Today's class was a different than our usual one for one simple reason, we essentially had a new teacher in the room. His name was Noah Ballard and he is a Literary agent. Our class came up with questions the night before we were scheduled to interview him. Personally i got to ask him what was the worst pitch he ever heard, Mr. Ballard said it was one called Dear Mother F***er. The reason was pretty self explanatory, the title was just plain rude not to mention Mr. Ballard also discussed its bad elements. Speaking of elements of a query letter, that was another topic we discussed heavily in today's class. Our group read the WCSUA letter and what we found that made it a good query letter was its main focus on details. The passage managed to grab the attention of the the reader (us at that moment) while also going into detail of specific characters what what their general motivation in the story is. Not to mention the passage also answered many small but necessary question; like who is the main character? what are they doing? and why are they doing it. Supplying these answers in brief really helps the reader know what their getting into and for a person like Mr. Ballard that can be crucial.
Overall relating today's class to the outside world can be found in something as simple as basic shopping. When going to obtain a product a consumer must take into consideration what makes that product so good and ask questions. Just like when writing a query letter the reader can ask who, what, where, when, and why a consumer might ask those same questions when wanting a new product. Those answers are vital in both scenarios if you don't answer those questions in a query letter then your story lacks detail, if their not answered in a product then the consumer will probably turn it away. A good example of that could be getting a new phone; if you don't a good reason why then you might not get it, if you don't like who makes it then you might not get it, or if you don't know where... well then you simply can't get a new phone. Details are vital to a good story as well as everyday objects you can buy.
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