What We Know vs. Research
J anet Reid writes concerning a query that had been sent her, “What would make me think I was wrong is if you mention you're a touring musician. The value of a writer's bio in a query letter is for just these moments. As I'm reading along, and I think, "oh this isn't how that stuff works" and then I see you're actually in that industry, I'd give you the benefit of the doubt.” ( Query 161 ) It’s usually pretty obvious when a writer has been in the industry he is writing about. One the good side, such a writer gets things right. You don’t have unbelievable things happening. On the other side, such a writer puts to much emphasis on things that aren’t important to the story. It is usually hard to read a medical story written by a medical doctor, for instance. The average reader probably doesn’t care about the details of a patient’s treatment and doesn’t care what kind of drug was used. All the reader cares to know is that the doctor either knows what he is...