Successful Queries: Samantha Shea and “Bad Nature,” by Ariel Courage
Find Ariel Courage’s successful query to agent Samantha Shea for her debut novel Bad Nature, which includes what Shea liked in the query.
Welcome back to the Successful Queries series. In this installment, find a query letter to agent Samantha Shea for Ariel Courage's debut novel, Bad Nature.
Ariel Courage is a graduate of the Brooklyn College MFA program, where she was editor-in-chief of the Brooklyn Review. She’s currently an assistant fiction editor at Agni. Her short work has appeared in Guernica, New Limestone Review, and The End. She was also a 2019 Kimmel Harding Nelson resident.
Here's Ariel's query:
Dear Ms. Shea,
I believe Josh Henkin reached out to you about me earlier. Beyond his connection, I also admire writers you work with, including Jenny Zhang and Willa C. Richards. My project also offers an unusual voice and an engaging plot that I think you might enjoy.
HESTER is an approximately 99,800-word novel about a lonely attorney who decides amidst a cancer scare that life is short and she must kill her father to avenge her dead mother.
As Hester travels across the country to hunt her father down, she meets a variety of people, including figures from her past. She also picks up a drifter named John. More than just a hitchhiker, John’s also a nonviolent eco-activist. As the deeply moral John undermines her cynicism, Hester finds herself torn between her original plan and an alternative vision of the future John presents. Unable to escape her memories of the past, Hester ultimately seeks vengeance, but with unexpected consequences.
Written in the first person, HESTER is about the futility of violence, moral ambivalence, and the eternal possibility of redemption. It combines the tragic intensity of Lisa Taddeo’s Animal with the dark humor and bittersweetness of Patrick Cottrell's Sorry to Disrupt the Peace.
I’m a graduate of the Brooklyn College MFA program, where I was editor-in-chief of The Brooklyn Review. I’m currently an assistant fiction editor at AGNI Magazine. My short work has appeared in Guernica, The New Limestone Review, and Works Progress, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I was also a 2019 Kimmel Harding Nelson resident.
Please let me know if you'd like me to send an excerpt your way. I appreciate your time and consideration.
Best,
Ariel Courage
Check out Ariel Courage's Bad Nature here:
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What agent Samantha Shea liked about the query:
I first heard about Ariel from Josh Henkin at the Brooklyn College MFA program, who wrote to me about Ariel in October of 2022. Josh raved about Ariel's talents, and I made sure to keep an eye out for her query. It arrived a day or two later, and I knew after reading only the first sentence that I wanted to read her book.
She wrote, "HESTER is an approximately 99,800-word novel about a lonely attorney who decides amidst a cancer scare that life is short and she must kill her father to avenge her dead mother." What an elevator pitch, what a hook! I had to know more.
Ariel's thoughts on the query process:
I don’t think there’s a single writer in the world who enjoys asking for help, but I’m so glad I did—Josh’s wisdom invaluable. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback specific to your pitch before sending it out, particularly from someone who’s familiar with the industry. (And there are lots of ways to get to know people in the industry, even without getting an MFA.)
*****
After graduating from Colgate University, Samantha Shea joined Georges Borchardt, Inc. in 2010 and was made a Vice President in 2016. Her list includes upmarket and literary fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, journalism, cultural criticism, and history. Samantha’s authors are regularly named for numerous awards and honors, including the “5 Under 35” honor from the National Book Foundation, the “Best of Young American Novelists” honor from Granta Magazine, the Kirkus Prize, the Whiting Award, the National Book Critics Circle Awards, the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize, and others.
