Success Story Interview - A.M. Bucsaru

An Interview with A.M. Bucsaru (anabucsaru on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Madison Potter of Olswanger Literary.

06/09/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Of course! VODESA is an adult fantasy novel heavily inspired by Vlad the Impaler and the 15th century Ottoman occupation in the Balkans. It features vampires (strigoi) fairly true to Romanian mythology, and follows a dethroned strigoi princess as she fights through political scheming and the stigma surrounding her kind to reclaim her throne. I wanted to write this book, in truth, to provide some context to the character of Dracula. He is so often painted as a monster, but in Romania, he’s a national hero. I don’t think he is faultless, but I did want to give more context as to why he became Dracula.

QT: How long have you been writing?

A.M. Bucsaru:
I was always a STEM girl, so I never had the “I always knew I was a storyteller” moment. I started writing (not academic essays) early 2021.

QT: How long have you been working on this book?

A.M. Bucsaru:
I’m not exactly sure but I would guess early 2023

QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

A.M. Bucsaru:
There were definitely times where I wanted to give up, but my amazing writing group (shoutout Unhinged) helped me stay on course, as well as the endless support from my mom.

QT: Is this your first book?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Yes and no. Initially, this was the first book I ever wrote and it was a blatant plagiarism of the last book I read. At some point I realized that, and I rewrote it as a fairly classic YA Fantasy with trials set against an Eastern-European backdrop, but I was afraid it wouldn’t be marketable and I didn’t fully commit to it. Both of these versions bombed in the trenches, and then I realized that I didn’t want to write YA anymore, so I kept only very small elements from the first versions, and it became what it is today.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

A.M. Bucsaru:
No, but I did win Runner-Up for RevPit this spring and I did get some help from my editor.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Not really. I’m fairly good at just doing things, especially if I go into a hyper-focus trance, so if I sit to write but end up staring at a blank page for 20 mins, I’ll usually stop and try again the next day.

QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Ever since it became its adult version, I did one massive developmental edit, then 3 more smaller revisions. In the first, I tweaked Act 1. In the second, I changed the first half of act 2 with the help of my RevPit editor. Then the last was a spell check, continuity, fine-tuning, etc.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

A.M. Bucsaru:
I had at least 1-2 readers for each version but the last.

QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?

A.M. Bucsaru:
I am a HUGE plotter because plot structure is by biggest weakness and I tend to go on tangents, so I need a strong, self-imposed leash. I don’t plot anything very strictly, but I have been most successful when following Jeni Chappelle’s reverse outline method for actual pre-writing outlines.

QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Previously, I’ve queried 3 other times and they were all complete bombs. The first two spanned from late 2021-late 2022, then the other was a couple of months of spring-summer 2023 (but I stopped querying as I didn’t want to debut with YA). I queried Vodesa for 23 days until I got the email to schedule a call.

QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

A.M. Bucsaru:
38 queries

QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Their MSWL, books they represent, some reached out after posting my agent’s guide on socials.

QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

A.M. Bucsaru:
If there was something specific I could reference, then yes. I would often swap out my comp titles for books agents represented or for ones they had referenced in their MSWL. If the MSWL was fairly vague and I couldn’t draw any comparisons to the books they represent, then no.

QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

A.M. Bucsaru:
I can’t stress this enough, and I’m sure every other interview says the exact same thing, but community. Find a writing group, a discord, make friends. Writing can be so lonely, and I know, for sure, that I would never be writing this if it wasn’t for my lovely Unhinged peeps.

QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?

A.M. Bucsaru:
Of course!

Query Letter:

[Personalization]. Inspired by the 15th Century Ottoman occupation in Romania, but featuring a gender-bent, vampiric Vlad the Impaler, VODESA is an adult fantasy novel about interactions between the tiers of the social hierarchy. It will appeal to fans of the political intrigue in Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne, and the vengeful women in K. M. Enright’s Mistress of Lies. Complete at 115,000 words, it’s intended to be the first in a series.

When humans overthrow Vera Mereni’s vampiric-strigoi family, her life of royalty turns to impoverished hiding. Fueled by vengeance and determined to free her kind from oppression, she joins the strigoi rebellion to assassinate those who betrayed her—including the closest ally of Prince Stefan, her childhood friend who now basks in the privileges that once belonged to her. However, Stefan has plans of his own, and when he captures Vera, it’s not to kill her. Not so simply, at least.

He offers her an unexpected bargain: undertake a dangerous mission to their Empire overlord, and he’ll reinstate her nobility. But first, the ruling circle demands she publicly endorses new tools to further their oppression. Vera plays along, using her political access to forge alliances to protect her family and the strigoi—and perhaps, reclaim her crown. Yet her every act of treason ends in failure—and at its end stands Stefan, fighting to shield her from execution by the ruling circle. If he cannot, he will be forced to take on the deadly mission himself.

This wedge grows deeper with their clashing visions: Stefan seeks Vlaharia’s freedom from the Empire, while Vera fights for the liberation of the strigoi alone. Their divided rebellion will amount to nothing, and unless they unite their visions and become allies, their people will forever remain beneath the thumbs of their oppressors.

[Bio & Thank you]