Mukta Singh-Zocchi has recently signed with agent Albert Longden of The Albert T. Longden Agency. Mukta, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Congratulations and good luck.


QueryTracker: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you’ve found representation? What inspired you to write it?

MSZ: 18th century India has been a very interesting place for me. The splendid Mughal Empire was turning decadent, was on its way down, and foreigners from the west were beginning to find footing either as traders or soldiers of fortune. I read extensively about this period and its interesting brew of a wide variety of people and was delighted to discover so many heroic figures who even though they did not make it to the pages of history still existed. I had found romance. Then I stumbled into first hand accounts of thugs of those times, men who would haunt the lawless countryside and waylay travelers who’d pass by. Those accounts were so intriguing, I found I was thinking about those criminals a lot, much more than my newly found heroes. So I built a storyline and decided to write this novel on thugs. Hopefully the way is now cleared for those other wonderful heroes to find a place in my next novel.



QT: How long have you been writing?

MSZ: For 6 years. I was doing research in Physics before I turned to writing.



QT: How long have you been working on this book?

MSZ: One year. I started to write this novel in March ’09.



QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

MSZ: No. I do go through such periods but just when I am in between projects. Then I choose to work only on those projects that make me jump all the time and I try to write it down quickly.



QT: Is this your first book?

MSZ: Yes.



QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

MSZ: I’ve had a long enough learning curve. When I look at what I wrote 6 years back, it makes me laugh. I have taken some writing classes. I sat through a creative writing course taught by Prof. Russell Leong at UCLA some years back. Then I took the 10-week long fiction writing courses offered online by Gotham Writer’s Workshop in New York. I think I took 2 of them at different times. These classes have helped me in many ways, particularly because they enabled me to get feedbacks on my work.



QT: Do you follow a writing "routine" or schedule?

MSZ: I try to write everyday. If I find I can not write, I read or turn to researching.



QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

MSZ: The first draft that I wrote down quickly turned out to be a mere skeleton in most places. I spent 6 months then to turn it to a novel and then another couple of months to polish it more.



QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

MSZ: Having someone else read your work is extremely helpful. In my experience it is not very easy to find those. But I did have 3 – you know, friends, family. Alright, one of them was my husband.



QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?

MSZ: Yes, I spent more than a month outlining my book. While outlining, I actually wrote down my favorite parts, the parts that made me want to write this novel.



QT: How long have you been querying for this book?

MSZ:I started querying for this book in March of this year. I write short stories on the side and have been sending them out as well, but that was to the literary journals, not to agents. I want to say that of the whole process, this part of sending out your work stands out as quite a dejecting one. Maybe someone can teach me how to be excited about it. If there are others who feel the same way, I want them to know that they are not the only ones who feel that way.



QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

MSZ: 140 exactly.



QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

MSZ: I looked at the genre the agent represented.



QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

MSZ: No. Rarely. When there was something that stood out in the agent’s profile, like if they say, they are drawn to darkish characters, I would mention in my query that some of my leading characters are quite dark (which was the case). But, except for the names (of the agents) there was not much else to change. If they liked my pitch, they would consider reading my work. Also if there is something good in your resume like awards, publication history etc., naturally that goes in. But that is still part of your query letter. In all honesty, I would keep a very narrow window of time in the week for sending out letters. It is not my favorite time. Then I would do something really fun soon after, like going to the beach.



QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

MSZ: My advice would be that if you have convinced yourself that your work is complete send out a carefully written query to just some (5 or 6) at first, every 2 weeks or so. If your pitch is fine, you will hear from most of them even if it is a rejection. If you don’t hear from almost anyone, or you get the impression that they replied to you without even reading your query, rework your pitch letter. I received almost no responses to my queries the first 2 months and then I took another look at my query letter, things got better.