by Beth K. Vogt, @bethvogt

You’ve met your deadline and turned your manuscript into your editor.

Congratulations!

But wait … besides rewrites, there are going to be some additional things for you to write: the book’s dedication. Acknowledgments. Discussion Questions.

Discussion questions? Yep. Once your book is published, some of your readers will be members of book clubs who will want to talk about your book. It’s common practice nowadays to provide a variety of discussion questions at the end of a novel.

Never written discussion questions? Here are five tips to help you craft discussion questions for your novel:

• Think of discussion questions as tools. Writing discussion questions for your book is more than just thinking up random questions about your favorite scenes in your book. Your goal is to help book club leaders to get their members talking. Ask yourself: Will these questions encourage conversation or stall it out?

• Develop a variety of questions.  Start with some general questions, ones that are more easily answered, and then move on to deeper issues. In Moments We Forget, book two in my Thatcher Sisters Series, the sisters started a book club together. Just like the sisters’ relationships, the book club dynamics were complicated. The first discussion question for Moments We Forget is: Have you ever participated in a book club with family or friends? What kind of relationships developed? Additional questions delved into debilitating illnesses, people’s faith journeys, and how birth order affects our personalities.

• Divide questions among different characters. It’s all-too-easy to focus discussion questions on your main characters. When formulating discussion questions, don’t overlook your subplot characters, as well as your adversary/villain, your Voice of Truth, and other characters who have key roles in your novel.  
• Consider the main theme or themes in your book. You’ve woven themes into your novel – go ahead and ask a discussion question about them. If your novel examines the theme of secrets, refer to a scene in your book about secrets and then craft a question like “When is it okay to keep a secret from someone else?” or “When have you kept a secret from someone else – or when has someone kept a secret from you? How did that affect you?”

Submit more discussion questions than requested. If your editor asks for 10 discussion questions, send two or three additional ones. It’s always good to give an editor a few extra questions to choose from. Let your editor know you provided some additional options when you email them. Better a few extra questions to choose from than not enough.

Moments We Forget  by Beth K. Vogt

Jillian Thatcher has spent most of her life playing the family peacemaker, caught in the middle between her driven, talented older sister and her younger, spotlight-stealing twin sisters. Then on the night of her engagement party, a cancer diagnosis threatens to once again steal her chance to shine.

Now, Jillian’s on the road to recovery after finally finishing chemo and radiation, but residual effects of the treatment keep her from reclaiming her life as she’d hoped. And just when her dreams might be falling into place, a life-altering revelation from her husband sends her reeling again.

Will Jillian ever achieve her own dreams, or will she always be “just Jillian,” the less-than Thatcher sister? Can she count on her sisters as she tries to step into a stronger place, or are they stuck in their childhood roles forever?

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Beth’s first novel for Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, released in May 2018. Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters series, releases May 2019. Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.