don't waste time and energy trying to figure out when the stars align most favourably.  The agent might look at it five minutes after you send it, or it could be five weeks. The only thing that really counts is if she wants to read the book.

Best of luck with the querying!

X O'Abby

Reasons for Requesting: Magic Systems

Been awhile since I've posted but I'm back! Yeah, this past month has been busy with the holidays and school starting back up. Fortunately I'm finally back into a normal routine. So let's start back up with a Reasons for Requesting post!

I'm a fantasy nut. Most people know this about me. And I especially like magic in my fantasy. Probably because magic can mean so many things. It can be whimsical and enchanting or dark and terrifying. It can be a blessing or a curse. It can corrupt or inspire. There are all sorts of ways writers can approach magic systems in their fantasy. It can also range from pure magic to magic in its most scientific form. A combination of the two is often a great way to construct a good magic system.

But there's the key word: system. Because magic, like anything, must have rules. Its such a vague term that if you don't define it, it quickly turns into a deus ex machina plot device. And readers quickly start questioning your plotting and world building when you explain everything in your story with: 'Because MAGIC'.

What really grabs my attention is a magic system with great possibilities but also extreme consequences. As one of my favorite shows once said 'Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain something of equal value must be lost'. This is the first law of equivalent exchange in alchemy, the magic-science system of sorts from Fullmetal Alchemist, which is my favorite anime ever. Nerd pride.

But this truth holds true for a lot of different magic systems. No one wants to see limitless magic with no cost. That's not interesting. We want to see characters grapple with their abilities and, in some cases, suffer for them. And there are a lot of different directions you can go with the rules and limitations of your magic system. Does it drain the characters physically? Does it mentally unhinge them? Does it make them lose their humanity? Does it ostracize them from others? Does it gain them unwanted praise and attention? It is from these questions that conflict arises. And from conflict, we get a great story.

Want to get a request? Make a unique, well thought out magic system that will grab any fantasy lover's eye. Personal favorites of mine include Alchemy from Fullmetal Alchemist, Alkehestry from Mistborn, the super powered characters of Vicious, and contractors from Darker than Black. All of these are very different but very unique in their approach.

What are some of your favorite magic systems? Let me know in the comments!

Myth and Science Made Mainstream: Thor, Vampires, and The First Martian Colony

Thor is part of ancient Scandinavian folklore.

Usborne Stories from Around the World

But it wasn't until the 2011 blockbuster movie THOR that the Einstein-Rosen Bridge became associated with the mythical god in the pop culture psyche. Suddenly Thor's boomerang hammer and rainbow bridge aren't goofy anymore.

They're freaking awesome.

One of the things I loved about this cinema treatment of an old comic book/myth was the subtle combination of shiny technology and folklore magic. In The Avengers, Black Widow says, "These guys are basically gods."

Basically. But not really.

And in the first Thor movie, Thor says, "Your ancestors called it magic. You call it science. Where I come from they're one and the same."

*sings* Loooove iiiit!

One of the things I enjoyed about Twilight, aside from the intense rip-roaring emotion and curly-haired hilarity of Emmett, was the sci-fi idea slipped into vampire lore that the same evolution or God that brought us the shark and the angel fish could have brought us the vampire and the human.

"Well, where did you come from? Evolution? Creation? Couldn't we have evolved in the same way as other species, predator and prey? Or, if you don't believe that all this world could have just happened on its own, which is hard for me to accept myself, is it so hard to believe that the same force that created the delicate angelfish with the shark, the baby seal and the killer whale, could create both our kinds together?" -Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Why not?

Speculative fiction. My absolute favorite place to play. Whether I'm reading or writing, it's just a wonderland for the imagination, tickling the very edges of our knowledge with the as yet unknown.

It influences our scientists, engineers, inventors:

Self-driving cars, spray-on skin, and even invisibility cloaks have leaped off the pages, gone from science fiction to science reality.

"British Columbia company HyperStealth Biotechnology showed a functioning prototype of its new fabric to the U.S. and Canadian military this year (2012). The material, called Quantum Stealth, bends light waves around the wearer without the use of batteries, mirrors, or cameras. It blocks the subject from being seen by visual means but also keeps them hidden from thermal scans and infrared."

Source: toxel.com

And maybe you don't know about this but I'll bet most of you do, there's a soon-to-be reality TV show all about the first colonizers on Mars, from selection to training to the actual flight and colonization of the Red Planet.


Ha ha! "The search for life on Mars begins on Earth." Brilliant!

Speculative fiction does a great service to humanity as well as being a ton of fun. It keeps us hoping for a better future, and sometimes warns us of technology abuses (cough, cough, Cybermen) that could destroy us in a horrifying echo of excruciating shrieks.

So, okay, some of it's scary. But that's only so we can resolve the conflict with the other side of the creativity coin.

Have you ever been inspired by technology or magic in fiction? 

Pass it on.