The Saturday Slash
Don't be afraid to ask for help with the most critical first step of your writing journey - the query.
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My thoughts are in blue, words to delete are in red, suggested rephrasing is in orange.
He dropped to one knee, and she ran for the hills. Great hook! After annihilating her happily ever after, Fern is only certain of one thing: marriage to her long-term boyfriend felt a lot like settling, and she wants more than a safe bet. Displaced to her late grandparents’ farmhouse, the makeup artist is intent on organizing her family’s treasures and her own life. What does that mean? Is she shorting through their old stuff? Is she a city girl that is transplanted? Or does she fit in here? A little bit more on that end would fit nicely here. Instead she finds a certainty she didn’t know existed, and a place to plant her biggest dreams. But even the most idyllic havens can be mirages. This feels a little too much like a summary too early on. I'd cut, and cover these elements later in the query.
Fern grapples with clearing out the nostalgic property, and the loss of this part of her history, too. Again, this feels like a nod to her fitting / not-fitting here. A little more about how she is or is not a fish out of water would be good. As the house sale looms—along with her eviction date—she braves farmhouse misadventures, What does this mean? Like home improvements? and her neighbor, Wes, steps in to lend a hand. With Wes, Fern feels more grounded than ever before, and sparks illuminate their tract of land, revealing a path to their future. Even as Fern is finding the place she belongs, her ex draws her back into his life. And Wes’ roots in the small town are tangled with ties he can’t easily cut—like the family business he's sworn his life to, the football field where he played and now watches his daughter do cartwheels, and his high-school sweetheart bent on reconciliation. A lot packed in here - why would Wes' roots matter or be a problem? Does she want him to move back to where she came from? Does she not want to stay here? And how is the ex luring her back in if she already decided he felt like settling?
Just as quickly as they appeared, Fern’s big dreams disappear before her eyes. But what's her new dream? How is it disappearing? When crisis strikes with a shocking accident, Don't tease here. We need to know what the accident is. the divide between Fern and Wes stretches wider, and the roads back home are so inviting that neither is sure which way is forward. The metaphor feels mixed, if the rood is so inviting how do you not know which way to go? Uprooted again, Fern wonders if home was an illusion all along, and if her already battered heart can withstand another break—or if she’s simply meant to settle, not settle down. Hmm... what's the difference between those two things?
I don't really understand what's at stake. We need to know - very clearly - what Fern wants, and what is standing in the way of it. I think this query is decent enough, but you need to clariy the main problem - what does Fern want? And, it does sound like the question of home and belonging is a pretty big theme, so I'd work that in more. I don't have an idea for how Fern feels about this farm life - is THIS home? Or is where she left behind home?