by Jacqui Murray

 

When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.

When your manuscript is polished, your query letter honed to perfection and you’re ready to contact agents about representing your baby, you still aren’t done. Each agent you contact will have unique requirements, personal favorites as to how to oil your manuscript so it slips smoothly through the gears of their application process. Trust me as a veteran of the query process–they’re all different. Visit an agent’s website. Check out their requirements before submitting. Spend the time to make each contact personal to the agent’s requirements, area of expertise, and current successful publications.

Here’s an example of what  3 Seas Agency requires. They’re good, basic rules that make sense when seeking representation:

 

In General:

  1. Your manuscript needs a header on each page. It should include the title, the author’s name and the page number. (Note: If you wish, the page number can be inserted at the bottom of the page.)
  2.  Make sure your entire book flows.
  3. Avoid overuse of flashbacks.
  4.  A slow-moving beginning turns off agents and editors. Write a beginning hook to suck in the reader. Use action rather than narrative.
  5.  Make sure the climax isn’t resolved too easily. Be certain to tie up all loose ends that may have drifted throughout your story.
  6.  Double-check for grammatical errors, such as misspelled or repeated words and sentence structure.
  7.  Do not use unusual words more than once in your entire manuscript. A reader will remember them and be pulled out of the story if you repeat them.

 

Common Manuscript Errors:

  1. Improper use of the word — its.
  2. Toward is preferred over towards.
  3. Overuse of the word: that–Read, and then read again all sentences which contain the word “that.” Many, many times “that” can be omitted, or the word “which” can be substituted. Sometimes, however, “that” is necessary and must remain in the sentence. Only by reading the sentence out loud and concentrating on it will you be able to delete all unnecessary usage. HINT: Use the “find” for locating all of the times you used “that” in your manuscript.
  4. Sprinkle contractions throughout your manuscript in dialogue, inner monologue and narrative. You will notice how the words flow better immediately. NOTE: We talk using contractions, therefore, your characters should too.
  5. Name Dropping: Be sure not to keep repeating a character’s name over and over in a paragraph or even on a page. When more than one character appears in a scene, it’s sometimes necessary to repeat names.
  6. Dialogue is Not Conversation: There is no room for bad dialogue in a good manuscript. Dialogue’s only purpose is to move the story along. If it doesn’t, and it sounds like conversation, DELETE IT. Try not to have a character answer a question directly. It’s better to answer a question with a question or to refer to something else.
  7. Using too many adjectives and adverbs–Strong writing demands strong nouns and verbs. A verb can be either active or passive. Always choose “active” voice whenever possible.
  8. A noun is put to best use when it paints a definite picture of what you’re trying to say.
  9. Be professional! Making a sale depends on it!

 

 

 

Guest post contributed by Jacqui Murray. Jacqui is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman and is the author/editor of dozens of books on integrating tech into education, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, and Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers. You can find her book on her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.