By Nish Amarnath The business of fiction writing is very instinctual. Against that backdrop, there is no definitive formula for success in finding a literary agent. Authors have been seeking my advice on how they can land a literary agent. At this point, many are desperate for a yes from an agent. I feel their pain. More than five years ago, I was in that oblivion too. It’s easy to get distracted and/or feel disoriented by all the noise out there on what to do, what not to do, query letter tips, #hownottoquery tips and so on. But, here are five positively worst bits of advice authors have been getting on how to ink that deal. Worst Tip 1: A perfect query letter leads to a big yes The ‘query letter’ phenomenon is overrated. A query letter is really no more than a form of collateral, which flows from two key factors: Story and Voice. A masterful story rests on the strength of its plot purpose and its characters. As literary icon Albert Zuckerman notes in his book, ...