I was asked the other day about the novel I’m working on. I think it’s one of the most difficult questions to answer about any novel, especially one that’s still underway.

What’s your novel about?

There’s really no good answer to that, is there? A quick summary of the plot invariably sounds weak and stupid to me. Even great novels, when reduced to a sentence or two, somehow come off sounding like the bad descriptions on the cable television program guides. Besides, I have an aversion to talking too much about a novel while I’m writing it. It somehow feels as if I’m letting people sample my cooking while it’s still half raw. Nothing is going to seem good like that.

When I’m pressed, I give the genre. For most people that’s enough to put them off asking anything else. I suppose that many people are surprised to find a woman writing sci-fi, horror or any type of speculative fiction (that’s another discussion, isn’t it?)

So, what do you do when you’re posed the question? Do you answer or evade?
What other writing questions are you asked that you’d rather not answer?