If Your Novel's Question Fits Twenty Different Novels, It Isn't Strong Enough

Last week I wrote a note about having your novel’s question really clear in your mind – my argument being that the reader needs something to read on for.

Lots of writers shared their novel’s question, which was super fun to see – but I started to notice a pattern which I see a lot in my submissions inbox too:

For example: Can love (abstract noun) survive when the person you’ve (suggested universality) become is unrecognisable from the person you were (big thematic question)?

I made this – and all the examples in this post – up, but I read tens if not hundreds of queries like this every week.

The problem is that there is no specificity here, no concrete detail. There are some really interesting questions you can ask framed like this – many of the comments on my note were fascinating questions! – but they aren’t the reason someone is going to read this novel.

Here’s what that means when I see these kinds of questions used to pitch a novel to me as a literary agent:

I think: this could describe twenty different novels, or a hundred – what’s special about this one?

Some more examples:

What does it cost to choose yourself, when choosing yourself means losing everything else?

Is the life we build in survival mode the life we actually wanted, or just the one we could manage?

What happens when the story you’ve told yourself about your past turns out to be wrong?

How do we find our way back to who we were before the thing that changed us?

At what point does protecting yourself become the very thing that destroys you?

Those questions, interesting as they are, could describe any number of different novels. What I want to know – as an agent, as an editor, as a reader – is why I should read your novel.

And I want to know, as I’m reading, what I’m reading on for. I don’t think I am really reading to find out whether love can survive when the person you’ve become is unrecognisable from the person you were. I don’t think anyone can definitively answer that.

But maybe I’m reading to find out whether Elias and Jennifer’s love can survive when Jennifer returns from working in a war zone and struggles to readjust into society.

Or whether Judy and Katrina’s love can survive when Judy returns from prison to find that she no longer wants to live the criminal lifestyle they used to.

Or whether Dan and Olivia’s love can survive when a shocking revelation about Olivia’s parentage forces her to revaluate her entire childhood.

Those are really specific questions that could not describe any number of books. They give the reader something specific to read on for, and something that can be definitively answered at the end.

I should caveat, as always, with the admission that I am a very commercial editor, agent and reader. I tend to favour books with plenty of plot, and so my advice is always going to work best for novels that sit in that space too.

But I do think that, whatever you are writing, the more specific your question is, the clearer and more persuasive your pitch will be – and the more compelling your novel will be.

If you’re currently looking for an agent and would like to submit to me at The Ampersand Agency, you can find the agency submissions guidelines here, and my manuscript wishlist on my website.

If you’re looking for an editor you can contact me via my website, or book a query-package review or coaching call immediately.

Thank you so much for reading, commenting, liking and sharing. As always, please do let me know in the comments if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to write about – or head to the chat to talk about your current projects, ask questions, and get advice!

Happy writing!

Abi