However, if your life history is linked to the book, in a way that is likely to be interesting to a publicity department (e.g. you are a former bank robber writing a novel about a bank robber; or a former police detective doing the same) then a brief mention of that fact is a good idea.

“What is this book?” is much more difficult for many authors to answer. They would really rather answer that question by putting the entire manuscript into the agent’s hands. Clearly, that’s not going to work here.

There are two parts of the answer to “What is this book?” The first is in the first paragraph, which goes something like “Blah blah, writing to offer you the chance to represent my novel ‘Splodge of Splodge Country.’ It is the epic tale of a love whose repercussions mark the lives of three generations in one Cape Cod lobsterering family.”

In the second (and possibly third and fourth) paragraph/s, you might write something like “Martha Spishnugget has a problem. The dashing young son and heir of the haughty Splodge lobsterering dynasty returns her love, but he is sworn to marry the…” Only better.

The last paragraph is where you might fit in something about yourself, or mention that the book is the first in a proposed trilogy, or just make a few polite concluding remarks about “Looking forward to hearing from you.”

HM: One page is good.

Damian: What is your own writing process like? Do you set goals and deadlines for yourselves? Do you edit and rewrite as you go along, or do you find that getting caught up in edits mid-story can distract from the momentum of completing an initial draft?

SN: I edit and rewrite as I go along, and then afterwards. I don’t think I’ve ever written a paragraph without correcting things as I go along, though this becomes almost unconscious eventually. To me, writing is rewriting; there’s no clear distinction between the process of trying to come up with the best way of saying something, and that of trying to come up with an even better way. Except that re-writing is a little easier, since someone already did some of the work for you. Generally I do not have to set goals or deadlines for myself, since in effect the landlord does it for me.

HM: I actually didn't know that about Sandy, but I'm essentially the same. I rewrite as I go, and tend to start the next day by rewriting the last day's work again. Ideally, this creates some momentum into new material, and makes the transition seamless and painless.

I don't think Sandy's actually as bad as all that on deadlines; she works pretty steadily. If she doesn't have something else going on, she'll go off and write. I tend to wait until the last possible moment; I seldom get anything done until I'm in a state of near-panic.