October Novel Prep Challenge

I've not heard of this and I'm glad I haven't. At it's core a novel is a story arc, and every novel is either a comedy (protag gets what they want) or a tragedy (they don't get what they want).

I think that a query letter needs to answer 3 questions, and these are essentially the core of the novel. How you creatively go about getting them is irrelevant.

Who is your main character?
What do they want?
What do they have to do to get it?

If you have these three answers then you have a novel, period. This is also salable to epics and short stories. A novel is about a character seeking that one thing that they truly want, and what they are willing to do to get it, and if they succeed (comedy) or fail (tragedy). Just my opinion. Anything more than this is simply tactics.