Because the answer can be no

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you found out that you were a wizard?

Have you ever thought about leaving everything you know behind and going out into space to search for alien races and cultures?

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you sent a query that started with a sentence like the ones above, and the agent/editor’s answer was no?

It happens more often than not.

At BookEnds, Agent Jessica Faust concludes that if her answer is no, she knows she isn’t going to be interested in what the book is about and doesn’t have to read any further.

Agent Nathan Bransford calls rhetorical questions “a powerful force for evil.”

And Book Bark demonstrates how rhetorical questions could ruin even Harry Potter’s chances:

Imagine what it might be like to live in a closet beneath the stairs and be treated like a second rate citizen by your only family. What if all that changed and you were suddenly thrown into a fantastic world of witchcraft and oddities? What if you were the hero of this world? How would it change you? And what if, overnight, you learned that you had a powerful mortal enemy plotting your destruction?

Many agents and editors don’t like rhetorical questions because they reflect laziness: they beg the reader to do all the thinking and imagining, instead of actively creating a hook to draw the reader in.

Rhetorical questions can also lead people in the wrong direction: instead of thinking about your hook, your question may lead our own imaginations somewhere else entirely. That creates more work for you — now you have to reel us back from wherever your question has taken us before you can even start getting us interested in where you intended it to go.

What if we liked our answer better? Oops!

Don’t ask us (the editors, agents, and even the readers) what we think would happen, tell us what happens and show us what makes your treatment of what could happen different and better than anyone else’s.

While some agents and editors are indifferent to the rhetorical question, so many hate it vehemently that it’s a very risky tactic to use. Unless you know the person you’re querying and you know that they’re receptive to it, I recommend not taking the chance. Don’t ever leave the “Do you wonder…?” question open, when the answer could well be no… or worse.

Since ridicule is often the best medicine, if none of these other experts and professionals have convinced you to avoid the dreaded rhetorical question, visit The Rejectionist, where rhetorical questions receive the answers for which they beg. Don’t query with rhetorical questions — don’t let this happen to you.