The Conception of The Romantic Query Letter

Delphin Enjolras' Young Woman Reading By A Window

I’m writing this with the hope it will offer encouragement to others in my position.

It all started in 1995 when I fell in love with Judith McNaught novel Something Wonderful and rediscovered my love for Jane Austen’s work. It said something to me, both these things being inspired by the same romantic spirit of the Regency. I wanted to know more of the period, of the decadent Prince turned Regent, of the art and the people that influenced the era.

Soon I’d devoured it all from Shelley’s scandal to Byron’s exile and the shockingly tabloid bend of the culture. All of it made more interesting because of the seemingly free nature of the art and new style of dress. I was enchanted by the picturesque landscapes in the works of Turner and that of his contemporaries but more than that, I was awed by the contrast this brief period struck when measured against the restraint of the one that followed.

As is the case with most things, I soon set it aside for more pressing pursuits work, school, and feeding myself. It would more than likely have remained thus, had my sister not suggested I write a novel with her then tutor. We made a genuine go at it for a while but sadly our schedules were not conducive to the undertaking but I was hooked so I went on alone.

Over a year later, I had my first manuscript Ellesmere completed. A year after that I grudgingly accepted the Canadian market’s unwillingness to publish a 100,000+ words romance novel. Now I query American agent with the hope I’ll find the one for me and my novels. Only they too are unreceptive for want of the next Meyer, Brown or Bushnell.

Still I do not lament. Upward and onward, I say for come hell or high waters I'm going to publish and retire in my native land Jamaica.

All my very best,

Simone