The Art of the Query – A Weekend Workshop with Tamika Thompson

The Art of the Query – A Weekend Workshop with Tamika Thompson 

When:  October 17 & 18, 2026 @ 5PM -7PM UTC (click here to convert to your timezone)
Where: Online over Zoom
Attendance is Free – To Register: Apply for a Scholarship Below!
Only 12 Seats Available

An important component of a sustained writing practice is sending work into the world for publication. In this interactive weekend workshop, writers will discover  the necessary parts for creating a successful query and submission packet, including: 
    • how to tell when your manuscript is ready for submission;
    • proper query/submission letter format and etiquette, with samples;
    • the difference between a query and submission letter;
    • how to find agents and editors, with links to resources;
    • how to conduct market research and finding comp titles;
    • how to decipher publisher submission and agent query guidelines, with samples;
    • how to put together a target list and track your submissions.

Day one will be spent on the lecture, understanding the material, and getting to know each other. You will then have homework where you put everything you’ve learned into practice and use the templates and samples provided to write your own query or submission letter and start your target list.

On day two, you’ll bring that homework in to share with the group and receive feedback and suggestions from the instructor.

Writers will leave this workshop with a completed query letter draft, a submission target list, a handout packet from the instructor with templates, checklists and resources, plus tons of encouragement!
Please note that this class will be recorded.

Who Should Take This Workshop?

This class is for BIPOC writers in any stage in their writing career but is most helpful for those who have completed a manuscript or are close enough to completion that they can draft a letter.

While geared toward fiction writers (short story, single author collection, novella, novel), this class will be useful to creative non-fiction writers (memoir, essay) as well.

How to Register: Scholarships

The only way to sign up to attend this class live is by applying for a scholarship, which you can do by filling this application here.

Should your scholarship application be accepted, we’ll then send you the access code required to register. Before then, you will not be able to access the ticket and will only see the optional donation button. Please note that attendance is entirely free and does not require any donations, nor does a donation guarantee you a spot in the class.

Attending the live class consists of participating in the live discussions, critiques, and Q&As, as well as getting the recording after.

We have limited seats available, and the scholarship deadline is October 5th by midnight UTC, so please get your application in before then! We should get back to you one week before class starts.

Donations

This class is fully supported by the generous contributions of the Carl Brandon Society’s donors, which is how we can make attendance free for students. Thank you to all our donors!

If you would also like to support this class or other classes like it, you can do so via Humanitix here. All contributions are appreciated, and donations of 50 USD or above will also receive a recording of the class as a thank you gift two weeks after the class concludes. Donations do not, however, result in a spot in the live class. To attend the live class, please apply for a scholarship using the application in the section above.

About the Instructor

Tamika Thompson is author of The Curse at Hester Gardens. A former journalist and producer, she is also author of Unshod, Cackling, and Naked, which is the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner for Horror, as well as co-editor of Foreword INDIES Award-winning anthology, Graffiti. Her work has appeared in several speculative fiction anthologies as well as in Interzone, Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, Prairie Schooner, and The New York Times, among others. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she hosts her own blog and newsletter, Tamika Talks Terror. Visit her online at tamikathompson.com or on social media @tamikadthompson.

Technical Requirements

This workshop will take place over Zoom, so please ensure that your device is compatible with Zoom beforehand.

A microphone or working camera are not necessary to participate. We’ll be monitoring the chat and relaying any questions you type to the instructor.

Accessibility

This class will have Zoom’s auto-generated closed-captions available. For more of Zoom’s accessibility features, please click here. Discussions will be via voice or Zoom’s chat feature.

 

If you have any questions, contact our class coordinator Yasmine at classes@carlbrandon.org and we’ll get back to you ASAP!