This is from a blog and might be helpful.
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
On the link to the "QTB Template" by Johnson followed to "The Rhetorical Question" link also by Johnson: The, ugh, rhetorical question dilemma for querying!? I don't think Johnson quite gets what makes a rhetorical question artful or otherwise. Frankly, I think rhetorical questions are signals a writer's craft is underdeveloped. Rhetorical questions in my estimation, either for queries or for the narratives themselves, miss the bull's-eye; that is, posing a central dramatic question in readers' minds which engages their curiosity (also known as suspense question). Implying the question so readers may infer is the ideal. Directly stating the dramatic question through use of rhetorical questions to me is artless.
Otherwise, Krafton's query guidances are worth investigating, if a bit too generalized in terms of how to compose an effective query.
[ January 14, 2014, 11:32 PM: Message edited by: extrinsic ]
Posted by jerich100 (Member # 10202) on :
I couldn't find the link "Extrinsic" referenced, but read recently where somebody (I can't remember who) hated rhetorical questions in fiction. After reading that I've been deleting my own or converting them to something else. Now when I come across rhetorical questions I see them as "cheap" alternatives to much better writing.
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
Link to Query Tracker's rhetorical question topic.