One of the first things that acquisitions editors and literary agents learn in their jobs is to use the query letter to evaluate a manuscript. AEs and lit agents are looking for cues that a project is or isn’t right for them. In my career, I’ve worked as both an AE and a lit agent….
If you’ve ever taken a class from me, you know that I have a pathological hatred of using questions in editorial queries. By this I mean asking questions like, “What is Joe’s motivation?” where you are, or think you are, asking the author to address the problem of Joe’s lack of motivation. Use statements instead…
When our authors write stories with perspective problems, generally they’re in for a long haul during the revision process. An author who can’t “see” the head-hopping (jumping from one character’s perspective to another’s within a scene) they’re doing needs a lot of sentence-level handholding to get it right. Steps to Take Since a big perspective…
When we write editorial queries for the author, we need to identify what the problem is and why it’s a problem for the manuscript—in other words, we can’t just slap generic slogans on a manuscript (“Use fewer adverbs!”) and think that’s editing. Effective Editorial Guidance Part of the editorial guidance we need to offer in…
Do the work. Get feedback about the work. Do better work.
When you’re editing fiction, you’ll find that many developmental problems are interrelated: An insufficient conflict can be connected with unclear character motivation (or lack of motivation) to do something or achieve something (a goal). If the protagonist doesn’t have a goal, they can’t really come into conflict with another character who has a different goal….
If you’ve ever hit “send” on an edit and then immediately had self-doubt about your work, you’re not alone. Second-guessing an edit is an occupational hazard. What should you do if that happens? Worrying About an Edit You’ve Sent First, it’s common to think, “Gosh, I should have phrased that differently” or “Now that I…
Conflict drives narrative, as I don’t need to tell you. But a problem with the conflict is probably the number one issue I see in the manuscripts I edit. Yet it can be difficult to identify conflict problems. Outside of the most formulaic of approaches, we don’t have a lot of rules about how the…