Jessica Sinsheimer and Julie Kingsley worked with five brave writers to transform their queries in real time–and the lessons from each critique apply to queries across ALL genres. Whether you’re writing gothic romance, middle grade, YA sci-fi, memoir, or espionage thrillers, you’ll find actionable insights here.
**What You’ll Learn:**
• **Visual Language Over Abstract Concepts** – Why “paint his daydream into reality” confused us, and what to say instead
• **Lead with Emotion, Not Information** – The “Reality TV Test” that cuts through plot complexity to find your emotional core
• **Structure Your Query Like a Movie Trailer** – The three-beat structure that works across genres
• **Make Dual POVs Equally Vivid** – How to ensure both characters have equal emotional weight (especially important for YA)
• **When Voice Can Break the Rules** – How one memoir query opened with “Spin the wheel” and got away with it
• **Genre-Specific Guidance** – Targeted advice for SF/F, YA, middle grade, memoir, and thriller queries
**The replay includes downloadable class notes** with the 10 key lessons, a query checklist, and genre-specific guidance. We’ve also timestamped the most important moments so you can jump to the sections most relevant to your project.
Remember: agents read queries in 20-60 seconds. Your query must communicate immediately, not eventually. This workshop shows you exactly how to make that happen.
Happy writing,
Jessica & Julie
The Manuscript Academy
P.S. If you’re working on your query right now, watch Wendy’s section (timestamp 47:00). Her voice was so distinctive that Jessica said, “This is risky, but your voice is so strong it works.” Sometimes the best queries break the rules–but you need to know which rules you’re breaking first.
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About the Instructor
Jessica Sinsheimer
Jessica Sinsheimer has been reading and campaigning for her favorite queries since 2004. Now an agent at the Context Literary Agency, she is always on the lookout for new writers, and–whatever the age group–she tends to love contrast: highbrow sentences and lowbrow content, beautiful settings and ugly motives–the books that are beautiful and scary, heartbreaking and hilarious. She loves secrets, scheming, revenge, plotting–and stories that have to be written forward and backward to make sense (SHE LOVES discovering a very cleverly planted clue that makes sense in retrospect). She’d love more of what she thinks of as “Rom Com 2.0” works–powerful, nerdy women with humor and heart. More underrepresented characters, please–especially those with power, agency, and happy endings.