If you just read through all of the Query Quagmire archives, then you are both dedicated and possessed of superb taste. You may stay.

I love these questions! It’s sometimes difficult to separate my Evil Editor persona from my Bookworm persona, but sometimes that’s to my advantage, especially when buying books. I actually rarely buy books based on just happening upon them in the bookstore. But that has a lot to do with the fact that I have a “to read” list that’s longer than “War and Peace” and am therefore pretty focused in my bookstore forays.That said, I do very often pick up books at the bookstore or library to find out more about them, and occasionally buy them. It’s much easier to identify these books than the “meh” books because, well… I usually don’t even notice the “meh” books. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to answer your question by explaining what doesn’t earn an insta-“meh.”

When I’m at a bookstore, I kind of leave myself at the mercies of the bookseller’s marketing decisions. What I mean by that is that I will absolutely pick up and look at a book that is cover-out, rather than one that is spine-out, or one that is in a display or end cap rather than shelved with the rest of its genre. Those books aren’t displayed prominently by happenstance. It was a very deliberate decision on the part of the bookstore and the publisher.

I notice and pick up books usually based on cover design, title, and where they’re located in the store. One book I picked up recently based on its title was “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline. It was a bright orange and yellow cover, and the title immediately triggered something in my brain that went “VIDEO GAMES CHILDHOOD NERDINESS YES.” Another book I picked up and bought randomly was Cherie Priest’s “Boneshaker.” I liked the cover design and the font (yes, the font) so much that I had to find out what it was about. Then it was all STEAMPUNK and ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR and 19TH CENTURY SEATTLE and STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST and HOLY FUCK THE INTERIOR FONT IS BROWN THAT IS A BOLD MOTHERFUCKING DESIGN DECISION. So I bought it, and have bought three other books by Priest since then.

Books that I’ve put down and walked away from despite great titles and covers usually happen when I read the description and it begins something like “Clarice thought she was just a normal girl until something extraordinary happens and she discovers her secret destiny…” or “Eustace feels drawn to the strange new girl who just moved in across the street and this is the story of their intense romance at the age of sixteen…” or “Special Agent Grant McBarden is up against his most dangerous challenge yet…” or “This is the quietly desperate story of a middle class white family falling apart even as they learn to be together…” or some other hackneyed piece of terrible catalog copy. If it sounds like something I’ve heard of before, then I just don’t bother.

I’m drawn to the original, or to what triggers happy memories I guess. And I tend to trust the marketing decisions of the publisher. That has led me astray less often than the recommendations of friends (“The Name of the Wind” destroyed any trust I had in the reading tastes of casual acquaintances). 

Hope that helps!

~QQ

Just like that.

If you’re having trouble explaining your book in a query letter, then just explain it as you would to a friend. From there you can tweak your explanation to be tailored to a particular agent or editor.

I’m sorry I don’t have more detailed advice than that. I’ve been getting a lot of questions about genre-bending, or books that don’t quite fit into a genre recently, and I kind of feel like all of you are fretting about this way too much. Having a unique story is a good thing, no matter how hard it is to explain to an agent or editor.

~QQ

Write the book that you intended to write. Consider changing the title, or at the very least bring up a title change with your agent. Avoid reading the similar novel until after you’re finished with yours. Chances are yours will still be completely different and unique despite the basic similarities. That’s fine and it happens all the time.

For example: Battle Royale and The Hunger Games sound like the same story on paper. In reality, they are quite different and both very successful in their own right.

~QQ

Good question. :)

I personally love endings that aren’t… tidy. If the two romantic leads don’t come to any sort of resolution about their relationship, if they don’t kiss, or if one decides they aren’t ready to commit to the other, that intrigues me. If the hero makes an unpopular decision in the penultimate chapter and goes down in the annals of history as a terrible person, even though they intended to do the right thing, that is interesting to me. But I think I’m slightly jaded from reading so many stock endings at this point. You could definitely try an untidy ending, but don’t do it just because I say so.

Really though, there is a definite answer to this question, especially when it comes to fantasy or YA fiction. And that answer is to change everything completely.

Change the rules. Change the stakes. Have the outcome of your story be that your protagonist’s world has been turned upside down and is completely unrecognizable when compared to page one. Once your protagonist completes their journey, they should not have made a circle and ended up right back where they started. They should be leagues away from home (metaphorically or literally speaking), in a place so different from where they started that they can’t possibly be the same person they were when they began.

An example of a successful use of the Change Everything Ending: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV show, not book, but bear with me. Also, SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH). In the final episode Buffy and Willow completely change the rules in a way that will fundamentally flip the balance of power in their favor. They don’t just defeat the First Evil, they make it so that if evil ever raises its ugly head again, they will have an overwhelming advantage. Oh, and they destroy their hometown. It’s an ending that changes everything: The rules of the fictional world (instead of there being one Slayer in every generation, now there are hundreds), the setting (Sunnydale is reduced to a smoldering crater), the characters (people die, forever changing the group dynamic). It’s an incredibly successful and powerful ending.

A story that could have benefited from the Change Everything Ending (Look! I just coined a term!) is Harry Potter (SPOILERS AHEAD). Instead of changing everything, J.K. Rowling just reset the clock. She went back to the beginning, back to the way things are supposed to be. Sure, Voldemort is defeated, but the prejudice against Muggles continues. The students of Hogwarts are still divided into Houses, thus encouraging the sort of division and competition that led to one quarter of the students siding with the genocidal Death Eaters simply by virtue of being Slytherins. The Wizarding world is still indelibly separated from the Muggle world, and the cycle continues. Things have gone “back to normal,” which is a pretty boring change and leaves all of the complex social issues of the Harry Potter books unresolved.

Change. Everything.

A good ending should not necessarily leave your readers feeling satisfied or comfortable. Good luck!

~QQ

Considering I can think of three off the top of my head, I’d say they’re fairly common. Juliet Marillier’s “Sevenwaters Trilogy” has a different narrator for each book, George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” switches third person limited POVs by the chapter, and K.A. Applegate’s “Animorphs” books (CHILDHOOD FLASHBACK!) switched between five different narrators for every book.

However, I don’t know of any significant difference in sales for these multi-narrator book series as compared to series that are all narrated by the same character. My guess it probably wouldn’t negatively affect sales potential if you do it well.

~QQ