I’m currently working on my fourth novel, and querying my third novel. None of these have been published.

But finally, I have a query that is resulting in agents requesting the full manuscript. One of the main things I learned in refining this query is how much it matters (or at least seems to) that the agent can understand “Why are you the one to write this book?”

In Sometimes Enkidu Wins (working title), there are two main child characters: a Black wheel-chair using girl and a depressed Japanese boy. Why should I be the one to write their story? Because it’s not about their ethnicity and culture, although those obviously play a role. Disability is a more central aspect of the book, and on this I can claim the new “#ownvoices” mantle. Lots of authors (and agents, and perhaps editors) have trepidation about this. Am I only allowed to write stories about disability now? In this case, it’s what I wanted to write, but what if I want to write something else?

Nevertheless, explaining in the query that I have a lot in common with the main characters (and even more with some secondary characters) has resulted in a much better request rate. If you’re not having much luck with your query, try adding in some explanation of why you’ve chosen to tell this story.

Next week: beta readers.