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How
to Get Published: Fiction Writing Mistakes
by Suzanne James
A
couple months ago my computer system crashed. Because I had moved
to a new town, I took my computer to a new repair technician. An
appalling $250.00 later, my computer was returned to me. As I scanned
down the list of tasks they had performed, I could not see one thing
that I could not have done myself. Not only did they perform tasks
I could have executed myself, they used the software I had already
installed on my own computer. I sat stunned for a while, then had
to laugh. I have been trying to teach my writing students this same
lesson for more than four years. With a little knowledge, you can
edit your own novels and find out why they are not published.
"How
do I get my novel published?" If I had to guess, I would say
that ½ of the 3000 students I have taught ask me this question
at one time or another. I can usually offer them a quick, easy answer.
In many cases, the answer is so easy they reject it as a brush off.
But, the truth is, it is often very simple things, and easy to repair
problems, that keeps fiction novels from being published by a reputable
publisher.
Read
over the following list carefully. Learn to understand what these
errors are. Use this list as a checklist. I tell unpublished authors
to edit their novel for these things, one at a time. Yes, this is
a lengthy editing exercise. But, compared to the amount of time
it takes to submit a manuscript once, and have it rejected once,
the amount of time spent editing will be well spent. By editing
this way, one problem at a time, you will learn to avoid these mistakes
as you write the first draft, making future novels easier to write.
Learning
to eliminate these errors is one-half the battle of becoming a published
author. The craft of writing is half learning how to write, and
half learning to avoid the things listed below.
I
have edited a lot of student manuscripts, both as a freelancer,
teacher, and contracted editor for a publishing company and found
that the errors listed below comprise at least 90 percent of the
problems which keep novels from being published. Most are easy to
avoid, if you are aware of them, and can be fixed or avoided easily,
once you can spot them.
Read,
Read, Read
There
is one exercise in my course where writers plan to send their first
manuscript. Almost every writer gives me a 'copy and paste' listing
out of a publisher's directory. If you have no idea what a publisher
is releasing, then how will you know if your book fits their idea
of a good book? Read their recent releases. This one exercise can
eliminate most of the rejection letters writers receive. Almost
unanimously, students who take my advice and read a couple books
released by their prospective publishing company, thank me for helping
them waste their time. Their book did not fit what that company
thought was a publishable novel. Something in their novel was different
from what that publisher released. It could have been their grammar
style, voice, structure, characters, vocabulary, plots, or missing
elements. A dozen things could make that publisher reject your novel.
However, it does not mean your novel is not ready to submit.
One
truth I have found is; Avid readers make the best writers. This
is true, as long as you consistently read novels in the genre, style,
and voice you want to read.
If
you are an avid reader, then look at the back of the books you are
reading. That is the best place to find a publisher.
Are
You Ready to Submit
This
is the biggest problem. It is the one reason why I tell authors
to have a 'fiction editor' critique over their novels. It will cost
about $200.00, but can save you dozens of rejection letters, maybe
years of submitting and rejections, and a lot of heartbreak. However,
it is necessary to find a good editor. Have they ever worked for
a fiction publisher? How many published novels have they edited?
A BA in English, or an ex-teacher will not help you write a marketable
fiction novel. You would not ask a airplane mechanic to fix your
car. You would never think about asking your neighbor who installs
satellites to 'take a look' at your furnace because it is making
a funny sound. But, every day people pay academic editors to edit
their fiction. Or they ask 'line editors' to critique their novels
when they should be asking 'content editors' to help them.
Most
of the writers who send me a manuscript to edit or critique send
me a first or second draft. The novel is full of grammar mistakes,
plot holes, weak characters, and passive writing - which is different
than passive voice. This is easy to solve. You will study the craft
of writing, so why not learn how to edit?
Structure
It
is easy to learn what a story arc is. It is easy to learn how to
map a novel, and write your own story arc based on what is on today's
bestsellers lists. There are dozen's of courses that teach 'the
blueprint of a novel' and mapping. First, learn what the elements
of a novel are. You can do that from any book. Then, find a few
good examples of story arcs. Next, write out the events, elements,
plot points, and character growth of the novel you are mapping.
When done, make it look like the story arc, or make your own blueprint.
It
takes about 20 hours to make your own story arc based on your genre,
and current bestsellers. You can map anything, structure, plot,
supporting plots, character growth, and sub-plots.
When
writers rebel, stating that this is formula writing, or that this
takes the creativity out of writing, I reply with this story. You
have $15 000 which is earmarked for home renovations. Your best
friend approaches you, all excited, and offers to do the work for
you. You are confused, because your friend is a hairdresser. Would
you give a hairdresser your $15 000 to do renovations on your house?
What if friends did not want to know what style you were looking
for, did not care about your color scheme, and had their own ideas
about comfort and luxury? Would you give them your money? However,
people ask publishers to do this every day.
Writers
need to understand one fact. You are writing for the reader, not
yourself. Reader's demands drive the fiction publishing industry.
If the reader does not like the novel, they will not buy it. And,
readers do not want wild and crazy stories, they buy novels which
promise a good reading experience.
Passive
Voice, Passive Writing
This
is the single most common error. New writers do not realize that
passive writing creates 'one degree of separation' between the story
and the reader. Passive voice is easy to catch with your grammar
check. Passive writing is a little harder. Passive writing is narrative.
Narration takes the reader out of the main character's Point Of
View (POV).
If
this is your problem, then you need to take a course. If you are
not sure, then look through your novel and ask these questions:
- Do
characters actually do something, or does the sentence explain
what the character did? Jill picked up her milk vs. Jill lifted
the glass and took a sip of milk.
- Do
you use these words: was, were, had, that, still, felt, noticed,
saw, just, nice thought, up, down, beautiful, dark, tall, almost,
very, down, up, behind, and pretty. If you find more than five
of these words on your pages then you need to learn how to remove
them. In many cases these words can be eliminated if you reconstruct
the sentence so the main character's actions are the subject of
the sentence.
- Do
you stop the action to explain why a character is doing something?
- Are
you telling the reader a story? Or, are you writing down segment
of the character's life, as it happens, describing exactly what
you, the writer, sees as it is happening?
- Do
you use gerunds, 'ing', words instead of verbs?
- Do
you use weak verbs? Jill ran vs. Jill's feet pounded the pavement.
Jill was angry vs. Jill slammed the door and stomped across the
hall.
- Do
you summarize? Look at the example above. You'll notice that the
passive examples are shorter than the active examples. Passive
voice is okay in dialogue. We talk in passive voice, so it is
okay if your character's talk in passive writing.
Summary
Narrative
Direct
narrative
Jill
walked down the hall, descended the stairs, and pushed open the
door. She crossed the parking lot and entered Kim's Café
Summary
narrative
Jill
went to Kim's Café.
HeadHopping
One
scene, One Point Of View. You are not Nora Roberts. You cannot sell
the number of novels she can. So, you cannot get away with writing
like she does. Make sure every sentence in a scene comes out of
the POV character's head.
I
tell my students to try this exercise. Pretend you are standing
at a window looking in at the scene unfolding. Beside you stands
a blind friend. You are going to tell her what is happening, as
it happens. Do not summarize, paint pictures with words.
This
is part one of this series of articles. None of the mistakes listed
here are arbitrary. They are all based on rejection letters, discussions
with publishers, and personal experience. You can break these rules.
You can break these rules, as long as you realize that it will take
longer to find a publisher who wants your novel. I do know authors
who make these mistakes, and sell a novel or two a year. This is
not unusual. The stronger your writing skills are, if you consistently
study the craft of writing, and if you master the elements of a
novel, then you will be able to break the rules and get away with
it.
Suzanne
James is a published author, a freelance editor who has worked as
an editor for a publishing company, public speaker, and a teacher
who has taught the craft of writing, and line editing, to more than
3000 students online at www.universalclass.com
. She publishes www.inspiredauthor.com,
www.authorsconnection.com
, and www.shop-huron.com.
And author of "Are You Ready to Submit: A Fiction Writer's
Self-editing guide?"
Suzanne James is a published author, a freelance editor, has worked
as publishing house editor, public speaker. She teaches the craft
of writing and line editing online at www.universalclass.com.
She also publishes www.inspiredauthor.com,
www.authorsconnection.com , and www.shop-huron.com.
Her current book: "Are You Ready to Submit: A Fiction Writer's
Self-editing guide?"
Suzanne
James may be contacted at http://www.inspiredauthor.com
Published Author, Editor, Teacher. In the last four years I have
taught fiction writing, editing, and business management to 3000
students in online and cont-ed courses. A public speaker, Suzanne
also lectures and guest speaks in writer's workshops. She also breeds,
shows, and trains Chinese Crested dogs.
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